Bücher der Reihe Contributions to Economics

This book examines unemployment insurance policy through a survey, taking stock of the theoretical work in the field of labor economics. It closely follows and assesses developments in the modelling of optimal unemployment insurance (UI) policies, beginning with the initial analytical findings produced in the second half of the 1970s. A main part of the survey is devoted to the two basic strands of analysis about, respectively, the optimal level of UI benefits and the optimal time profile of UI policy. The book has two different objectives. The first is to provide an essential summary of the individual models, with the intention of underscoring how a number of specific messages for the policy-maker can be derived from analytical constructions. It further emphasizes and comments on what the models deliver to UI policy-makers. The second objective is to stress the importance and extension of open questions in the field of the theoretical approach to the unemployment insurance issue. The survey discusses the multiplicity of heterogeneities of the labor world in particular as relevant for UI issues on the one side, and on the other hand, the independence of the two basic choices of UI policy, its meaning and its limits, and the possible forms of complementarity between these choices.The book is a must-read for researchers, students, and policy-makers interested in a better understanding of the field of labor economics in general, as well as unemployment insurance policies in particular.

Featuring case studies and examples of specific interventions and their impact in many countries, a number of them in Latin America, this book is useful to scholars, academics, practitioners and policy makers interested in the reduction of logistics costs and poverty reduction in the global economy.

This volume uses historical epistemology in order to address several topics in the history of economic thought, with special emphasis on ecological economics, environmental metaphors of scarcity, and mathematical ecology.

This book examines empirical and theoretical research on economic inequality from the perspective of dynamic models. By using advanced mathematical tools, it reveals fundamental market dynamics and underlines the role of subsistence constraints and competition in economic distribution.

Energy policies play a pivotal part in helping countries achieve their sustainable development goals. Further, energy is one of the critical raw materials in companies' production processes. Therefore, ensuring a steady energy supply is essential to increasing production; otherwise, countries will inevitably slide into recession. In this context, countries should select their energy policies on the basis of a comprehensive analysis. In order to achieve this goal, many different factors must be considered at the same time.The aim of this book is to determine the right energy policies for the sustainable economic development of countries. In this framework, effective strategies for different types of energy will be presented and vital issues such as determining the right locations for nuclear power plants, providing optimal government incentives to increase clean energy investments, and determining appropriate energy policies to reduce energy dependence will be examined. Thus, country-specific optimal energy policies will be outlined, contributing to the achievement of the UN's sustainable development goals (SDG). 

This book explores human decision-making heuristics. The monograph studies how nudging and winking can help citizens to make rational choices and governments to create choice architectures that aid in stabilizing markets and flourishing society. By applying the behavioral economics approach to political outcomes, it demonstrates how economics can be employed for personal benefits but also foster the greater societal good. A review of the current literature on human decision-making advantages and failures in Europe and North America opens the book. A wide range of nudges and winks is presented that aid to curb the harmful consequences of human decision-making fallibility. Awareness of mental heuristics and biases in the finance domain is strengthened in order to understand how to nudge people to benefit from economic markets but also help governments to stabilize economies in providing strategic market communication. The author also proposes concrete leadership and followership directives on nudging in the digital age. This book appeals to scholars and policy makers interested in rational decision-making. The behavioral perspective features the strategic use of nudging and winking in the digital age.The second revised and expanded edition offers the newest insights on behavioral e-Economics and the latest developments regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. It covers topics such as the role of social media in finance and discrimination in searchplace competition. It also offers new insights on strategic leadership and smart followership directives to successfully navigate through complex and fast-paced e-architectures.

This book is a compass for resource rich-developing countries, taking Mongolia as a case study. Policy aspects of the development of the mining sector in developing countries such as Mongolia and its impact on the economy and society are reviewed. The book deals with specific industry policies and challenges identified by policy makers, its characteristics and policy recommendations moving forward with an emphasis on the importance of evidence-based policy making (EBPM). It begins with the country's development strategy and the role of the mining industry, highlighting the fact that major strategic and policy documents still suffer from ambiguity and clear guidance as well as gaps in policy directions. The book also highlights the need for policy makers to improve transparency initiatives. Authors emphasize transparency or lack thereof in mining contracts, taxation, trading, and marketing and provide specific policy recommendations and alternative policy actions. The macroeconomic and social impact of the mining sector and the role of foreign direct investment is also discussed. Particularly, utilizing in-house economic analytical tools, the role and impact of resource revenue management policy in Mongolia is evaluated. Further, the impact of mining projects on the livelihood of local households as well as the importance of obtaining a social license to operate is discussed.This monograph is recommended for readers who want an in-depth comprehensive understanding of the mining sector, EBPM, and key lessons learned in managing natural resources in Mongolia.

Impact Assessment (IA) is introduced in this book, with a guide to the process, scope, content, and management of IA for the governments of developing economies. In doing so, evidence-based policy making is taken into full consideration.  After the principles of IA are set forth, its procedures are described,  illustrated by typical cases from the United States and Japan. Then an explanation follows of the components of IA such as necessity, alternatives, and assessment of cost and benefit, with a description of competition assessment. In developing economies,  it is not effective to simply import a system from developed countries directly into developing countries, especially for economic regulation and in consideration of compliance and competition issues. Thus the book provides recommendations on how to appropriately modify developed countries' systems for countries that are still developing. The book concludes by taking up several issues surrounding IA, especially nudge theory and public involvement.

This book focuses on China's fast-growing outward foreign direct investment (ODI) and discusses the underlying causes and profound effects of Chinese enterprises' "e;going global."e; The book includes eight chapters to analyze the basic characteristics of China's ODI manufacturing enterprises, examine the relationship between enterprise productivity and ODI, investigate the differences between state-owned enterprises and private enterprises in factor market, enterprise ownership and investment, analyze the overall effect of the foreign direct investment (FDI) and thereby the China-US bilateral investment treaties (BIT) on Chinese manufacturing sector in terms of productivity and profitability of the firms. The last chapter provides an overview of China's three stages of economic reform and opening-up policy in the past four decades, and analyzes the reasons for China's realization of the splendid economic achievements within such a short time and the main driving forces of China's incremental international trade in different stages, and discusses the future tasks that would promote the country into a new stage of all-round opening-up.The book aims to illustrate the evolution of China's opening-up design during the past decades and discuss several most important measures to build an all-around opening-up strategy. Based on these profound analyses, the book provides further policy implication for the sustainable development of China's opening-up.

This volume presents techniques and theories drawn from mathematics, statistics, computer science, and information science to analyze problems in business, economics, finance, insurance, and related fields. The authors present proposals for solutions to common problems in related fields. To this end, they are showing the use of mathematical, statistical, and actuarial modeling, and concepts from data science to construct and apply appropriate models with real-life data, and employ the design and implementation of computer algorithms to evaluate decision-making processes. This book is unique as it associates data science - data-scientists coming from different backgrounds - with some basic and advanced concepts and tools used in econometrics, operational research, and actuarial sciences. It, therefore, is a must-read for scholars, students, and practitioners interested in a better understanding of the techniques and theories of these fields.

This book aims to "digital economics" as an inter-discipline research area, by integrating economics, philosophy of technology, computer science and sociology. It takes an in-depth look at the history of technology development covering the changes and challenges to the society and thoughts, as it is, which helps readers to understand the logic and operation of the emerging integrated economy. Also a lot of innovation cases in digital transformation of China are presented in this book.

This book proposes a new approach to economics, starting from the commons and based on the Economy of Francesco (EoF), a worldwide movement of young people who aim to change the current economic models and working towards a fair, sustainable, and inclusive economic system. EoF was convened by Pope Francis and is inspired by the example of St. Francis of Assisi, featuring Franciscan economic roots and institutions, as well as theories of the social sciences.The authors raise and answer several important questions throughout the volume, such as: What if the economic courses taught in the universities across the globe focused their attention on the topics of the commons rather than on private goods? What if social businesses, rather than being considered as a hybrid form of businesses, became the normal approach, and ethical and green finance ruled over the standard financial sector? Is it possible to move away from the primacy of the consumers to the preeminence of ethical consumers who express their preferences for an inclusive, sustainable, and workers-friendly economic system with their daily choices? Using a unique approach, the book includes the contributions of prominent scholars which are integrated and discussed by young international scholars, providing a fresh analysis with a glance of hope for the future. The book is a must-read for students, scholars, and researchers of economics and related disciplines interested in alternatives to the current economic mainstream in general, and the Economy of Francesco in particular.

This volume illustrates the relationship between environmental factors and economic development of countries from various angles. Global warming has become a problem that threatens the whole world, especially in recent years. It is known that the main reason for this is carbon emissions. On the other hand, carbon emissions generally consist of fossil fuel-based energy consumption. This situation creates very serious environmental problems. Because of this problem, the concept of carbon zero has become very popular, especially in recent years. Many countries take some actions to minimize carbon emissions. Especially in the coming years, carbon emissions will become a competitive factor for countries and businesses. In this respect, countries with low carbon emissions will be preferred more in foreign trade. In addition, businesses that do not generate carbon emissions in the production process will also gain a significant competitive advantage in international trade. The contributions take a multidimensional outlook to energy investments and offer solutions for decision-making for energy projects in risky business ecosystems.

This book sheds new light on the evolution and transformation of polytheistic religions. By applying economic models to the study of religious history and by viewing religious events as the result of rational choices under given environmental constraints, it offers a political economy perspective for the study of Indo-European polytheism. The book formally models the rivalry or competition among multiple gods in a polytheistic system and the monotheistic solution to this competition. Presenting case studies on the transformation and demise of various polytheistic religions, it highlights the pivotal role of the priestly class in driving religious change and suggests a joint explanation for the demise of Greco-Roman religion and the resilience of Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. It will appeal to scholars of the economics of religion and religious history and to anyone seeking new insights into the birth and death of religions, and the birth of monotheism in particular.

This book examines the development of world trade during the COVID-19 pandemic, also taking international trade between the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation into account as a case study. Using an advanced method of artificial neural networks, it evaluates a long time series and predicts the development of trade between the two countries. The book further analyzes the specifications of export items on both sides and the dependence of the Czech Republic on Russia in terms of raw materials, which is not sustainable. It discusses the need for a political and business consensus, as well as a long-term investment plan to address this issue. Finally, it sheds light on the Czech companies actively operating in Russia, especially in the engineering, automotive, energy, and food industry. The book predicts the future bilateral trade relations between the two countries and the expected decrease in the demand on the side of Russian customers.The book will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of economics and finance in general, macro- and microeconomics, statistics, and trade analytics in particular, as well as professionals and international trade companies interested in a better understanding of world trade developments and the future trade scenarios between the Czech Republic and Russia.

Forecasting from multi-equation models has very rarely been the focus in econometric literature. In response, this book presents a range of methodologies to approach this complex field and offers readers essential information on forecasting from multi-equation econometric micromodels.In the twentieth century, significant interest in econometric macromodels emerged. These multi-equation models are mostly systems of interdependent equations, most often used to describe the national economies of various countries. The book analyzes econometric forecasting procedures and illustrates them with empirical examples that are based on real economic (mostly business-derived) data. The procedure of forecast building from systems of interdependent equations is presented for two categories of econometric models: models with a feedback effect and models with closed-loop links between interdependent variables. The forecasts obtained via this technique are compared with the results derived from reduced-form equations of the respective econometric model. The author also generalizes the rules of the reduced-recursive (helical, iterative) procedure application, against the backdrop of the proposed method of forecast building from reduced-form equations of systems of interdependent equations. Given its scope, the book will appeal not only to PhD students and researchers, but also undergraduate students and academics in general.

This edited volume discusses the biopolitics and shock economy of COVID-19, emphasizing medical perspectives and the socioeconomic dynamics of the pandemic and the ensuing institutional responses. Written by an international, multidisciplinary group of academic and professional experts, chapters embrace a wide range of topics such as: medical perspectives on COVID-19; application of geospatial technology; infectivity, immunogenicity, and disease as important factors for adoption of relevant biopolitical measures; shock economy; COVID-19-induced transaction costs; social support and resilience of inhabitants of marginalized areas; business resilience factors; entrepreneurship; and digital transformation. Jointly addressing global examples of biopolitical governance and overarching macroeconomic effects of the pandemic, this volume will be of interest to academics across disciplines as well as policymakers and practitioners on the ground.

Given the industrialized world¿s historical dependence on fossil fuel-based energy resources and the now-realized perils of moving beyond the earth¿s carbon budget, this book explores the myriad challenges of climate change and in reaching a low-carbon economy. Reconciling the medium-term competing, yet frequently complementary, needs for transition policies, the book provides guidelines for complex and often conflicting climate policy tasks. The book presents empirical trends in the use of carbon-emitting resources and evaluates market-driven short-termism and its adverse impact on resource use and the environment; it emphasizes a medium-term macroeconomic perspective for the transition. The authors attempt a paradigm shift towards a framework of sustainable macroeconomics. They survey relevant historical models, conduct empirical and numerical analyses ofthe climate change-relevant dynamic models, provide empirical illustrations, and evaluate diverse policy options and implementations together with their historical evolution. New analytical issues are also considered, e.g., strategic behavior in the energy and resource sectors, energy competition and the dynamics of market shares in new energy technology, and supporting policies for dealing with the tipping points encountered in climate change. The authors suggest a multitude of market-based strategies and public fiscal, monetary, and financial policies, and longer-run planning for resource extraction -all suitable for driving sustainable growth and a transformation of the energy sector. The book also examines the multiple delaying forces slowing the transition to a low-carbon economy; these typically arise from short-termism, lock-ins, irreversibility, leakages, non-cooperative games, and other political strategies. Thus, they explain the snail¿s pace evolution of current national and global climate policies. The book will appeal to scholars and students of economics and environmental science. It is also relevant for policymakers and practitioners in multilateral institutions, research institutions as well as governments and ministries of countries interested in alternative energy sources, climate economists, and those who study the implementation of sustainable and low carbon-based policies.