In the late 1980s, the field of comparative economics and NATO faced a similar problem: the threat of obsolescence. A predictable reaction of those who had made major investments in both comparative economics and NATO was to look for a new job. It was time to say: comparative economic systems are dead, long live comparative economic systems. The purpose of this book is to redirect study of what we called comparative economic systems toward analysis of the development of institutions and the effects of alternative institutional arrangements on economic performance. To that end, the book internalizes into a theoretical framework (1) the effects of alternative property rights on the costs of transactions and incentives structures, (2) the effects of the costs of transactions and incentives on economic behavior, and (3) the evidence for refutable implications of those effects. Analysis here focuses on the issues, propositions and conclusions that lend themselves to the only known scientific test: empirical verification. Thus, this book is not about what socialism or capitalism could have been, should have been, or should be. Nor is it an ode to capitalism. Its purpose is not to assert that capitalism is a better economic system than socialism. The history of this century and the market for institutions have done that. My purpose is to explain what is it that makes the institutions of capitalism better in terms of economic outcome than all other alternatives that have been tried since the beginning of recorded history.

Economic Analysis of Institutions and Systems aims to redirect the study of what was previously referred to as comparative economic systems toward analysis of the history and development of institutions, and the effects of alternative institutional arrangements on economic behavior. To this end, the book internalizes into a theoretical framework: (i) the effects of alternative institutions on the costs of transactions and incentive structures; (ii) the effects of the costs of transactions and incentives on economic behavior, and (iii) the evidence for refutable implications of those effects. In the process, it provides the logical premises for various institutions from which refutable implications can be deduced.

This is an academic book that explains in reahty, examines theoretically, and analyzes statistically information system investment in the banking industry with regard to the process of the information technology revolution. This kind of comprehensive research on the banking industry is the first in the world. It could be seen as an application study for Japanese financial deregulation after 1997. However, our project, the Workshop of Information System Investment, is a theoretical research venture, consisting originally, when it began in 1994, of economists and computer scientists. It aimed to measure the effect of com puter hardware and software on the modern economy, based on the microdata of each firm, and to extend the frontiers of economic science. It was, coin- dentally, the time when this project began full-scale operation, in July 1997, that the voluntary closure of Yamaichi Securities was decided. The failure of the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank was disclosed in November of the same year, and the breakdown, temporary nationalization, buying out, and mergers of several banks succeeded one another. Our research therefore suddenly got into the social spotlight on the application stage. Part I is the first history and strategic guidelines of information systems in the banking industry. Part II summarizes the economic analyses of informa tion system investment in the United States, Europe, and Japan. These parts are foundations for the statistical analyses in Part III.

The enduring debate on institutional pillars of contemporary political economies has gathered a noticeable momentum in terms of the change, path-dependence, and varieties of capitalism. By taking a methodological standpoint claiming that ’the current structure and the future of contemporary societies can only be understood by using an evolutionary and macro institutional approach that would explain the trajectories of social structures from a systemic perspective’, this book first aims at formulating a novel analytical framework thus, Institutional System Analysis in Political Economy. This framework comprises, inter alia, a model of path-dependent changes, and then attempts to apply it to the case of the Ottoman-Turkish social system. In sum, the book develops an ’interaction-theoretic and evolutionarily-structured approach’ with an aim to better capture the path-dependence and change of political, economic, and cultural action in terms of their intersectional dynamics.

The Routledge Handbook of Comparative Economic Systems examines the institutional bases of economies, and the different ways in which economic activity can function, be organized and governed. It examines the complexity of this academic and research field, assessing the place of comparative economic studies within economics, paying due attention to future perspectives, and presenting critically important questions, analytical methods and relative approaches. This complements the recent revival of the systemic view of economic governance, which was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and likely even more the renewed East-West clash epitomized by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the West’s reaction to it. The Handbook is divided into five parts. Each part deals with an issue of relevance for the discipline. The first and second parts look at the subject, content and approach of the discipline and its comparative method. The third part looks at the idiosyncratic nature of different economic systems and their constituent elements. The fourth part considers the outcomes that different economic systems generate and how these outcomes change following the evolution and transformation of economic systems. The last part takes stock and looks ahead at the challenges, from a theoretical and applied perspective, and the exogenous and endogenous factors promoting the advancement of the discipline, including the interaction between and competition among varied approaches and opposing paradigms. The Handbook brings together leading international contributors to reflect on the relevant debates and case or country studies, provides a balanced overview of the results achieved and current knowledge, as well as evolving issues and new fields of research. The book provides researchers, students and analysts with a complete, critical and forward-looking presentation and analysis of the content, development, challenges and perspectives of comparative economic studies. Chapters 4 and 22 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. Chapter 4 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license and Chapter 22 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Economics textbook presenting a formal description and economic analysis of the centrally planned economy of the type of the USSR economic system - provides a representative survey of the main applications and techniques of national planning pertinent to the centralization type of planning and economic modelling, etc. Flow charts, graphs, references and statistical tables.

This publication supports the AgrInvest-Food Systems project by analyzing Kenya’s national food system through food systems and political economy approach. These approaches resulted in mapping and linking Kenya’s food system outcomes and challenges, structural factors and drivers, sustainability challenges, and institutions and actors. These analyses led to the identification of two promising value chains for SDG-aligned investments, namely indigenous vegetables and aquaculture, and of the bottlenecks that currently impede more investments in Kenya.

The discipline of law and economics has earned a reputation for developing plausible and empirically testable theories on the social functions and the impact of legal institutions. Property rights are a field in which this has been very successful. In this book, economic property rights theories are applied to case law in order to examine the practice and solution of real life conflicts. The author examines the economic problems which are dealt with in these cases and evaluate the courts’ decisions from an economic angle. Cases are examined from across the UK, the US, Germany, Belgium and Canada to allow international comparisons to be made. These comparisons reveal that, regardless of the legal system, many legal issues have similar economic roots and therefore similar models of economic analysis can be applied. The analysis of these cases also shows that the discipline of law and economics is not only successful in developing explanatory models but also useful to generate better considerations and solutions for legal conflicts in individual cases. This book aims to bridge the gap between the academic and professional literature and demonstrate the benefits of the economic analysis of property rights cases to all those who are interested in law and economics.

This study aims to inform the implementation in Ethiopia of the AgrInvest-Food Systems Project, a collaboration between the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) to promote private investment in African food systems that contributes to sustainable development objectives. The study analyses the Ethiopian food system, identifying and explaining notable trends, important socio-economic, food security and nutrition and environmental outcomes generated by the food system, as well as the structural factors, institutions, and actors that shape food system outcomes in Ethiopia.

Leading social scientists, empirical analysts, and policy practitioners demonstrate the various ways in which the insights of János Kornai, a renowned early analyst and critic of the command economies of Eastern European communist states, are stirring academic and policy discussions about current challenges. While dissecting the economic theories and practices in the Soviet Bloc, Kornai devised and applied concepts such as soft-budget constraints, rush versus harmonic growth, surplus versus shortage economy, non-Walrasian equilibrium, bureaucratic coordination, and the invisible power of the communist party. These concepts are commonly applied to a variety of issues in the contexts of fundamental transformation. The cases discussed in this volume include the transitional paths of post-communist economies, the pitfalls of East European market-building, economic repercussions of the dissolution of Yugoslavia, and the process of integration in the Eurozone. In conclusion János Kornai’s thoughts on a variety of research topics as well as the value of democracy are included as he delivered at the conference celebrating his 90th birthday in 2018.