Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2006

Economics Top

Food Aid After Fifty Years explores the motivations and modalities of food aid since the 1954 Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act and examines issues which impinge on its effectiveness. The book utilizes analytical and empirical accounts of food aid to resolve key misunderstandings and explore long standing myths. An alternative strategy is presented for recasting food aid, making it more effective in alleviating poverty, hunger and vulnerability. Food Aid After Fifty Years provides a clear, comprehensive and current explanation of a wide range of issues surrounding food aid and its policy and operations and will prove vital to students of development economics and development studies and those working in the field.

The enemies of globalization--whether they denounce the exploitation of poor countries by rich ones or the imposition of Western values on traditional cultures--see the new world economy as forcing a system on people who do not want it. But the truth of the matter, writes Daniel Cohen in this provocative account, may be the reverse. Globalization, thanks to the speed of twenty-first-century communications, shows people a world of material prosperity that they do want--a vivid world of promises that have yet to be fulfilled. For most impoverished, developing nations, globalization remains only an image, a fleeting mirage. Never before, Cohen says, have the means of communication--the media--created such a global consciousness, and never have economic forces lagged so far behind expectations. Today's globalization, Cohen argues, is the third act in a history that began with the Spanish Conquistadors in the sixteenth century and continued with Great Britain's empire of free trade in the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century, as in the twenty-first, a revolution in transportation and communication did not promote widespread wealth but favored polarization. India, a part of the British empire, was just as poor in 1913 as it was in 1820. Will today's information economy do better in disseminating wealth than the telegraph did two centuries ago? Presumably yes, if one gauges the outcome from China's perspective; not, surely, if Africa's experience is a guide. At any rate, it takes poor countries much effort and investment to become players in the global game. The view that technologies and world trade bring wealth by themselves is no more true today than it was two centuries ago. We should not, Cohen writes, consider globalization as an accomplished fact. It is because of what has yet to happen--the unfulfilled promises of prosperity--that globalization has so many enemies. For the poorest countries of the world, the problem is not so much that they are exploited by globalization as that they are forgotten and excluded.

From one of Europe’s most respected economists—a look at the promise and peril ofdoing business in an age of the EuropeanUnion’s developing economy Why are the EU nations under-performing? Howdoes their economy affect U.S. businesses? Andwhat can leaders do, on both sides of the Atlantic, toensure stable growth and increased productivity in thefuture? This analysis from the chairman of the Centre forEconomic Policy Research offers new insights intoEurope’s social and financial situation. By applying America’sstandards of efficiency, productivity, and innovationon a global scale, the author lays out an effective blueprintfor success that can stimulate the European market—and usher in a new era of peace and prosperityacross the world.

This book offers a compelling new interpretation of the proliferation of regional trade agreements (RTAs) at the end of the twentieth century. Challenging the widespread assumption that RTAs should be seen as fundamentally similar economic initiatives to pursue free trade, Francesco Duina proposes that the world is reorganizing itself into regions that are highly distinctive and enduring. With evidence from Europe, North America, and South America, he challenges our understanding of globalization, the nature of markets, and the spread of neoliberalism.Duina's main argument is that the pursuit of free trade is a profoundly social process and, as such, a unique endeavor wherever it takes place. In an unprecedented comparative analysis, the book offers striking evidence of differences in the legal architectures erected to standardize the worldview of market participants and the reaction of key societal organizations--interest groups, businesses, and national administrations--to a broader marketplace. The author gives special attention to developments in three key areas of economic life: women in the workplace, the dairy industry, and labor rights. With its bold and original approach and its impressive range of data, The Social Construction of Free Trade represents a major advance in the growing fields of economic sociology and comparative regional integration.

Presenting a widely accessible approach to the study of terrorism, this volume combines economic methods with political analysis and realities. It applies economic methodology--theoretical and empirical--with political analysis to the study of domestic and transnational terrorism, to provide a qualitative and quantitative investigation of terrorism in a balanced up-to-date presentation for students, policymakers, researchers, and the general reader. Included are historical.phpects of the phenomenon, a discussion of watershed events, the rise of modern-day terrorism, examination of current trends, the dilemma of liberal democracies, evaluation of counterterrorism, and analysis of hostage incidents.

In Welfare Reform, Jeffrey Grogger andLynn Karoly assemble evidence from numerous studies to assess how welfare reform has affectedbehavior. To broaden our understanding of this wide-ranging policy reform, the authors evaluatethe evidence in relation to an economic model of behavior.

Discrimination's dynamic nature means that no single theory, method, data or study should be relied upon to assess its magnitude, causes, or remedies. Despite some gains in our understanding, these remain active areas of debate among researchers, practitioners and policymakers. The specially commissioned papers in this volume, all by distinguished contributors, present the full range of issues related to this complex and challenging problem.

An economist's version of The Way Things Work, this engaging volume is part field guide to economics and part expose of the economic principles lurking behind daily events, explaining everything from traffic jams to high coffee prices.The Undercover Economist is for anyone who's wondered why the gap between rich and poor nations is so great, or why they can't seem to find a decent second-hand car, or how to outwit Starbucks. This book offers the hidden story behind these and other questions, as economist Tim Harford ranges from Africa, Asia, Europe, and of course the United States to reveal how supermarkets, airlines, and coffee chains--to name just a few--are vacuuming money from our wallets. Harford punctures the myths surrounding some of today's biggest controversies, including the high cost of health-care; he reveals why certain environmental laws can put a smile on a landlord's face; and he explains why some industries can have high profits for innocent reasons, while in other industries something sinister is going on. Covering an array of economic concepts including scarce resources, market power, efficiency, 26.00 gouging, market failure, inside information, and game theory, Harford sheds light on how these forces shape our day-to-day lives, often without our knowing it.Showing us the world through the eyes of an economist, Tim Harford reveals that everyday events are intricate games of negotiations, contests of strength, and battles of wits. Written with a light touch and sly wit, The Undercover Economist turns "the dismal science" into a true delight.

NAFTA entered into force in 1994 after a bitter Congressional debate. But NAFTA in operation has proved no less controversial than NAFTA before ratification, for both supporters and opponents of trade liberalization have cited experience with the agreement to justify their positions. To provide a factual basis for this ongoing debate, the authors evaluate NAFTA’s performance since its inception, comparing actual experience with both the objectives of the agreement’s supporters and the charges of its critics. They examine future challenges and opportunities in the trade and investment relationships among the three partner countries and the broader implications for new trade initiatives throughout the hemisphere. Chapter 1 describes trade, investment, and macroeconomic developments under NAFTA, beginning inauspiciously with the Mexican economic crisis of 1994 but moving on to impressive growth in trilateral trade and Mexican GDP. Chapter 2 traces the implementation of NAFTA’s dispute settlement provisions and the progress to date in implementing reforms. Chapter 3 distills and updates the findings from NAFTA and the Environment: Seven Years Later and recommends how to improve the performance of NAFTA’s institutions in addressing environmental problems. Chapter 4 undertakes a similar assessment of the operations of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation and the impact of NAFTA on employment and wages in the region. Chapters 5 and 6 examine integration in the North American auto and energy markets. The final chapter looks forward and focuses on the challenges facing North American economic integration on important issues such as immigration, environment, energy, and exchange rates.

Globalization is characterised by persistent poverty and growing inequality. Conventional wisdom has it that this global poverty is residual - as globalization deepens, the poor will be lifted out of destitution. The policies of the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO echo this belief and push developing countries ever deeper into the global economy.Globalization, Poverty and Inequality provides an alternative viewpoint. It argues that for many - particularly for those living in Latin America, Asia and Central Europe - poverty and globalization are relational. It is the very workings of the global system which condemn many to poverty. In particular the mobility of investment, and the large pool of increasingly skilled workers in China and other parts of Asia, are driving down global wages. This poses challenges for policy makers in firms and countries throughout the world. It also challenges the very sustainability of globalisation itself. Are we about to witness the implosion of globalisation, as occurred between 1913 and 1950?Using a variety of theoretical frameworks and drawing on a vast amount of original research, this book will be an invaluable resource for all students of globalization and its effects.

PREFACE ix Introduction: The Origins of "Capitalism" 1 Globalization 9 Chapter 1: Liberal International Economic Orders 17 Mercantilism 20 The Nineteenth-Century LIEO 22 Pax Britannica and Economic Development 32 The End of the First LIEO 36 Recreating a New LIEO 40 Chapter 2: From Laissez Faire to the Dirigiste Dogma 48 Classical Liberalism and Laissez Faire 48 Poverty and Industrialization in Nineteenth-Century Britain 52 "Manna from Heaven" Distributivism 53 Competition and Monopoly 56 The Rise of "Embedded Liberalism" in the United States 59 Chapter 3: The Changing Fortunes of Free Trade 62 The Rise, Fall, and Rise of Free Trade 62 U.S. Economic Policy 65 The New Protectionism 68 The Rise of Preferential Trading Arrangements 71 Another Globalization Backlash? 80 Adjustment Assistance? 85 Whither the WTO? 86 APPENDIX: FREE TRADE AND LAISSEZ FAIRE IN THEORY 91 Chapter 4: Money and Finance 95 International Monetary Regimes 97 International Capital Flows 105 The Global Financial Infrastructure 122 Chapter 5: Poverty and Inequality 127 Poverty Head Counts 128 Income Gaps 135 Foreign Aid 139 Chapter 6: Morality and Capitalism 150 Introduction 150 Analytical Framework 151 Changing Material and Cosmological Beliefs 154 Communalism versus Individualism 157 From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values 160 Modernization and Westernization 165 Conclusions 180 Chapter 7: "Capitalism with a Human Face" 182 Introduction 182 Justice and Freedom 183 Rights 185 Social Paternalism and Dirigisme 187 Moral Paternalism and the New Victorians 189 Capitalism and Happiness 192 The Corporation under Attack 195 Conclusions 203 Chapter 8: The Greens and Global Disorder 205 Introduction 205 The Rise of the NGOs 205 Sustainable Development 211 The Greens and Ecological Imperialism 214 Toward World Disorder 227 Chapter 9: Conclusions 231 Notes 237 Bibliography 279 Index 307

This volume analyzes Cuban socioeconomic policies and evaluates their performance since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist camp. It provides a brief historical background to the crisis and analyzes in detail the deterioration and incomplete recovery since 1990. Comparing Cuba's performance with that of other Latin American and former socialist countries, it summarizes the views of noted Cuban economists and proposes policies that architects of the Cuban transition might wish to put in place after the passing of Castro. Focusing on economic and social policies and performance during the "Special Period in Time of Peace" (1990-2004), the authors draw on an impressive array of statistics to show that in 2005 Cuba has yet to return to economic levels of the late 1980s, and the access and quality of many of the highly touted social services-education, health care, social security, housing-also have not been restored to the levels achieved prior to the economic crisis triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union. The authors demonstrate that governmental concerns about a strengthening private sector resulting in loss of political control finally prompted the Cuban leadership to prioritize political over economic ends. Centralized economic control has been fully restored, even though it will undoubtedly result in further deterioration of economic conditions and declining standards of living.

Explores the operational challenges that the war economy posed, and continues to pose, for peace operations and reconstruction efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A leading authority on Central Asia offers a sweeping review of the region's path from independence to the post-9/11 world.

As trade flows expanded and trade agreements proliferated after World War II, governments—most notably the United States—came increasingly to use their power over imports and exports to influence the behavior of other countries. But trade is not the only way in which nations interact economically. Over the past two decades, another form of economic exchange has risen to a level of vastly greater significance and political concern: the purchase and sale of financial assets across borders. Nearly $2 trillion worth of currency now moves cross-border every day, roughly 90 percent of which is accounted for by financial flows unrelated to trade in goods and services—a stunning inversion of the figures in 1970. The time is ripe to ask fundamental questions about what Benn Steil and Robert Litan have coined as “financial statecraft,” or those.phpects of economic statecraft directed at influencing international capital flows. How precisely has the American government practiced financial statecraft? How effective have these efforts been? And how can they be made more effective? The authors provide penetrating and incisive answers in this timely and stimulating book.

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of the New York Times bestselling book Globalization and Its Discontents, Joseph E. Stiglitz here joins with fellow economist Andrew Charlton to offer a challenging and controversial argument about how globalization can actually help Third World countries to develop and prosper.In Fair Trade For All, Stiglitz and Charlton address one of the key issues facing world leaders today--how can the poorer countries of the world be helped to help themselves through freer, fairer trade? To answer this question, the authors put forward a radical and realistic new model for managing trading relationships between the richest and the poorest countries. Their approach is designed to open up markets in the interests of all nations and not just the most powerful economies, to ensure that trade promotes development, and to minimize the costs of adjustments. Beginning with a brief history of the World Trade Organization and its agreements, the authors explore the issues and events which led to the failure of 2003 Cancun summit and the obstacles that face the successful completion of the Doha Round of negotiations. Finally they spell out the reforms and principles upon which a successful agreement must be based.Vividly written, highly topical, and packed with insightful analyses, Fair Trade For All offers a radical new solution to the problems of world trade. It is a must read for anyone interested in globalization and development in the Third World.

This fully updated and comprehensively revised 2 of a classic book concentrates on the economics of conserving the living environment. It begins by covering the ethical foundations and basic economic paradigms' essential for understanding and assessing ecological economics. General strategies for global environmental conservation, policies for government intervention, developing countries, preserving wildlife and biodiversity, open-access to and common property in natural resources, conservation of natural areas, forestry, agriculture and the environment, tourism, sustainable development and demographic change are also all covered.

The IMF and the World Bank have integrated a large number of countries into the world economy by requiring governments to open up to global trade, investment, and capital. They have not done this out of pure economic zeal. Politics and their own rules an