Economics and Finance (R0)

This edited volume brings together international and national scholars and major activists leading or spearheading basic income guarantee political initiatives in their respective countries. Contributing authors address specific issues about major efforts to influence public policy regarding basic income guarantee, such as: who were the main advocates and thought leaders involved in support of such legislative initiatives; what were the main organizational and framing strategies and tactics used to influence public opinion and elected officials to support the idea of and policies related to basic income guarantee; what were the major obstacles they faced; and what practical and theoretical lessons might be learned from past and contemporary actions to affect social policy change regarding basic income guarantee and related measures to guide the efforts of activists and public intellectuals in the 2020 and 2024 election cycles.

This book provides a state-of-the-art overview of the popularity of basic income among the general public. Using data from a wide array of public opinion polls conducted in different countries and years, the book first charts popular support for the ideal-typical version of basic income, broadly defined as a "periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement”. On top of that, the book maps popular support for the many other, differently designed varieties of basic income that are part of real-world proposals, pilots, and experiments – including, for example, a participation income, a negative income tax, and a stakeholder grant. By investigating how and why support for different types of basic income varies across countries, evolves over time, and differs between individuals with different characteristics, this book offers crucial information about the political constituencies that can be mobilized in favor of (or against) the introduction of basic income, thereby contributing to our knowledge on the political feasibility of basic income.

This book provides an insightful guide to the economic challenges currently defining Europe. With a particular focus on the Czech economy, it examines the impact of rampant inflation, the war in Ukraine, and the energy crisis and evaluates the social impacts of them. Through an empirical analysis, the asymmetric effects of these shocks are highlighted in relation to different social groups. Furthermore, it engages with related issues such as migration and integration policies, the evolution of the labour market, disparities in inflation’s impact, and household energy expenditure.

This book presents a practical policy framework for addressing inflation, the impact of the Ukraine conflict, and the energy crisis. It will be relevant to scholars, researchers, and policymakers interested in the political economy, labour economics, and economic policy in general.

The book explores the concept of ‘intimate capitalism’ within the context of the rising cultural and creative industries. The assimilation of culture with capitalism has produced a mass culture that socialises people with the culture of capitalism, effectively domesticating and controlling the masses by establishing an intimate relationship between labor and working conditions. Intimate capitalism is a new form of capitalism where workers invest their labor and work overtime due to an affective connection to the cultural product they are working on or an intimacy with the cultural working conditions. It critically examines the narratives surrounding the creative economy, as well as digital innovations within cultural industries, to highlight how they are reinforcing and perpetuating exploitative working conditions. The erosion of workers’ rights under intimate capitalism is examined to show how cultural industries seek to dominate the lives of those working within them, leading to an increased commodification of culture and institutionalisation of creative assets in the name of economic growth and development.

This book offers a critical framework for understanding intimate capitalism and outlines its impact on workers, particularly those within developing economies. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in cultural economics, the political economy, and labour economics.

This edited volume provides a comprehensive exploration of the Persian Gulf, covering historical naming and trade relationships, political and military strategies, and the impact of tribal systems on regional security. It spans from the Sassanid period to modern times, examining the role of the Maritime Silk Road and the strategic importance of water resources. Through contributions from various experts, the book offers a multi-dimensional view of the Persian Gulf, making it an essential resource for scholars and students interested in the region's complex dynamics.

Despite significant theoretical advances in social and behavioural macroeconomics, little has been done to synthesise the disparate developments in these fields and point the way forward to future research directions and policy implications.  This book reviews, unifies and extends diverse strands of thinking and shows how these theories can be used to improve macroeconomic modelling for policy development in a range of spheres.

The book explores how the most empirically relevant socio-behavioural traits can widen the scope of macroeconomics to fruitfully address new issues and challenges, such as rising inequality, the change in the functional distribution of income (labour and capital shares), and a further understanding of the government spending multiplier. Chapters also address more traditional topics such as macroeconomic policy effectiveness, growth, saving and labour supply. Other, more open-ended themes of the book include whether the concept of individual rationality should be complemented by collective rationality; whether socio-behavioural traits underlie socially inefficient outcomes such as tragedies-of-the-commons, rat races, financial crises and global warming; and whether such traits can provide new foundations for (New) Keynesian macroeconomics.

This book will be essential reading for advanced researchers and students working in macroeconomics and other social sciences, including psychology and politics, as well as those working on the theoretical end of public policy.

This book addresses a little-studied area of the history of tourism, religious tourism, and pilgrimage and introduces a comprehensive economic analysis of their development from elite pursuits to a mass phenomenon. Focusing on Rome, Lourdes, and the Holy Land as destinations, the book showcases religious tourism as a key precursory factor in mass tourism in Italy and Europe. Departing from conventional historiographical timeframes, the authors demonstrate that the surge in tourism during the Italian “economic miracle” did not arise ex novo at that time but was part of a longer process of transformation originating prior to the Second World War. Diverse factors are discussed such as the social and economic role of the Catholic Church, its relationship to tourism, revolutions in transport technologies, rising wages, and increasing leisure time. Key questions are explored regarding religious travel (who, when, how) and how it gained momentum in the first half of the twentieth century. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished sources, many from the Vatican Archives, the book uncovers new religious, social, and cross-cultural perspectives and contexts for studying the economic history of tourism. 

This book examines the impact of AI and the financial crisis on African nations and the issues that surround its reciprocal impact on global business, government, and society. The global financial crisis and artificial intelligence (AI) have an equal and synergistic impact on economic development in Africa. While the global financial crisis has presented significant challenges to African businesses, AI has presented significant opportunities to alleviate these challenges. Featuring selected papers presented at the 5th Annual Current Business Issues in African Countries (CBIAC) Conference held in Hoboken, NJ, USA, in May 2024, this book focuses on the synergies between climate change, supply chain, and sustainable development featuring content from business and NGO leaders, faculty, and students.

The impetus of the CBIAC conference was the discussions held at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held in Nairobi, Keyna, in July 2016 and in Bridgetown, Barbados, and Geneva in 2021. The goal of the conference is to create long-term collaborative relationship between business leaders, faculty, researchers, students, and community members from different African nations.

This book provides essential insights into national income accounting, balance of payments, foreign exchange markets, money supply and demand, and monetary policy principles.

Econometrician Edward E. Ghartey begins the book by covering national income accounting and balance of payments. Chapters take readers through the foreign-exchange market and rational expectations, covering functions of money, monetary aggregates, and the determinants of money supply and demand. The text delves into the microeconomic foundations of money demand in developing countries, including an applied study using real data. It addresses the limitations of traditional IS-LM models and introduces a new aggregate demand curve using the Taylor principle. The book further explores the Phillips curve, and Okun’s law to derive aggregate supply curve; and the effects of monetary policy in open economies.

Readers will gain a thorough understanding of complex economic concepts and models, including the development of new theoretical frameworks. The book provides practical examples and data analysis, making it a valuable resource for students and professionals seeking to deepen their knowledge of macroeconomics and monetary policy. It also includes discussions on exchange rate regimes, monetary policy interventions, and the role of central banks, offering insights into both theoretical and applied aspects of economics.

This edited volume examines the legal and economic world of the Romans through concepts, structures, and objects that reveal practices of standardization and localism. It explores the myriad ways in which the Roman Empire became an integrated political, social and economic system.  

Split across two volumes, the collection addresses the dynamic interaction between Rome and its provinces in developing institutions crucial to societal and economic development.  It challenges notions of uniformity, demonstrating how tensions between imperial standardization and local cultures could both drive innovative legal and economic practices and hinder empire-wide integration. The chapters explore broad questions from various disciplinary perspectives, including ancient economic history, law, papyrology, epigraphy and archaeology. Contributions cover diverse topics such as weights, measures, and coinage, legal practices, taxation, and cultural symbols. Each chapter investigates how, even as local communities adopted practices associated with Rome as a ruling power, local customs could, in turn, influence practices across the Empire. 

By illuminating these reciprocal relationships, this book recontextualizes Roman standardization—not merely as a tool of imperial domination but as evidence of diverse socioeconomic practices and cross-cultural exchanges. It will be a valuable resource for scholars of ancient economic history, classical archaeology, and ancient law, as well as anyone interested in the economy and culture of Ancient Rome.

This book is the first volume presenting carefully selected chapters from the proceedings of the 8th International Scientific Conference on Business and Economics (ISCBE), Tetovo, North Macedonia, which took place in May 2025. 

The chapters explore the interplay between green and digital transformations, highlighting how businesses and economies can leverage technology and innovation to achieve sustainability goals. They cover a wide range of areas relevant to contemporary business and economics issues such as sustainable business models, digital integration for green growth, economic policies for resilience, circular economy practices, and the role of finance in fostering sustainability.  

The book is an essential compass for business leaders to navigate the complex challenges posed by the impact of global economic tensions and competition on sustainability efforts.

The book aims to facilitate the development of circular bioeconomy education, research, policy, and engineering practices in global communities to benefit undergraduate and graduate students and professionals. The book is expected to guide future farming activities, reshape urban-rural relationships, promote economic regeneration, and improve science-based regulations and policies to ensure socio-demographic justice and resilience in climate-vulnerable communities. The book will stimulate the investment in new natural resource-based industries and contribute to addressing the challenges of climate change, nutrition security, biodiversity conservation, and realization of the net zero emission goal.

This book is open access.

This book presents an integrated theory of firms’ strategies and two types of policies, namely environmental policies, and merger control policies. It develops a framework to examine the intricate relationship between merger and acquisition (M&A) incentives, merger control policy, environmental policies, and firms’ sustainability practices. The chapters highlight the importance of policy coordination to underscore the link between M&A and environmental externality, and the link between merger policy and environmental policy. Drawing together related fields that are seldom linked in the literature, this volume offers a comprehensive and authoritative reference for scholars, graduate students, and policymakers.