Social capital can be defined as the institutions and networks of relationships between people, complemented by the attitudes, norms and values that underlie them. Based on a large volume of newly collected data from ten countries, this is the first book to provide a rigorous empirical testing of the link between social capital and economic development.

Addressing the key dilemmas facing environmental policy and scientific debate, this work presents a framework for advancing these debates, and for moving environmental politics towards an understanding of ecological science as a political process.

Achille N. Isnard’s seminal contributions to the study of economics remained largely unrecognized until the latter half of the twentieth century. He is best known for demonstrating the concept of market equilibrium using simultaneous equation. However, the breadth and depth of Isnard’s work undoubtedly established him as one of the forerunners of modern mathematical economics.

This book examines the insights that political theory can provide in order to understand the value bases of the environmental crisis. It shows the role that modern values play in our lives that is claimed to be both undesirable and unsustainable.

Building on his earlier influential contributions to contemporary debates on social theory, Peter Hedstrom argues for a systematic development of sociological theory so that it has the explanatory power and precision to inform sociological research and understanding–qualities lacking in much of the grand social theorizing currently fashionable.

This exhaustive, interdisciplinary Handbook explores the phenomena of immigration and ethnic minority entrepreneurship in light of marked changes since the mid-twentieth century and the advent of easier, more affordable travel, and more open and integrated national economies.

This is an incomplete and polemical history of U.S. trade policy written from a protectionist point of view. On the plus side, Eckes served as an International Trade Commissioner in the 1980s and has an insider’s knowledge of American trade politics; in addition, while preparing the book, he turned up some interesting documents on the role of the State Department in trade remedy cases in the 1950s and ’60s.

Globalization is at the heart of debates about the present phase of development of the world economy. In Globalization and the Postcolonial World, Ankie Hoogvelt joins these debates to examine the ways in which globalization is affecting the countries of the developing world. Taking a new look at historical trends and theories in development studies, Hoogvelt describes the diverse impacts of globalization in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, East Asia, and Latin America, identifying different postcolonial responses in each of these regions.

Financial crises have dogged the international monetary system over recent years. They have impoverished millions of people around the world, especially within developing countries. And they have called into question the very process of globalization. Yet there remains no intellectual consensus on how best to avert such crises, much less resolve them. Policymakers stand at a cross-roads.

Analysis of consumption and saving decisions by households has always been one of the most active areas of research in economics--and with good reason. Private consumption is the most important component of aggregate demand in a capitalist economy, and explaining consumption is the key element in most macroeconomic forecasting models. To evaluate the effect of government policies invariably requires the knowledge of how they change parameters relevant for household decision making.

Andre Gunder Frank asks us to ReOrient our views away from Eurocentrism–to see the rise of the West as a mere blip in what was, and is again becoming, an Asia-centered world. In a bold challenge to received historiography and social theory he turns on its head the world according to Marx, Weber, and other theorists, including Polanyi, Rostow, Braudel, and Wallerstein.

This book reflects current developments in the economics of agrobiodiversity and focuses its attention on the role agrobiodiversity can have for economic development. As a new and rapidly expanding subfield at the interface of environmental/ecological, agricultural and development economics, the editors and contributors to this volume provide a thorough, structured and authoritative coverage of this field.

By most estimates, global consumption of natural gas - a cleaner-burning alternative to coal and oil - will double by 2030. However, in North America, Europe, China, and South and East Asia, which are the areas of highest-expected demand, the projected consumption of gas is expected to far outstrip indigenous supplies.

Longitudinal research is a broad field in which substantial advances have been made over the past decade. Unlike many of the existing books that only address the analysis of information. The Handbook of Longitudinal Research covers design and measurement as well as the data analysis.

With typical Economist style and clarity, Economist Economics provides accessible and expert analysis that shows how to make sense of the modern economy. Substantially revised from the successful first edition, the book offers an in-depth examination of different aspects of the modern economy. Aimed at those in business, it is organized in four parts: