Business : Economic Conditions

As Japan's decade-long economic stagnation continues, there has been much analysis of the immediate macroeconomic problems that confront the Japanese economy. This book looks past the short-run challenges to the future of Japan and highlights the intermediate and longer-term issues that country faces. In this, the first book-length academic treatment of this important issue, a team of notable contributors present nine papers, offering a comprehensive assessment of those economic difficulties and addressing a range of specific issues, from financial restructuring and the impact of the aging Japanese population to corporate behavior, public lending, employment practices, and innovative capacity. In each paper, contributors clearly identify and outline problems and concerns, carefully pose provocative questions, and in many instances present concrete suggestions for improvement. The resulting volume is a timely and important examination of critical issues for Japan's stalling economy, packed with both telling data and expert analysis and offering valuable perspectives on Japan's current obstacles. more...

Price: $70.00

A rallying cry to renew the position of the West in the global economy. If globalization's cheerleaders are right and the world is indeed flat, then it's tilted heavily toward the East. In this provocative look at globalization and its discontents, agenda-setting journalist Gabor Steingart challenges the cadre of well-known globalization supporters-from Thomas Friedman and other media personalities to economists to the politicians that are enabling this transfer of jobs and wealth-to show how the same free-trade policies that are responsible for the Asian economic miracle are destroying the West's way of life and standard of living. Using numerous examples, The War for Wealth demonstrates how China and other Asian powerhouses have turned the sources of our economic might against us, and shows how we will continue to lose wealth and prosperity if we continue down the current path. To resolve these issues, Steingart makes a strong case for controversial fixes, such as a NATO-like trans-Atlantic trade agreement and a rethinking of our most basic trade policies. more...

Price: $29.95

Once heralded in the 1950s and 1960s as a model welfare state, Sweden is now in transition and in trouble since its economic plunge in the early 1990s. This volume presents ten essays that examine Sweden's economic problems from a U.S. perspective. Exploring such diverse topics as income equalization and efficiency, welfare and tax policy, wage determination and unemployment, and international competitiveness and growth, they consider how Sweden's welfare state succeeded in eliminating poverty and became a role model for other countries. They then reflect on Sweden's past economic problems, such as the increase in government spending and the fall in industrial productivity, warning of problems to come. Finally they review the consequences of the collapse of Sweden's economy in the early 1990s, exploring the implications of its efforts to reform its welfare state and reestablish a healthy economy. This volume will be of interest to policymakers and analysts, social scientists, and economists interested in welfare states. more...

Price: $95.00

“This is the end of the world as we’ve known it,” Kurt Andersen writes in Reset . “But it isn’t the end of the world.” In this smart and refreshingly hopeful book, Andersen–a brilliant analyst and synthesizer of historical and cultural trends, as well as a bestselling novelist and host of public radio’s Studio 360 –shows us why the current economic crisis is actually a moment of great opportunity to get ourselves and our nation back on track. more...

Price: $15.00

Global corporations are rapidly discovering an emerging market of nearly 600 million Latin consumers in the United States and Latin America. In Winning Strategies for the New Latin Markets, three experts analyze the Latin market's unique dynamics and offer end-to-end strategies for success. They illuminate dramatic transformations in demographics, economics, local competition, regulation, technology, and culture. Then, through executive interviews and case studies, they offer insights into key strategies for every aspect of doing business: regional market expansion, market segmentation, branding, distribution, financing, and corporate structure. more...

Price: $27.20