The life cycle hypothesis

Sample

Debarati Guha-Sapir, Indhira Santos

Since the turn of the millennium, more than one million people have been killed and 2.3 billion others have been directly affected by natural disasters around the world. In cases like the 2010 Haiti earthquake or the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, these disasters have time and time again wrecked large populations and national infrastructures. While recognizing that improved rescue, evacuation, and disease control are crucial to reducing the effects of natural disasters, in the final analysis, poverty remains the main risk factor determining the long-term impact of natural hazards. Furthermore, natural disasters have themselves a tremendous impact on the poorest of the poor, who are often ill-prepared to deal with natural hazards and for whom a hurricane, an earthquake, or a drought can mean a permanent submersion in poverty. The Economic Impacts of Natural Disasters focuses on these concerns for poverty and vulnerability. Written by a collection of esteemed scholars in disaster management and sustainable development, the report provides an overview of the general trends in natural disasters and their effects by focusing on a critical analysis of different methodologies used to assess the economic impact of natural disasters. Economic Impacts presents six national case studies (Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Nicaragua, Japan and the Netherlands) and shows how household surveys and country-level macroeconomic data can analyze and quantify the economic impact of disasters. The researchers within Economic Impacts have created path-breaking work and have opened new avenues for thinking and debate to push forward the frontiers of knowledge on economics of natural disasters.

Sample

Derong Chen

This book explores the enterprise reform in China in general, and the Contract Management Responsibility System (CMRS) in particular. The latter is an institutional arrangement to deal with the relation between the government and the state-owned enterprise which has always been at the centre of the enterprise reform. This book is based on four in-depth case-studies and reveals the interaction taking place between the government and enterprise under the system. The research shows that to establish a market-type relation between the government and enterprise is a complicated and dynamic process. It involves understanding two different economic mechanisms, market and hierarchy, and the interactions taken by two parties. Drawing on empirical work, the CMRS is examined from an institutional perspective and provides a holistic view of the changes in Chinese enterprises.

Sample

Ashutosh Sheshabalaya

"Sheshabalaya musters an arsenal of facts and arguments to provide a powerful sketch of India's history and culture, showing how its very "Indianness" has given the country the wherewithal to not only challenge the West at its highest-value economic frontiers, but maintain an overwhelming lead over rival wannabees."--Jacket.

Sample

Pundy Pillay

"This nine-country study of higher education financing in Africa includes three East African states (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), five countries in southern Africa (Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa), and an Indian Ocean island state (Mauritius). Higher Education Financing in East and Southern Africa explores trends in financing policies, paying particular attention to the nature and extent of public sector funding of higher education, the growth of private financing (including both household financing and the growth of private higher education institutions) and the changing mix of financing instruments that these countries are developing in response to public sector financial constraints. This unique collection of African-country case studies draws attention to the remaining challenges around the financing of higher education in Africa, but also identifies good practices, lessons and common themes"--Cover.