Economic Conditions books

How do changes at home, in the labor market and on the job affect worker well-being? This volume of Research in Labor Economics contains eight original and insightful articles answering this question. Seven deal with demographic and labor market change, and one deals with wage differences essentially at a point in time. Of the seven, two articles analyze changes in family related matters and have implications regarding labor supply; two examine legislative changes, one of which has implications on teenage employment, and the other on informal business formation; one looks at potential productivity changes on farms in a developing country and has implications for remaining on the family farm or going to work; one models wage growth and shows why wages sometimes fall as one remains in a job longer; and finally, one investigates new enterprise formation over time. 

Disaster risk management is of increasing significance in today’s world. Every year, natural disasters cause tens of thousands of deaths and tens of billions of dollars’ worth of losses. Northeast Asia holds a high propensity for natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods and landslides. Countries in the region have a long history of natural disasters that have devastated populations, cities and their heritage. Restoring livelihoods and rebuilding social and economic infrastructures requires adequate political actions and financial resources, necessitating the implementation of a comprehensive strategy for the management of catastrophe risks.  Coping with Disaster: Risk Management in Northeast Asia provides an examination of the disaster risk management approaches and financing practices adopted in China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. The objective of this book is to provide the necessary information on hazards, exposures and vulnerabilities to assist policy development design to increase governmental preparedness for catastrophe risks. It addresses the traditional aspects of disaster risk management, but goes further to focus on the measures of financial protection required to secure post-disaster resources and strengthen budgetary discipline.  Written in an accessible and comprehensible manner, the book will appeal to a wide audience, but is of special interest to policy-makers, public officials, insurance managers and students eager to learn more about disaster risk management in one of the most exposed regions in the world.

Entrepreneurial ecosystems constructed by disadvantaged entrepreneurs often exist beside, within, and in opposition to 'mainstream' ecosystems focused on high growth high technology entrepreneurial ventures. Disadvantaged Entrepreneurship and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem addresses the lack of current research concerning disadvantage using an entrepreneurial ecosystem lens, and the failure of entrepreneurship policy to widen engagement in entrepreneurship for disadvantaged people and places. Drawing together issues affecting disadvantaged entrepreneurs as they struggle to access, interact with, and benefit from, the traditional entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE), these findings highlight the importance of their motives for entrepreneurial activity, their resources, and how access to these are affected by issues such as gender and migrant status. The research in this book also suggests policymakers need targeted, supportive, business-support programs taking into consideration the multiple challenges disadvantaged entrepreneurs typically face.

Enterprise can revolutionise economic development in Africa. This edited collection provides readers with a new perspective on a continental phenomenon which is still under researched in contemporary academic discussions. An international range of contributions present real-world examples of the impact of entrepreneurial practice on economic development in Africa, drawing on original research, as well as analysis of current enterprise policies and approaches. Enterprise and Economic Development in Africa highlights the forces that lie behind the recent economic progress on the continent, together with in-depth discussion of African entrepreneurship and the role of institutions in economic development. Chapters explore enterprise and economic development issues including rural entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurship, SME networks, youth employment challenges, university-based entrepreneurial promotion, export-led industrialisation and more. This expansive collection extends the critical examinations of entrepreneurship and economic development in Africa to date, highlighting both challenges and opportunities in developing economies in this unique context.

Entrepreneurship is an essential driver for economic growth and innovation. With the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) economies implementing reforms to improve employment, growth, diversification, governance structures, private sector development, the ecosystem encouraging MENA's digital entrepreneurship potential has been falling into place to unlock all its entrepreneurship potential. Entrepreneurial Rise in the Middle East and North Africa shares contributions from researchers and practitioners in a wide variety of fields related to the relationships and inter-dependencies between innovation, political regimes, and economic and social development throughout the MENA region. Chapters explore innovations across these varied sectors, emphasising on the discovery of emerging patterns and catalysts to these innovations and their impact on future research, practice, and policy. The Quadruple Helix model describes this new economic environment with examples throughout the MENA region on how government, universities, companies, civil society/community support innovation. Examining these unique start-up scenes, Entrepreneurial Rise in the Middle East and North Africa: The Influence of Quadruple Helix on Technological Innovation will be beneficial for upcoming students, entrepreneurs, and researchers interested in the concepts of the Quadruple Helix model of innovation, tech start-ups, and entrepreneurship rise in the Middle East and North Africa.

Research in Experimental Economics focuses on laboratory experimental economics, but welcomes work from authors of theoretical, empirical, or field economic research if it would be of interest to the broader experimental economics community. The goal of Research in Experimental Economics is to be complementary with, and not in competition with, traditional journals as outlets for experimental work. Research in Experimental Economics has the freedom to consider papers that may not be appropriate for traditional journals for a variety of reasons. Some examples of these strengths include: theme volumes, replication studies, research which requires longer manuscripts for presentation of data or analysis, and papers on methodological topics. The volumes of Research in Experimental Economics are not tied to specific, recurring conferences. Typically, a volume theme is established with scholars who are willing to serve as volume-specific editors. The only constraint the senior editor places on the volume editors is that the papers should undergo a formal referee process using the same quality standards as traditional journals. Recent topics have included market power, charitable contributions, and field experiments.

A country's economic productivity is directly related to the health of its workforce. Thus, how a nation allocates resources to the physical health of its population is of vital importance in establishing the economic well-being of its citizens. This volume contains nine original and innovative articles that investigate the relationship between a nation's health policies, employee health and resulting labor market outcomes. Topics include the direct link between employees' health and wages, the employment impact of an unfavorable health shock, the relationship between job insecurity and a worker's mental health, the effect of career disruptions on already chronically ill workers, the consequences of arbitrary health insurance disenrollments, the impact of reducing publically available sick day benefits, the repercussions of increasing employers' sick pay benefits on absenteeism, the relationship between economic conditions and opioid abuse, and the consequences of parental migration on children's health.   For researchers and students of labor economics, or anyone interested in understanding how a country's health policies affect its economic productivity, this volume is a fundamental text.

Research on Economic Inequality is a well-established publication of quality research. This 30th volume features insightful and original papers from the 9th Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ) meeting. Mobility and Inequality Trends begins by illustrating the trajectory of income inequality in the world over the course of recent decades before the second paper makes a crucial distinction between ‘bad’ inequality, which is detrimental to society, and ‘good’ inequality, which is beneficial. Focus then shifts to bad inequality, one paper covering the relationship between intergenerational elasticity and inequality of opportunity, and the second studying the relationship between intergenerational mobility and life satisfaction in Spain. The volume then progresses to defend the use of intermediate views of inequality when constructing indicators of social welfare obtained through the use of average income and the Gini coefficient before investigating the advantage of using a multifaceted approach to income mobility measurement. To conclude Mobility and Inequality Trends presents an intensive exploration of income inequality in China and then studies the effects of the policy measure “Minimum Living Income. Finally, the last paper studies the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic stimulus policies.

Since 1991, the eyes of the world have been on the economic growth and development of the states that formerly made up the Soviet Union. Looking at Belarus’s industrial structure, economic growth, and economic prospects, this edited collection analyses why Belarus is considered ahead of many of its neighbour states in terms of human development.   Looking across both medium- and long-term economic growth, editor Bruno S. Sergi brings together a cast of expert contributors to analyse the foreign and domestic policies that affect Belarus’s economy. Across the 20 chapters included in the book, the contributors explore the largest industries in Belarus, including the financial, technology, tourism, and energy industries. With chapters on foreign investments, exports and imports, and regional policy, this is a text that looks across the whole breadth of the economy.   Finally, the contributors suggest factors to increase the growth of Belarus’s economy, such as launching smart cities, expanding logistic services and the tourism and hospitality industry, and the modernization of the agrarian sector.  For students and researchers in political economy, or international economics, this is a vital text exploring an important, but underrepresented, economy.

The growth of manufacturing industries can be a key factor in helping to mitigate global recession. Productivity Growth in the Manufacturing Sector highlights key issues and possible remedies facing the manufacturing sector in range of international contexts. Focusing on specific manufacturing sectors in emerging and developing economies, chapters examine themes including developing economies amidst changing world trade dynamics, and the role of smart, circular and competitive manufacturing practices in enhancing economic resilience, as well as presenting sector specific analysis, including the metal manufacturing industry, food & beverage industry, and the small-scale manufacturing sector. Showcasing different demonstrative methods that can be adopted to grow manufacturing sectors in different contexts, Productivity Growth in the Manufacturing Sector is an important tool for economists and policy makers to understand the complexity and realities of these economies, using recent data and methodology.