This volume provides an evaluation of initial efforts to convert post-Soviet Russian industry from that of a highly-centralized, military-oriented economy to that of a civilian economy with a stronger base in private enterprise. The authors address crucial issues of the embattled economic transformation at the level of particular enterprises and geographic regions as well as in the contexts of state policy, finance and planning. Their analyses offer readers an understanding of the various ...

China Versus the West is an innovative book.The author, a leading specialist on the international and Asian economy and business, presents the most comprehensive picture of the changing power balance between the emerging superpower China and the "old" developed economies of the West: mainly the US, Europe and Japan. The reader can clearly see in what areas and to what extent China has become the world leader, in what areas it is catching up and in what are...

The Business Environment of Europe is the first textbook to provide a complete overview of Europe's business landscape, examining the region's diverse economies and government policies within historical, political, and cultural contexts. This well-researched text examines the European Union and select European nations, and leads students to a full understanding of the structure and dynamics of specific industries, the impact of globalization on European companies, and the future challenges...

The World Bank Group is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. Its focus is on helping the poorest people in the poorest countries by using its financial resources, staff, and extensive experience to aid countries in reducing poverty, increasing economic growth, and improving quality of life. In partnership with more than 100 developing countries, the Bank Group is striving to improve health and education, fight corruption, boost agricul...

We have spent the last three decades engaged in a pointless and irrelevant debate about the relative merits of privatization or nationalization. We have been arguing about the wrong thing while sitting on a goldmine of assets.Don’t worry about who owns those assets, worry about whether they are managed effectively.Why does this matter? Because despite the Thatcher/ Reagan economic revolution, the largest pool of wealth in the world – a global total that is much larger than ...

In the United States, we now take our ability to pay with plastic for granted. In other parts of the world, however, the establishment of a "credit-card economy" has not been easy. In countries without a history of economic stability, how can banks decide who should be given a credit card? How do markets convince people to use cards, make their transactions visible to authorities, assume the potential risk of fraud, and pay to use their own money? Why should merchants agree to pay extra if...

This book constitutes an up-to-date treatment of Russia’s economic development and economic policies since 2000, when Vladimir Putin became the President of Russia. After the slow decline and sudden collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia embarked upon a multi-faceted change. This included transition from central management to a market economy, from one-party rule to democracy, from multi-national empire to nation state, and from relative autarchy to opening up to the European and global comm...

In the first in-depth analysis of the effects of sanctions on the Russian political economy, Richard Connolly details the Western sanctions targeting the energy, defense and financial sectors, and the Russian response. He explores how the Western sanctions have caused Russian officials to formulate rapid policy responses to enable the country to adapt to the new circumstances. The sanctions and the Russian response have caused the state's role in the Russian economy to grow stronger and ca...

The Caspian Basin region has boomed since the late 1990s due to new oil discoveries, new pipelines that have diversified countries' transport options and world oil prices that have risen from below $10 in 1998 to $70 in 2006.This book analyzes the experience of the Caspian countries during the oil boom. It is founded on empirical studies, using either macroeconomic tools or an analysis of public budgets, or microeconometric analysis of household survey data or fieldwork in oil-prod...

Energy efficiency is an important factor in an economy, since it helps meet energy needs, decrease costs, and lower environmental impacts. A review of the evolution of energy intensity in European and Former Soviet Union countries indicates a positive trend: high-energy-intensity countries have now reached the level of medium-energy-intensity economies 15 years earlier, and in the same period, medium-energy-intensity ones had similarly evolved to levels of low-energy-intensity. At the same...

What is international business? How does it differ from local or national business? What are the fundamental challenges and emerging trends in international business? What is the impact of globalization, corporate social responsibility, and the ever expanding use of digital technology on corporate strategies and executive decisions?International Business: Theory and Practice addresses these questions by providing the student with a broad overview of the subject, wh...

This book, edited by J.B. Zulu, Ian S. McCarthy, Susana Almuiña, and Gabriel Sensenbrenner, presents the proceedings of the special Joint Meetings on Central Banking Technical Assistance held in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1994, and provides detailed information on important issues in central banking, including a comparative sample of 31 countries. The arrangements concerning such issues as the size and composition of the policymaking board, the role of the central bank in monetary and exchange...