In the tradition of E. F. Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful, renowned economist Clair Brown argues persuasively for a new economics built upon equality, sustainability, and right living."Buddhist Economics will give guidance to all those who seek peace, fairness, and environmental sustainability." -Jeffrey Sachs, author of The Age of Sustainable Development.Traditional economics measures the ways in which we spend our income, but do...

The third quarter of the twentieth century was a golden age for labor in the advanced industrial countries, characterized by rising incomes, relatively egalitarian wage structures, and reasonable levels of job security. The subsequent quarter-century has seen less positive performance along a number of these dimensions. This period has instead been marked by rapid globalization of economic activity that has brought increased insecurity to workers. The contributors to this volume distinguis...

That women have entered the work force in large numbers is a well-known economic development, but many questions remain about the effects of this dramatic shift. Have women been truly integrated into the labor market? How have they fared in the competition for fair wages and professional jobs? What has happened to the American family and its standard of living?

How the chip industry has responded to a series of crises over the past twenty-five years, often reinventing itself and shifting the basis for global competitive advantage.For decades the semiconductor industry has been a driver of global economic growth and social change. Semiconductors, particularly the microchips essential to most electronic devices, have transformed computing, communications, entertainment, and industry. In Chips and Change, Clair Brow...

Thich Nhat Hanh shares timeless wisdom and mindfulness meditation practices in this illustrated pocket-sized guide about cherishing the many ways love manifests in our lives.How to Love is the third title in Thich Nhat Hanh’s series of mindfulness books for beginners and seasoned practitioners. This time, he brings his signature clarity, compassion, and humor to the thorny question of how to love. He distills one of our strongest emotions down to 4 essenti...

In his best-selling book Japanese Manufacturing Techniques, Richard J. Schonberger revolutionized American manufacturing theory and, more important, practice. In that breakthrough book, he revealed that Japanese manufacturing excellence was not culturally bound. Offering the first demystified explanation of the simple techniques that fueled Japan's industrial success, he demonstrated how the same methods could be put to work as effectively in U.S. plants.Now, in World ...

During the past decade Japanese companies have derived many of their competitive advantages from streamlined work-flow processes. Desperate to replicate the Japanese systems, American managers have bought into countless theories advanced by management consultants which, lacking a methodology, have proved fruitless and frustrating. Now, from inside a world-renowned learning organization, comes that methodology.Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) is an improvement and problem-prevent...

The rise of modern public finance revolutionized political economy. As governments learned to invest tax revenue in the long-term financial resources of the market, they vastly increased their administrative power and gained the ability to use fiscal, monetary, and financial policy to manage their economies. But why did the modern fiscal state emerge in some places and not in others? In approaching this question, Wenkai He compares the paths of three different nations—England, Japan, and C...

Drawing from the most recent work on economic regulation, this book introduces readers to the main principles and examines how economic regulation is applied in four key public utility industries - electricity, gas, water and telecommunications. Written for students and practitioners with little prior knowledge of economic regulation, this is an accessible, non-technical entry point to the subject area, exploring the fundamental questions: Why do we regulate? What are alternatives to regul...

In this lucid classic, beloved teacher Ayya Khema introduces the reader to the essence of the Buddhist path. She addresses the how and why of meditation, providing a clear framework for understanding the nature of karma and rebirth and the entirety of the eightfold path. With specific, practical advice Ayya Khema illuminates the practices of compassion and sympathetic joy and offers forthright guidance in working with the hindrances that we all encounter in meditation. Few introductory boo...

Investment in infrastructure is critical to economic growth, quality of life, poverty reduction, access to education, healthcare, and achieving many of the goals of a robust economy. But infrastructure is difficult for the public sector to get right. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) can help; they provide more efficient procurement, focus on consumer satisfaction and life cycle maintenance, and provide new sources of investment, in particular through limited recourse debt. But PPPs prese...

A lively exploration of contemporary Buddhism from one of its most admired teachers.In this wise and witty invitation to Buddhist meditation, Ethan Nichtern, a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, investigates the journey each of us takes to find where we belong. Drawing from contemporary research on meditation and mindfulness and from his experience as a Buddhist teacher and practitioner, Nichtern describes in fresh language the basic existential exp...