Kategoria BISAC: Business & Economics >> Economic Conditions

Two powers in East Asia today stand to define the region's economic and commercial future: Japan, which rose in a spectacular industrial burst to become at present the world's second largest economy; and China, which is rapidly advancing towards a market economy under the watchful eye of the world.

While much has been made of Japan and China's particular economic institutions and developmental paths, few works analyze them in a comparative framework. Including contributions from leading academics, the text focuses on the period from the 1980s to the onset of the 2000s, reviewing...

Key events in Asia s recent history have included the end of the Cold War, the Asian Economic Crisis and the war on terror . This is a critical assessment of these events, and of the interplay of security and economics in shaping political regimes and modifying market systems.

Based on the notion that market systems are inherently political and conflict-ridden, this collection clarifies and explains the conflicts shaping the path of neoliberal globalization. Collectively it represents a disciplined and systematic address of four overarching questions:

* What...

Microfinance has become an important component of development, poverty reduction and economic regeneration strategy around the world. By the early twenty first century tens of millions of people in more than 100 countries were accessing services from formal and semi-formal microfinance institutions (MFIs). Much of the initial attention on microcredit came through work on Bangladesh's much-lauded Grameen Bank but, there are now many different 'models' for microfinance and many countries have substantial microfinance sectors.

This timely book, written by one of the major players in...

The economic and social problems of modern Scotland are at the centre of current debate about regional economic growth, social improvement and environmental rehabilitation. In this book, as relevant today as when it was first published in 1975, Anthony Slaven argues that the extent and causes of these problems are frequently underestimated, thus making development policies less than fully effective.
The major economic and social weaknesses of the west of Scotland are shown to be rooted in the regions former strengths. The author demonstrates how, although the region and its...

Professor Youngson's book is an ubiased review of Britain's past experience and present difficulties. Few sacred cows are spared. There is no pretence that fundamental problems were resolved at the time of its first publication in 1967.
Many econmic historians fail in their assessment of Britian's economic prospects as there is a tendency to look only at recent events to explain current problems. Youngson saw that this was short sighted. An economy, like an airliner, cannot suddenly change its course; it is subject to persistent forces and tendencies; it is powerfully...

This book enlarges our understanding of economic development by bringing together items or aspects of historical experience relevant to the present-day problems of developing countries; by looking at the problems over a longer period than is usual in development economics, so that the influence of underlying forces may be made evident; and by comparing the experiences of different countries in similar situations.
A variety of countries are dealt with and most of the significant problems in development economics are covered in one context or another. The authors of this...

The economic history of the Middle East and North Africa is quite extraordinary.
This is an axiomatic statement, but the very nature of the economic changes that have stemmed directly from the effects of oil resources in these areas has tended to obscure longterm patterns of economic change and the fundamental transformation of Middle Eastern and North African economies and societies over the past two hundred years.
In this study Professor Issawi examines and explains the development of these economies since 1800, focusing particularly on the challenge posed by the...

Technical changes in the first half of the nineteenth century led to unprecedented economic growth and capital formation throughout Western Europe; and yet Ireland hardly participated in this process at all. While the Northern Atlantic Economy prospered, the Great Irish Famine of 184550 killed a million and a half people and caused hundreds of thousands to flee the country. Why the Irish economy failed to grow, and why Ireland starved remains an unresolved riddle of economic history.
Professor Mokyr maintains that the Hungry Forties were caused by the overall...

There is currently widespread interest in the Chinese economy, due to its huge and rapid growth, and the consequent impact on world business and the world economy. At the same time, there are concerns about China's political system, China's human rights record and the degree to which reform - the development of 'socialism with Chinese characteristics' - represent real liberalization.

Providing an overview of earlier events in order to set the context in which economic and political development have taken place, the book traces economic and political growth in China from the early...

Y. S. Brenner is an economist whose main concern is with development, and this attitude is reflected in his approach to economic history.
He begins this seminal study in the era of the Reformation in Europe, and bases it on the hypothesis that once started, economic progress will spread over ever-increasing parts of the earth wherever and whenever conditions become suitable. From this point of view, he examines the nature of the impediments which prevent the more rapid and general progress of mankind towards greater material affluence, while at the same time considering the...

This book was first published in 1981.

South Wales was one of the main centres of the Industrial Revolution in Britain but the story of the rapid growth of an industrial society there has not yet been fully told, since much of the work done has consisted of articles rather than books.
This volume brings together a selection of important contributions hitherto only accessible in a large number of scattered periodicals. These articles have been selected to present a considered sequence and are preceded by an introduction which puts the story of the industrialization of Wales into perspective. They deal firstly with...

In this important new book, the authors explore how production was organized in the context of the economic development of modern Japan.

Production organizations are taken to mean the long-term relationships which economic agents create for production, based on employment contracts or long-term transactions. This includes hierarchical organizations such as factories and corporations, but also flexible arangements such as subcontracting.

Modern Japanese economic development is characterized by the co-evolution of these two types of production organizations, while American...

Winning the Vietnam War proved easier than winning the peace. Since 1975, the reunited country has faced the problem of how a poorer, planned economy in which state ownership and control could successfully absorb a more advanced, capitalist economy. In addition, the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War heralded a new age in Vietnam's internal and external relations.

Vietnam traces developments since the end of the Vietnam War, including recent economic reforms, the politics of the Communist Party, and the re-establishment of relations with the United States. It gives a...