Books on the topic 'Value trace problem'

Caie focuses on an epistemic utility theory picture of epistemic norms where epistemic utility functions measure the value of degrees of belief, and rationality consists in maximizing expected epistemic utility. Caie argues that in a wide variety of cases this view says that all degreed beliefs are rational, or none are, or it issues no verdicts. This is, roughly, because an agent’s degrees of beliefs will often not encode the appropriate dependence hypotheses that are needed so that various beliefs have expected epistemic utility values. Caie thus argues the unintuitive verdicts of epistemic utility theory are not limited to the byzantine examples of epistemic trade-offs, but are much more widespread.

Humans use reasons to shape and justify choices. In the process, trade-offs seem essential and often inevitable. But trade-offs involve comparisons, which are problematic both across values and especially over time. Reducing disparate values to a common metric (especially if that metric is money) is often problematic and unsatisfactory. Critically, it is not that values just shape choices, but that choices themselves shape values. This endogeneity of values makes an unconditional normative endorsement of modern decision-theoretic rationality unwise. This is a hard problem and there is no escaping the definition of good values, that is, those that make humans better. This removes the wall between economics and philosophy. If we are to adopt and enact this perspective, then greater discourse and debate on what matters and not just what counts will be useful and even indispensable.

Environmental ethics studies the values and principles involved in combating environmental problems such as pollution, loss of species and habitats, and climate change. Environmental Ethics: A Very Short Introduction traces the discipline’s origins and considers how it defends the independent value of living creatures and the need to make decisions informed by the needs and interests of future generations. Exploring the diverse approaches to ethical decisions and judgements, it highlights the importance of making production and consumption sustainable, and of addressing human population levels, together with policies for preserving species, sub-species, and their habitats. It also discusses the different social and political movements involved and considers the environmental attitudes of the world’s religions.

In Living Worth Stefan Ecks draws on ethnographic research on depression and antidepressant usage in India to develop a new theory of value. Framing depressive disorder as a problem of value, Ecks traces the myriad ways antidepressants come to have value, from their ability to help make one’s life worth living to the wealth they generate in the multibillion-dollar global pharmaceutical market. Through case studies that include analyses of the different valuation of generic and brand-name drugs, the origins of rising worldwide depression rates, and the marketing, prescription, and circulation of antidepressants, Ecks theorizes value as a process of biocommensuration. Biocommensurations—transactions that aim or claim to make life better—are those forms of social, medical, and corporate actions that allow value to be measured, exchanged, substituted, and redistributed. Ecks’s theory expands value beyond both a Marxist labor theory of value and a free market subjective theory, thereby offering new insights into how the value of lives and things become entangled under neoliberal capitalism.

The “circular economy” practices within the concept of sustainability offer solutions to the problem of uncontrolled production and irresponsible consumption that the world is trying to overcome. Approaches are being developed within the framework of circular economy in many areas from economy to environment, from education to local government policies, from finance to trade. The book “Circular Economy and Sustainable Living” discusses the circular economy conceptually and questions its necessity. Afterwards, it focuses on the applications of this concept with chapters written by experts in the field. The peculiarity of this book is that it does not focus solely on the definition of the circular economy. Besides economic issues such as capital markets, value chains, labor market, cryptocurrencies, management of enterprises, the book also includes practices in education and environment. We hope that the book will contribute to the solution of the global economic and environmental problems experienced by the world with detections and suggestions.

African countries have diversified both their exports and trade partners over the last decade, African agricultural trade still suffers from structural problems as well as exogenous shocks. Against this backdrop, the 2021 Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor (AATM) analyzes continental and regional trends in African agricultural trade flows and policies. The report finds that many African countries continue to enjoy the most success in global markets with cash crops and niche products. At the intra-African level, countries are becoming more interconnected in trade of key commodities, but there remain many potential but unexploited trade relationships. The report examines the livestock sector in detail, finding that despite its important role in Africa, the sector is concentrated in low value- added products that are informally traded. The report also examines trade integration in the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), which remains limited due to factors including tariffs, nontariff measures, poor transport infrastructure, and weak institutions. Finally, the report discusses the implications of two major events affecting African trade in 2020 and 2021: the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Agricultural trade and global food security have been dramatically affected by a series of events. While the global economy is recovering in 2022 from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked new and challenging problems. In a context where agricultural prices were recovering from a generalized surge throughout the pandemic, the war reversed these trends and opened an new episode of rising food prices, general inflationary pressures, and increased volatility. The combination of these shocks affects agricultural trade and food security throughout Africa, especially in countries highly dependent on food imports. The role of trade in creating resilience in this volatile environment is crucial and has been much discussed. From this perspective, the 2022 Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor (AATM) contributes to our understanding of African agricultural trade and its relationship with food and nutrition security in several important ways. First, it provides a thorough analysis of regional and continental trade in agriculture and selected value chains using accurate statistics developed for this report. This year, it adds an analysis of the nutritional content of African trade and looks closely at the trade in processed products. Second, it examines the potentially transformative impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on the region’s economies. Third, at the regional level, it analyzes the evolution of intra- as well as extra-regional trade flows, and trade policy of one of Africa’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs), namely the Economic Community of Central Africa States (ECCAS). As in prior editions, this fifth AATM provides improved trade statistics and uses consistent indicators to monitor trends in Africa’s participation in global trade as well as the status of intra-African trade. The report highlights three main findings. First, the insertion of African countries in global and regional value chains is low but has recently improved. Indeed, both forward participation in value chains (that is, provision of inputs to other countries’ processing sectors) and backward participation (incorporation of imported intermediates into African traded products) have increased, although forward links have grown faster than backward links. Second, intra-African trade increased significantly prior to the pandemic in most RECs, especially in processed products. Yet, this trend was halted by the COVID-19 shock, especially in ECCAS and the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU). Third, the nutritional content of extra-African trade is concentrated in products with a high value and a low caloric content. In comparison, intra-African flows are more intensive in calories, fat, and protein. The report also examines a number of special topics. One chapter is devoted to modeling the impacts on trade, growth, and welfare of several potential approaches to AfCFTA implementation. The results confirm that there is a high opportunity cost associated with weak AfCFTA implementation, which is why it is crucial to take a more ambitious approach that fully liberalizes tariffs and reduces nontariff measures. The 2022 AATM also conducts a detailed analysis of trends and policy issues in value chains for stimulants (cocoa, coffee, and tea), demonstrating that trade in these sectors is still concentrated in unprocessed products. Finally, the report examines in-depth the patterns of trade integration within ECCAS. One important finding is that intraregional trade is still impeded by many tariffs, nontariff measures, and poor transport infrastructure. AKADEMIYA2063 and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) are pleased to present this collaborative report, which provides an insightful review of Africa’s progress in trade development, within and beyond the continent, and new analysis on critical topics for trade in Africa’s agrifood sector.

This chapter problematizes the notions and language of tolerance and accommodation in relation to religious diversity, and traces their genealogy both as legal solutions and as discursive frameworks within which religious diversity is increasingly understood in the public sphere. The problem they pose is that they create a hierarchy of privilege that preserves hegemonic power relations by religious majorities over religious minorities. Tolerance in this context might be imagined as the broadly stated value that we must deal with diversity and those who are different from us by tolerating them. Accommodation might be seen as the implementation of this value—that in order to demonstrate our commitment to tolerance we must accommodate the ‘demands’ of minority groups and those individuals who position themselves or align themselves with minorities.

This chapter argues that the value of comparative area studies (CAS) depends on some original frame of reference, here the field of Southeast Asian studies. We trace the evolution of this field in view of research on other world regions and general methodological debates. The chapter also highlights the role of CAS in overcoming increasingly rigid methodological divides over such core issues as context-sensitivity and the challenges of comparative research practice. We outline a methodologically pluralist framework of area studies comparisons. This requires methodological bridges between mainstream disciplines and area studies as well as innovative approaches to conceptual problems associated with comparing different regions and cultures. In the process, CAS can also increase attention to non-Western regions, which sometimes get short shrift in theory building in the social sciences. Thus, CAS is in a particularly strong position to mediate the ongoing internationalization and “de-Westernization” of global knowledge.

Wildlife trafficking threatens the existence of many plant and animal species and accelerates the destruction of wildlife, forests, and other natural resources. It contributes to environmental degradation, destroys unique natural habitats, and deprives many countries and their populations of scarce renewable resources. The more endangered a species becomes, the greater is the commercial value that is put on the remaining specimen, thereby increasing the incentive for further illegal activities. Preventing and supressing the illegal trade in wildlife, animal parts, and plants is presently not a priority in many countries. Despite the actual and potential scale and consequences, wildlife trafficking often remains overlooked and poorly understood. Wildlife and biodiversity related policies, laws, and their enforcement have, for the most part, not kept up with the changing levels and patterns of wildlife trafficking. Poorly developed legal frameworks, weak law enforcement, prosecutorial, and judicial practices have resulted in valuable wildlife and plant resources becoming threatened. The high demand for wildlife, animal parts, plants, and plant material around the world has resulted in criminal activities on a large scale. Considerably cheaper than legally sourced material, the illegal trade in fauna and flora offers opportunities to reap significant profits. Gaps in domestic and international control regimes, difficulties in identifying illegal commodities and secondary products, along with intricate trafficking routes make it difficult to effectively curtail the trade. Although several international and non-governmental organisations have launched initiatives aimed at bringing international attention to the problem of wildlife trafficking, political commitment and operational capacity to tackle this phenomenon are not commensurate to the scale of the problem. There is, to date, no universal framework to prevent and suppress this crime type and there is a lack of critical and credible expertise and scholarship on this phenomenon. As part of their joint teaching programme on transnational organised crime, the University of Queensland, the University of Vienna, and the University of Zurich examined the topic of wildlife trafficking in a year-long research course in 20182019. Students from the three universities researched selected topics and presented their findings in academic papers, some of which have been compiled in this volume. The chapters included in this v edited book address causes, characteristics, and actors of wildlife trafficking, analyse detection methods, and explore different international and national legal frameworks.

This chapter describes two scenarios, the two possible ways in which the final act of the European project plays out. In the first scenario, European authorities remain confident that they have essentially been on the right track and they continue to make modest course corrections, which they believe will ensure a brighter European future. However, the elusive and frustrating pursuit of deeper economic and financial integration causes more economic and political damage. Setbacks and crises recur to test the euro and its accompanying political vision. In the second scenario, the pro-European vision, European authorities recognize the important truth that “more Europe” will not solve Europe's most pressing economic and social problems. They dismantle the economically counterproductive and politically corrosive system of fiscal rules and rely more on financial markets to enforce fiscal discipline. Paradoxically, the euro survives, not because it adds value but because it becomes largely irrelevant.

Religion and Politics in a Mediatized Society: Critical Analyses and Spheres of Interinfluence in Nigeria and Beyond edited by Bellarmine A. Ezumah, Charles A. Ebelebe, and Olunifesi A. Suraj contextualizes the hegemonic relationship of religion and politics in Nigeria and beyond The dynamics of religion and religious practices are examined using various communication theories and paradigms to extrapolate how religion is designed, packaged, disseminated, and interpreted among Nigerians. Contributors trace the evolution and development of this problem to colonialism. The contributors measure the impact of religious media messages from three perspectives: the impact of the messages themselves; the impact of the medium used in transmitting the message as in the McLuhan philosophy, “the medium is the message”; and the impact from the power of the source – the religious or political leaders (Opinion Leader) who exert influence on opinion followers. In this book, the contributors examine how religion is considered a propagandistic venture whereby capitalism and monetary gain are the norms, minimizing core religious values, traditional teachings, and methods of worship.

The publication analyses the problem of the functioning of the principles of self-government in the political culture and practice of Cossack Ukraine, in particular, its important component - free election of Cossack administration - from centurions to colonels and hetman inclusive. The author traces the content of the concept of ‘free election’ in its traditional perception by the Cossacks and the temporal changes in its nature that occurred in the course of the immanent political and social development of the early modern state of the Hetmanate, as well as under the influence of external factors. In the context of external influences, the author reconstructs in detail the policy of the Moscow State / Russian Empire regarding the practice of electing authorities in the Cossack Hetmanate, which was autonomous in relation to the imperial center, in particular, the attempts of the central government to first establish control over the field of personnel policy of the autonomy, and later to actively influence it and level the value of free election. The publication is an absolutely essential guide to researchers, teachers, students and a wide readership.

This chapter traces the development of the radical secular press in Egypt from its first brief emergence in the 1870s until the outbreak of World War I. First active in the 1860s, the anarchist movement gradually expanded its membership and influence over subsequent decades to articulate a general social emancipation and syndicalism for all workers in the country. In the decade and a half before 1914, its press collectively propagated a critique of state power and capitalism, called for social justice and the organisation of labour, and promoted the values of science and public education in both a local context and as part of an international movement. In seeking to promote a programme at odds with both nationalism and colonial rule, it incurred the hostility of the authorities in addition to facing the practical problems of managing and financing an oppositional newspaper.

This book is about how humankind can manage global problems to achieve both security and justice in an age of antithesis. Global connectivity is increasing, visibly and invisibly—in trade, finance, culture, and information—helping to spur economic growth, technological advance, and greater understanding and freedom, but global disconnects are growing as well. Ubiquitous electronics rely on high-value minerals scraped from the earth by miners kept dirt-poor by corruption and war. People abandon burning states for the often indifferent welcome of wealthier lands whose people, in turn, pull in on themselves. International bucket brigades are too little, too late—and some throw gas on the flames. Humanity’s very success, underwritten in large part by lighting up gigatons of long-buried carbon for 200 years, now threatens humanity’s future. The global governance institutions established after World War Two to manage global threats, especially the twin scourges of war and poverty, have expanded in reach and impact, while paradoxically losing the political support of their wealthiest and most powerful members. Their problems mimic those of their members in struggling to adapt to new problems and maintain trust in institutions. This volume argues, however, that a properly mandated, managed, and modernized global architecture offers unparalleled potential to midwife solutions to vexing issues that transcend borders and capacities of individual actors, from conflict and climate change to poverty and pandemic disease. The volume offers “just security” as a new conceptual framework for evaluating innovative solutions and strategies for institutional reform.

Challenging the notion that public actions and political lobbying are the women’s movement’s main tactics, this chapter traces the history of an extra-institutional form of feminism—narrative-based consciousness-raising—from its inception in the 1910s through its contemporary online expression today. Rather than a product of second-wave feminism, narrative-based consciousness-raising has always been central to the women’s movement, as the chapter shows. Narrative-based consciousness-raising as a strategy assumes that, in order to change fundamental societal institutions such as marriage, the nuclear family, and the state, men and women must first change their consciousness about themselves and society. This strategy utilizes personal life stories, or life narratives, to reveal the collective roots of personal problems in order to effect this personal change. The persistence of this strategy through three waves of feminist activism demonstrates the value of raising collective awareness for fighting gendered oppression. The author argues that this continuity is a result of institutionalized knowledge and a response to similar historical circumstances, rather than direct connections between waves.

Attention to material culture reveals generally shared responses across cultures to size, light, and representations of the human form. Even without specific cultural knowledge, monumental sculpture tends to provoke a sense of awe and small dark spaces a sense of foreboding and mystery. For this reason, whether for small-scale studies of individual practices or events or for comparative religion on a grander scale, attention to material culture has great explanatory potential. Before returning to the value of an appreciation of objects for understanding emotion and religion, this article presents a brief introduction to the term “material culture” and problems specific to the study of the material culture of religion. It then looks at intense emotions in extraordinary contexts, including the ecstasy of a shaman in trance, the anger of a crowd driven to violence, the weeping of saints, and the wonder of devotees in the presence of the miraculous. The article also considers objects that play a role in more pedestrian, though not necessarily less important, feelings.

This chapter traces the development of service user involvement in research and user-controlled research, from its origins in the early 1990s to the present day where mental health researchers are expected to involve service users. It looks at why service users wanted to be involved in research and their issues of concern, including the effects of treatment, staff attitudes, and human rights. Values in research are linked to the epistemological underpinnings of research, and it is argued that service users’ ways of knowing based on experience are in conflict with mainstream research based on claims of objectivity and neutrality. Service user involvement at all levels from consultation to control is explored with examples. The benefits and problems of working in partnership are explored, and the chapter ends with an assessment of the impact of involvement in research and how it can lead to change.

Chapter 5 concerns bargains. A bargain is an exchange in which each party views what he gives as the price of what he gets. Bargain promises are the paradigm case of a promise that should be legally enforceable. The substantive reasons for enforcing bargain promises are extremely strong. To begin with, bargains between actors who act voluntarily and are capable and fully informed increase wealth by producing gains through trade, because normally each party to a bargain values what he gets more highly than what he gives. Bargain promises also present few problems of process. Such promises are typically self-regarding and therefore are likely to be deliberatively made and finely calculated. For all these reasons, under the bargain principle in contract law a bargain promise is enforceable according to its terms in the absence of a defense such as fraud, duress, incapacity or unconscionability.

Privacy. We want lots of it for ourselves. We love to invade the privacy of others. We are willing to trade it for benefits of all kinds, including credit, social services, and friendship. Why is this? Where should we draw a line? How should we handle our ambivalence in an era in which privacy often appears to be under official attack? This book explores such questions by rooting into scarce literature to explain why privacy is such a strong need, reviewing a variety of methods for guarding privacy, and concluding that at one time America was a very fortunate place privacy-wise. McLean examines problem areas in which privacy invasions play, or have played, large roles. Rape and sexual offenses are analyzed; so, too, is news reporting that touches private matters and race relations. Privacy and its Invasion also has a point to make: that privacy, despite its dark side, is an idea whose time has come, an ancient need that now requires explicit endorsement and protection as a value. A thought-provoking examination of something we have come to regard as a basic right, but a right under assault, this book is for all concerned with contemporary social and legal issues, civil liberties, and communications.

This is a collection of essays on Kantian moral theory and practical ethics with the aim of developing Kantian ethics and making it accessible and relevant to contemporary problems. With a new emphasis on ideals beyond the strictest requirements of moral duty, the book expands the core aspects of Kantian ethics and offers a broader perspective on familiar moral problems. Some essays explain Kantian concepts, others review work of leading contemporary philosophers, and still others raise challenging ethical questions for more general audiences. Having previously written on finding value in nature, Hill develops an ethical ideal of appreciation of people and their lives, distinguishing this from both respect and beneficence. Hill argues that this has important implications about how we should think about close personal relationships, such as friendships, families, and relationships with people with disabilities. The first part focuses on Kantian moral theory. Topics include the structure of Kant’s argument in the Groundwork, his idea of imperfect duties to oneself, autonomy, and human dignity. Rawls’ constructivism is defended against O’Neill’s objections, and Kantian ethics defended against the charge of utopian thinking. The second part focuses on practical ethics. Topics include the ethics of suicide, philanthropy, conscientious objection, and tragic choices when it seems that every alternative offends against human dignity. An essay on moral education contrasts Kantian and Rawlsian perspectives. Another essay traces the role of self-respect in Rawls’ theory of justice and contrasts a Kantian conception. Two final essays develop and illustrate the ideal of appreciation.

Abstract Economics has a problem. It cannot distinguish the causes of human action from the consequences of human action. It models representations of optimal agents, not flesh-and-blood human beings in ordinary life. Meaningful Economics is about understanding the principles of economics—the exchange of goods and services, the specialization that trade makes possible, and the system of property that undergirds both—in their origins and outcomes rather than exclusively in their consequences. It explains the roots of conduct, and not merely its economic effects, by going to the human capacity for moral sentiments that prompt human beings to act. The book is about what makes meaningfulness the very core of economics. You read that correctly. Meaning and value and purpose have everything to do with traditional talk of economics. Economic science, including, behavioral economics, unintentionally, proceeds as if the human mind does not matter. The origins of our actions—ideas—do indeed matter. They make us human. They make us beings who imagine our futures and who use language to achieve what we wish for. Economics and ethics are, in fact, two sides of the same coin, and, moreover, we can study both sides at the same time. We can study the costs and benefits of our decisions and our motives and goals in an integrated, humanly way. The book builds a science of economics that retains the human mind.

This book explains how the short-lived sexual revolution 50 years ago has led to the current evolution of our sexual values and behaviors and social standards among youth culture, examining topics such as communication technologies and sex, teen pregnancy, and divorce rates in the Bible Belt. Is an increase in sexual activity during adolescence a normal part of the transition to adulthood, or evidence of a societal problem? Why would conservative religious youth become sexually active earlier than their peers and be more likely to have an unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease? How are women continuing to lead our society's sexual transformation? Written by an author whose 40-year career in sexology and university administration provides a uniquely qualified perspective upon both sex research and the changing sexual perceptions of American youth, this comprehensive book is must-read for both parents and policy makers. America's Sexual Transformation traces the philosophical, cultural, and scientific developments responsible for the beginning and end of America's sexual revolution that have now spawned a more substantive sexual transformation. It examines traditional theories and attitudes regarding sex, and demonstrates how the findings of sex research provide entirely new paradigms that should replace outmoded and harmful theories. This groundbreaking book also explains who we are as sexual individuals and how we got to be that way.

This book examines a variety of topics relating to structural transformation, such as why such transformations are associated with persistently high unemployment; the ‘flying-geese’ theory introduced by Japanese economist Kaname Akamatsu in the mid-1930s; mutual, two-way dependence of structural transformation and food security; a competitiveness-based view of structural transformation; the link between world trade and structural change from 1800 to present; the relationship between financial reforms, financial development, and structural change; sustainable structural change in the context of global value chains; and the commonly used strategies to build effective clusters and industrial parks. The book also discusses the specific problems that arise when composing an index of structural change and development, and suggests ways to address them; how structural change can be formally modelled in New Structural Economics (NSE); and some of the key elements of the knowledge accumulated in development economics. Furthermore, it identifies three key economic forces that drive structural transformation: the first emphasizes income effects, while the other two both emphasize relative price effects. The experiences of regions and countries such as Latin America, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), India, Egypt, Viet Nam, China, Korea, Taiwan, Ethiopia, and Tanzania with respect to structural transformation are also analysed. Finally, the book considers what is harmful in the existing structures, what goals we want any new structures to serve, and what structures would serve the chosen goals.

Many people assume that what morally justifies private ownership of property is either individual freedom or social welfare, defined in terms of maximizing personal preference-satisfaction. This book offers an alternative way of understanding the moral underpinning of private ownership of property. Rather than identifying any single moral value, this book argues that human flourishing is property’s moral foundation. It develops a theory that connects ownership and human flourishing with obligations. Owners owe obligations to members of the communities that have enabled the owners to live flourishing lives by cultivating in their community members certain capabilities that are essential to leading a well-lived life. These obligations are rooted in the interdependence that exists between owners and their community members, a condition that is inherent in the human condition. Obligations have always been inherent in ownership. The human flourishing theory explains why owners at times owe obligations that enable their fellow community members to develop certain necessary capabilities. This book considers implications for a wide variety of property issues of importance both in the literature and in modern society. These include questions such as: When is a government’s expropriation of property legitimate? May the owner of a historic house destroy it without restriction? Do institutions that owned African slaves or otherwise profited from the slave trade owe any obligations to the African American community? What insights may be gained from the human flourishing concept into resolving current housing problems like homelessness, eviction, and mortgage foreclosure?

Management as we know it has been the driver of business growth in U.S. economies for a couple of centuries. Yet the practice of management is no longer focused on creating real value. Instead, it is now all about using sophisticated financial techniques-and practices like outsourcing and downsizing, among others—to improve profitability. Such addition through subtraction results in higher profits in the short term but puts the corporation and its employees at risk in the long term—not to mention the entire U.S. economy. Innovation and productivity improvement, corporate manager Jack Buffington argues, are lost arts in American business. So is getting back to basics the answer? Buffington's provocative thesis: Management as we know it probably can't be repaired. It must be replaced. Asian economies, meanwhile, are growing by leaps and bounds thanks in part to short-term, ill-advised decisions made by U.S. managers. Local companies and divisions of multinational organizations in emerging countries are on track to eventually overtake those of the West, putting our job base and prosperity at peril. If we want to bring manufacturing jobs back here to the U.S., corporate managers must seek productivity and innovation improvements in U.S. operations. Jack Buffington knows all too well how quickly things can go downhill for U.S. businesses. Turned into a relentless cost-cutter by the forces of globalization and Wall Street's expectations for short-term gains, he—like thousands of other U.S. executives—has watched some of the companies he's worked for disappear for want of real value. Whereas America once prized managers who displayed skill in optimizing the interplay of capital, labor, and technology to grow a company, today's professional manager is rewarded more often for being a cost cutter than an innovator. Fortunately, this book not only outlines the problem, it outlines the solution as well by establishing a 21st-century definition of management that will succeed in today's global economy. Rather than angling to produce a penny more of earnings per share to please the financiers, corporate managers will see once again how to use their ingenuity to produce products, services, and business processes that not only provide generous profits but sustain a business—and its jobs—for years to come. By heeding Buffington's call, the U.S. can rekindle its zeal for innovation, leading to an era in which consumers, workers, investors, and managers all prosper.

In the rise of Wisdom Literature in less than a century from obscurity to ubiquity, a number of crucial questions have been left unanswered. Most fundamentally, when, how, and why did the category, comprised essentially of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job, develop? The definitional issues long plaguing Wisdom scholarship can be traced to that unquestioned “universal consensus.” This book unearths its origin, describes its distorting effect, and proposes an alternative approach. Absent from early Jewish and Christian interpretation, the Wisdom category first emerged in modern scholarship, with the traits associated with it, such as universalism, humanism, rationalism, and secularism, suspiciously mirroring the ideals of its nineteenth-century German birthplace. Since it was originally assembled to reflect modern values, biblical scholars have struggled to define the corpus on any other basis or integrate it into the theology of the Hebrew Bible. The problem, however, is not only why the texts were perceived in this way, but that they are perceived in only one way at all. This book builds on recent literary and cognitive theory to create an alternative approach to genre that integrates hermeneutical insight from various genre groupings. This theory is then applied to Job, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs, mapping out the complex intertextual network contributing to each book’s meaning. Seen from multiple perspectives, these texts emerge in three dimensions, as facets previously obscured by the category are illuminated once again. The death of the Wisdom Literature category offers new life to both the so-called Wisdom texts and the concept of wisdom.

Over a relatively short period of time, Beijing moved from passive involvement with the UN to active engagement. How are we to make sense of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) embrace of the UN, and what does its engagement mean in larger terms? Is it a ‘supporter’ that takes its fair share of responsibilities, or a ‘spoiler’ that seeks to transform the UN’s contribution to world order? Certainly, it is difficult to label it a ‘shirker’ in the last decade or more, given Beijing’s apparent appreciation of the UN, its provision of public goods to the organization, and its stated desire to offer ‘Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to solving the problems facing mankind’. This study traces questions such as these, interrogating the value of such categorization through direct focus on Beijing’s involvement in one of the most contentious areas of UN activity—human protection—contentious because the norm of human protection tips the balance away from the UN’s Westphalian state-based profile, towards the provision of greater protection for the security of individuals and their individual liberties. The argument that follows shows that, as an ever-more crucial actor within the United Nations, Beijing’s rhetoric and some of its practices are playing an increasingly important role in determining how this norm is articulated and interpreted. In some cases, the PRC is also influencing how these ideas of human protection are implemented. At stake in the questions this book tackles is both how we understand the PRC as a participant in shaping global order, and the future of some of the core norms that constitute global order.

China’s economic growth has been revolutionary, and is the foundation of its increasingly prominent role in world affairs. It is the world’s second biggest economy, the largest manufacturing and trading nation, the consumer of half the world’s steel and coal, the biggest source of international tourists, and one of the most influential investors in developing countries from southeast Asia to Africa to Latin America. Multinational companies make billions of dollars in profits in China each year, while traders around the world shudder at every gyration of the country’s unruly stock markets. Perhaps paradoxically, its capitalist economy is governed by an authoritarian Communist Party that shows no sign of loosening its grip. China is frequently in the news, whether because of trade disputes, the challenges of its Belt and Road initiative for global infrastructure, or its increasing military strength. China’s political and technological challenges, created by a country whose political system and values differ dramatically from most of the other major world economies, creates uncertainty and even fear. China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know is a concise introduction to the most astonishing economic and political story of the last three decades. Arthur Kroeber enhances our understanding of China’s changes and their implications. Among the essential questions he answers are: How did China grow so fast for so long? Can it keep growing and still solve its problems of environmental damage, fast-rising debt and rampant corruption? How long can its vibrant economy co-exist with the repressive one-party state? How do China’s changes affect the rest of the world? This thoroughly revised and updated second edition includes a comprehensive discussion of the origins and development of the US-China strategic rivalry, including Trump’s trade war and the race for technological supremacy. It also explores the recent changes in China’s political system, reflecting Xi Jinping’s emergence as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. It includes insights on changes in China’s financial sector, covering the rise and fall of the shadow banking sector, and China’s increasing integration with global financial markets. And it covers China’s rapid technological development and the rise of its global Internet champions such as Alibaba and Tencent.

In this wide-ranging survey of contemporary race relations in the United States, Smith and O'Connell provide a thorough re-examination of our situation. They begin by assessing the part played by status struggles and anxieties in intergroup relations. For the black middle classes, they assert, the benefits of social-economic advancement and rising expectations combine with status frustration and anxiety to create a sense of estrangement from whites and what are typically referred to as white institutions. They then look at the role social scientists have played in both analyzing and contributing to race problems. In their examination of racial stereotypes, Smith and O'Connell show how whites typically construct stereotypes in such a way that they can respond to blacks as concrete individuals, rather than as members of an abstract, all-embracing racial category. In their examination of the Quota Revolution they demonstrate that affirmative action predictably fails to raise average black income; nor does it promote racial respect and cooperation. Finally, they assert that if status anxiety plays an increasingly important role in intergroup struggles as group power relations are increasingly characterized by social and political parity, then there are rather strict limits to what social reform can accomplish. Racism, Smith and O'Connell contend, has less to do with current social conditions in black America than is usually supposed. More indirect forces such as technological innovation, global interdependence, immigration, misguided welfare policies, and certain kinds of cultural values post far more serious threats to the incomes and employment opportunities of less affluent black Americans than do the remaining traces of white racism. This thought-provoking book is must-reading for scholars and researchers in the fields of public policy and contemporary race relations.

Although cultural diplomacy has become an increasingly fashionable term embraced by academics, foreign-service personnel, and private sector commercial and cultural interests, the very practice of this idea remains conspicuously challenging to define. This book takes on this problem, advancing a new understanding of cultural diplomacy that results from a historical investigation of a single area of government and private sector partnership, and what became in the mid-twentieth century the most prominent manifestation of this alliance—the cultural exhibitions sent abroad to “tell America’s story” with the goal of “winning hearts and minds.” To illustrate this point, selected exhibitions and the intentions of the policymakers who proposed them are interrogated for the first time beside archival documentation, writings from the history of design, advertising, science, as well as art historical and museum studies theories that address various aspects of the history of collecting and display, all of which explore the reality of how these exhibitions were conceived and prepared for foreign audiences. Most importantly, personal interviews with the designers and government representatives responsible for the ultimate appearance of these events upturn preconceived notions of how these events came to be. Seventy-five photographs from the exhibits make this history come alive. Through this discussion these questions are answered: What was America showing of itself through these exhibitions? And, more urgently, what do these exhibitions tell us about U.S. interest in verisimilitude? This investigation spans the crucial years of American exhibitions abroad (1955-1975), beginning with the formation of an official system of exhibiting American commercial wares and political ideas at trade fairs, through official exchanges with the U.S.S.R., to pavilions at world's fairs, and finally to museum exhibitions that signaled a return to the display of founding American values. They are thus complex ideological symbols in which concepts of national identity, globalization, technology, consumerism, design, and image management both coincided and clashed. The investigation of these exhibitions enhances the understanding of a significant chapter of U.S. cultural diplomacy at the height of the Cold War and how America constantly reimagined itself.

‘Peace referendums’, which seek to manage armed conflict, are increasingly common around the world. Yet such referendums remain erratic forces—liable as often to aggravate as to resolve tensions. In this book we consider when, despite their risks, referendums can play useful roles amid conflict. We argue that this largely depends on a referendum’s design, including how well it incorporates contemporary lessons from the theory and practice of deliberative democracy. Deliberative democracy seeks to channel disagreement into reasoned forms of decision-making—for instance, by identifying certain ‘public’ values around which disparate groups may find a measure of common ground. As yet, however, few deliberative democracy scholars have advanced arguments for referendums in conflict societies. This is unsurprising: while designing a referendum to be deliberative is a challenge even in the most peaceable of societies, in a conflict society it is harder still. Nevertheless, discounting deliberative institutional schemes because deliberation appears too difficult, and a society too conflictual, overlooks the possibility that some armed conflict can be traced to scarce opportunities to deliberate in the first place. Using a distinctive combination of deliberative democratic and constitutional theory, and also drawing from the field of conflict studies, we develop what we call the Deliberative Peace Referendum—a referendum held under conditions of conflict and designed to be deliberative. This kind of referendum has two broad objectives: to assist a peace settlement to be achieved, and to secure the settlement’s long-term resilience. After scaffolding a tenuous agreement, the referendum may help to concretize an agreement as a durable constitutional settlement by drawing on deliberative democracy’s perceived legitimacy. A Deliberative Peace Referendum thus takes aim at the standard pathologies of referendums—pathologies that must be addressed if referendums are to avoid repeating the problems of peace referendums in the past. Our purpose with this book is to rescue peace referendums from their habitual under-theorization and poor design, and to rehabilitate them as genuine tools of conflict management.

Economy and mankind are inextricably interlinked. Just as the economy or the production of material wealth is unimaginable without a man, so human existence and development are impossible without the wealth created in the economy. Shortly, both the goal and the means of achieving and realization of the economy are still the human resources. People have long ago noticed that it was the economy that created livelihoods, and the delays in their production led to the catastrophic events such as hunger, poverty, civil wars, social upheavals, revolutions, moral degeneration, and more. Therefore, the special interest of people in understanding the regulatory framework of the functioning of the economy has existed and exists in all historical epochs [A. Sisvadze. Economic theory. Part One. 2006y. p. 22]. The system of economic disciplines studies economy or economic activities of a society. All of them are based on science, which is currently called economic theory in the post-socialist space (the science of economics, the principles of economics or modern economics), and in most countries of the world - predominantly in the Greek-Latin manner - economics. The title of the present book is also Modern Economics. Economics (economic theory) is the science that studies the efficient use of limited resources to produce and distribute goods and services in order to satisfy as much as possible the unlimited needs and demands of the society. More simply, economics is the science of choice and how society manages its limited resources. Moreover, it should be emphasized that economics (economic theory) studies only the distribution, exchange and consumption of the economic wealth (food, beverages, clothing, housing, machine tools, computers, services, etc.), the production of which is possible and limited. And the wealth that exists indefinitely: no economic relations are formed in the production and distribution of solar energy, air, and the like. This current book is the second complete updated edition of the challenges of the modern global economy in the context of the coronary crisis, taking into account some of the priority directions of the country's development. Its purpose is to help students and interested readers gain a thorough knowledge of economics and show them how this knowledge can be applied pragmatically (professionally) in professional activities or in everyday life. To achieve this goal, this textbook, which consists of two parts and tests, discusses in simple and clear language issues such as: the essence of economics as a science, reasons for origin, purpose, tasks, usefulness and functions; Basic principles, problems and peculiarities of economics in different economic systems; Needs and demand, the essence of economic resources, types and limitations; Interaction, mobility, interchangeability and efficient use of economic resources. The essence and types of wealth; The essence, types and models of the economic system; The interaction of households and firms in the market of resources and products; Market mechanism and its elements - demand, supply and price; Demand and supply elasticity; Production costs and the ways to reduce them; Forms of the market - perfect and incomplete competition markets and their peculiarities; Markets for Production Factors and factor incomes; The essence of macroeconomics, causes and importance of origin; The essence and calculation of key macroeconomic indicators (gross national product, gross domestic product, net national product, national income, etc.); Macroeconomic stability and instability, unemployment, inflation and anti-inflationary policies; State regulation of the economy and economic policy; Monetary and fiscal policy; Income and standard of living; Economic Growth; The Corona Pandemic as a Defect and Effect of Globalization; National Economic Problems and New Opportunities for Development in the conditions of the Coronary Crisis; The Socio-economic problems of moral obsolescence in digital technologies; Education and creativity are the main solution way to overcome the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus; Positive and negative effects of tourism in Georgia; Formation of the middle class as a contributing factor to the development of tourism in Georgia; Corporate culture in Georgian travel companies, etc. The axiomatic truth is that economics is the union of people in constant interaction. Given that the behavior of the economy reflects the behavior of the people who make up the economy, after clarifying the essence of the economy, we move on to the analysis of the four principles of individual decision-making. Furtermore, the book describes how people make independent decisions. The key to making an individual decision is that people have to choose from alternative options, that the value of any action is measured by the value of what must be given or what must be given up to get something, that the rational, smart people make decisions based on the comparison of the marginal costs and marginal returns (benefits), and that people behave accordingly to stimuli. Afterwards, the need for human interaction is then analyzed and substantiated. If a person is isolated, he will have to take care of his own food, clothes, shoes, his own house and so on. In the case of such a closed economy and universalization of labor, firstly, its productivity will be low and, secondly, it will be able to consume only what it produces. It is clear that human productivity will be higher and more profitable as a result of labor specialization and the opportunity to trade with others. Indeed, trade allows each person to specialize, to engage in the activities that are most successful, be it agriculture, sewing or construction, and to buy more diverse goods and services from others at a relatively lower price. The key to such human interactions is that trade is mutually beneficial; That markets are usually the good means of coordination between people and that the government can improve the results of market functioning if the market reveals weakness or the results of market functioning are not fair. Moroever, it also shows how the economy works as a whole. In particular, it is argued that productivity is a key determinant of living standards, that an increase in the money supply is a major source of inflation, and that one of the main impediments to avoiding inflation is the existence of an alternative between inflation and unemployment in the short term, that the inflation decrease causes the temporary decline in unemployement and vice versa. The Understanding creatively of all above mentioned issues, we think, will help the reader to develop market economy-appropriate thinking and rational economic-commercial-financial behaviors, to be more competitive in the domestic and international labor markets, and thus to ensure both their own prosperity and the functioning of the country's economy. How he/she copes with the tasks, it is up to the individual reader to decide. At the same time, we will receive all the smart useful advices with a sense of gratitude and will take it into account in the further work. We also would like to thank the editor and reviewers of the books. Finally, there are many things changing, so it is very important to realize that the XXI century has come: 1. The century of the new economy; 2. Age of Knowledge; 3. Age of Information and economic activities are changing in term of innovations. 1. Why is the 21st century the century of the new economy? Because for this period the economic resources, especially non-productive, non-recoverable ones (oil, natural gas, coal, etc.) are becoming increasingly limited. According to the World Energy Council, there are currently 43 years of gas and oil reserves left in the world (see “New Commersant 2007 # 2, p. 16). Under such conditions, sustainable growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) and maximum satisfaction of uncertain needs should be achieved not through the use of more land, labor and capital (extensification), but through more efficient use of available resources (intensification) or innovative economy. And economics, as it was said, is the science of finding the ways about the more effective usage of the limited resources. At the same time, with the sustainable growth and development of the economy, the present needs must be met in a way that does not deprive future generations of the opportunity to meet their needs; 2. Why is the 21st century the age of knowledge? Because in a modern economy, it is not land (natural resources), labor and capital that is crucial, but knowledge. Modern production, its factors and products are not time-consuming and capital-intensive, but science-intensive, knowledge-intensive. The good example of this is a Japanese enterprise (firm) where the production process is going on but people are almost invisible, also, the result of such production (Japanese product) is a miniature or a sample of how to get the maximum result at the lowest cost; 3. Why is the 21st century the age of information? Because the efficient functioning of the modern economy, the effective organization of the material and personal factors of production largely depend on the right governance decision. The right governance decision requires prompt and accurate information. Gone are the days when the main means of transport was a sailing ship, the main form of data processing was pencil and paper, and the main means of transmitting information was sending letters through a postman on horseback. By the modern transport infrastructure (highways, railways, ships, regular domestic and international flights, oil and gas pipelines, etc.), the movement of goods, services and labor resoucres has been significantly accelerated, while through the modern means of communication (mobile phone, internet, other) the information is spreading rapidly globally, which seems to have "shrunk" the world and made it a single large country. The Authors of the book: Ushangi Samadashvili, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University - Introduction, Chapters - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11,12, 15,16, 17.1,18 , Tests, Revaz Shengelia, Doctor of Economics, Professor of Georgian Technical University, Chapters_7, 8, 13. 14, 17.2, 17.4; Zhuzhuna Tsiklauri - Doctor of Economics, Professor of Georgian Technical University - Chapters 13.6, 13.7,17.2, 17.3, 18. We also thank the editor and reviewers of the book.