Economics and Finance

This book mounts a critique of current health economics and provides a new way of looking at the economics of health and health care. It argues that health economics has been too dominated by the economics of health care and has largely ignored the impact of poverty, inequality, poor housing, and lack of education on health. It is suggested that some of the structural issues of economies, particularly the individualism of neo liberalism which is becoming more and more pervasive across the globe, need to be addressed in health economics. The book instead proposes a form of collective decision making through communitarianism, placing value on participation in public life and on institutions, such as health care. It is envisaged this form of decision making can be used at the local, national, or global levels. For the last, this would mean a major revamp of global institutions like the World Bank and the IMF. Examples of the impact of the new paradigm on health policy in general but also more specifically on priority setting and equity are included.

Britain's income distribution is like a multi-story apartment building with the numbers of residents on the different floors corresponding to the concentration of people at different income levels in any particular year. The poorest are in the basement, the richest are in the penthouse, and the majority somewhere in between. But what are the dynamics of occupancy patterns? Snapshots of the building register at different times tell us nothing about these. Over time, how much movement between floors is there, and has the frequency of moves or the distance travelled been changing over the last two decades? In particular, is there much turnover in the basement, and do basement dwellers ever reach the penthouse? Who moves the most and how far? What are the factors associated with movements up and down the income tower over time? This book addresses such questions with extensive new analysis based on data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) covering 1991–2006, providing a comprehensive and original study of income mobility and poverty dynamics. There is detailed discussion of why longitudinal perspectives on the income distribution are of interest, and of the relevant concepts and measures. There is in-depth discussion of the BHPS and its household income data, and comparisons with other national and international longitudinal data sources. The book shows that patterns of income mobility in Britain have not changed over the last two decades but fewer people are persistently poor, and it discusses the reasons for these trends.

This book features case studies on national patterns of local production systems, focusing on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in France, Germany, Italy, and the UK. It is divided into three parts. Part I analyses the two cases that dominated the initial, 1980s industrial district literature: Emilia-Romagna and Baden Wurttemberg; and the machinery industry. Part II focuses on pre-crisis, large-firm, Fordist specialization. Part III presents examples of new industries where SME clusters are important: the biopharmaceutical industries around Oxford, the media sector in Cologne, information technology in Pisa, and computer technologies in Grenoble.

Two sharply contrasting views of China exist today. On the one hand a rising superpower predicted to have the largest economy in the world by mid century, on the other hand a brutal, anachronistic and authoritarian regime, a threat to geo-stability and to the economies of the industrial world. So which China is the real China? The author addresses this question by exploring China's economy, political and legal system, and most controversially, its record on civil, political, and personal rights in the context of the developing world. Avoiding polemic and relying on empirical evidence, he compares China's performance not with first world countries such as the US and UK, but with other middle income countries, and highlights the often hypocritical stance of an international community that demands standards from others that it does not match at home. He also critically evaluates the benefits of globalization and democratization, and the normative values of the West set against Beijing's determination to retain its cultural and political integrity. This book seeks to bridge the gap in understanding China and to create a firmer foundation for mutual trust, while recognizing that there are inevitable risks in a shift in global power of this magnitude that will require hard-headed pragmatism at times where interests collide.

The rise of Asia, and China specifically, is the single most important force reshaping the world economy at the beginning of the 21st century. From a low of 20% in 1950, Asia's share of global GDP has now risen to 33% and will exceed 40% within a generation if current forecasts are realized. Asia's growing weight in the world economy is elevating it to a central position in global economic and financial affairs. The potential global impact of this astonishing growth is far reaching, from oil markets and the environment to a reshaping of trade relations in the current multilateral system dominated by the WTO. This collection of chapters written by leading economists explores the likely impact of the rapid growth in the East Asian economies, and in particular China, on the world economy in the coming decades and the consequent challenges for the development of trade, macroeconomic, and environmental policy.

China’s economic growth has transformed the country from one of the poorest in the world to its second largest economy. The drivers of growth remain elusive, as the country is affected by both its transition from central planning and the challenges of a developing country. This book examines the main themes of growth, offering micro-level evidence to shed light on the macro drivers of the economy. It also focuses on law and informal institutions of the economy to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship and the development of the private sector.

How has the Chinese economy managed to grow at such a remarkable rate — no less than ten per cent per annum — for over three decades? This book combines economic theory, empirical estimation, and institutional analysis to address one of the most important questions facing contemporary economists. A common thread that runs throughout the book is the underlying political economy: why China became a ‘developmental state’, and how it has maintained itself as a ‘developmental state’. The book examines the causal processes at work in the evolution of China's institutions and policies. It estimates cross-country and cross-province growth equations to shed light on the proximate, and some of the underlying, determinants of the growth rate. It explores important consequences of China's growth, posing a series of key questions, such as: Is the economy running out of unskilled labour? Why and how has inequality risen; has economic growth raised happiness? What are the social costs of the overriding priority accorded to growth objectives? Can China continue to grow rapidly, or will the maturing economy, or the macroeconomic imbalances, or financial crisis, or social instability, bring it to an end?

China's telecommunications industry has seen revolutionary transformation and growth over the past three decades. Chinese Internet users number more than 150 million, and the PRC expects to quickly pass the US in total numbers of connected citizens. The number of mobile and fixed-line telephone users soared from a mere 2 million in 1980 to a total of more than 800 million in 2007 — the country took the number one rank in the world in the number of telephones. China has been the most successful developing nation in history for spreading telecommunications access at an unparalleled rapid pace. This book tells how China conducted its remarkable ‘telecommunications revolution’. It examines both corporate and government policy to get citizens connected to both voice and data networks. It looks at the potential challenges to the one-party government when citizens get this access. And it considers the new opportunities for networking now offered the people of one of the world's fastest growing economies. The book is based on the author's fieldwork conducted in several Chinese cities, as well as extensive archival research. It focuses on key issues such as building and running the country's Internet, mobile phone company rivalry, foreign investment in the sector, and telecommunications in China's vibrant city of Shanghai. It also considers the country's internal ‘digital divide’, and questions how equitable the telecommunications revolution has been. Finally, it examines the ways the PRC's entry to the World Trade Organization will shape the future course of telecommunications growth.