Europe offers some of the world’s most exciting cities, romantic landscapes, outstanding museums, important historic sights, renowned works of art, and awesome architectural wonders, plus great cuisine, incredible shopping, and all kinds of entertainment and nightlife. Odds are, you can’t do it all. Depending on your personal interests, this friendly guide helps you pick the right sites and make the most of your trip, with: Trip planning, including applying for passports; making reservations; dealing with trip insurance, health issues, and Customs; rail passes, train tickets, traveler’s checks, and more Detailed info on 15 of Europe’s most popular destinations: London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Vienna, Innsbruck, Prague, Naples, Florence, Venice, Madrid, Barcelona, and Athens Info on local customs, must-see attractions, and out-of-the-way gems, plus a little historical background to help you put the sites you’ll see in context Like every For Dummies travel guide, Europe For Dummies, 4th Edition helps you make the most of your vacation. It includes: Down-to-earth trip-planning advice Info on the best ships for every budget Tips on sightseeing at ports of call Handy Post-it Flags to mark your favorite pages Whether you want to marvel at majestic cathedrals or go on a pub crawl in Dublin, have a 5-star meal in Paris or a picnic lunch amidst the ruins of a Mycenaean city overlooking the Mediterranean, take in museums and castles or hike the Alps, explore the historic (or prehistoric) sites or experience diverse nightlife, with Europe For Dummies, 4th Edition, you’re on your way to a fantastic European holiday.

The contributors argue that some regions, such as Emilia-Romagna, Baden-Wurttemberg, and Rhone-Alpes, have been highly successful in launching regional development strategies. Others, such as the English and certain southern European regions lack the economic resources and institutional structures to follow these examples. The book analyses the reasons for success and failure, and considers the strategic development options open to the less developed European regions.

The automotive industry is a major pillar of the modern global economy and one of Europe’s key industries. There can hardly be any doubt about the important role of this sector as an engine for employment, growth and innovation in Europe, and there are crucial challenges and opportunities ahead. The authors shed light on a broad range of issues – globalisation and restructuring, trade and foreign direct investment, innovation, regulation, and industry policy – and put a special focus on the new member states. While change may be inevitable, progress is not. This book shall serve as a map to all stakeholders: business executives and policy makers, investors and scholars.

As European integration continues, the future of EMU becomes ever more important. Can EMU help create an integrated European community, or will it prove a hindrance to the EU project? This book brings together the experts in the area to provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the issues expected to face EMU over the next few decades.

This book provides a deep insight into the market changes and policy challenges that transition economies have undergone in the last twenty years. It not only comments on and evaluates the development of financial markets in transition economies, but also highlights the key obstacles to full integration of financial markets into the EU market.

The paper investigates EU banks’ profitability through the recent financial cycle using banklevel balance sheet and income statement data. We find that banks that were more successful at protecting their profits had a less pronounced deterioration in loan quality and a larger improvement in cost efficiency. They also downsized their assets more aggressively during the crisis, and reduced reliance on wholesale funding more markedly post-crisis. Net interest margins remained broadly stable over the financial cycle, including post-crisis, and there is no clear evidence that aspects of bank business model, such as higher reliance on fees and commission income, were associated with better profitability post-crisis.

Southern Europe has been the EU region most exposed to the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis with consequences for national party systems and political stability. The 2014 European Parliament elections took place at a crucial time for Europe and Southern European societies more generally. This book analyses the Euroelections in Southern Europe, asking whether these followed the usual pattern of low-stimulus contests or whether the crisis context raised the bar. Country chapters on Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta investigate the background of the elections, the electoral campaign and the rise of Euroscepticism. The linkage between governments’ economic performance, the Europhile or Eurosceptic stances of political parties, and their electoral performance are at the core of the analysis in each chapter. The findings reveal that the political and electoral consequences of the economic crisis have not fundamentally challenged the second-order character of the 2014 European Parliament elections in Southern Europe. However, electoral behaviour exhibits some indications of a more critical contest in which the EU divide becomes more significant and polarising in determining voting choices. This book was previously published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics.

Biofuels are a renewable source of energy used mainly for transportation. They link together food, energy and natural resources sectors, and involve ecological, social and inequality issues. They are an emblematic example of the interactions between economic, environmental, social and political decisions and, as a recent and complex issue, require updated and detailed information to be understood. This book aims to shed light on several economic, social and environmental issues connected to biofuel production and policies. The Economics of Biofuels adopts detailed descriptions, rigorous data analysis and precise econometric methods to estimate the effects of biofuel on different socio-economic factors, avoiding complicated and sometimes ineffective models based on context-specific parameters. In particular, the book focuses on the impact of bioenergy policy on biocommodity production and trade, and on the related phenomenon of land acquisitions to grow biofuel commodities. The book’s main findings are derived by an original and unique dataset collecting information on the investors acquiring land in Africa and on the voluntary standard, certification and labelling schemes adopted by them as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. The analysis links together in an original way public and private initiatives to make biofuel sustainable. Therefore, this book represents an improvement in the understanding of biofuel production and policy’s sustainability. This book is of interest to those who study environmental economics, agricultural economics and sustainable development. It is also suitable for those in the renewable energy sector, with a particular focus on biofuel sustainability.

Corporate restructuring (acquisitions, alliances and divestment) is a visible form of corporate strategy. For example, firm investments in buying and selling assets exceed the gross domestic product of the majority of nations. Most research in this area examines acquisitions, but informing practice is limited by examining acquisitions in isolation or using a narrow focus. For example, a lingering problem is that average acquisition performance is consistently around zero, suggesting a need to identify practically relevant relationships. In addressing this need, research on three fundamental questions is covered: 1) How do acquisitions relate to other corporate strategy options?; 2) What helps to predict acquisition performance?; and 3) What are persistent acquisition research issues? The first question is intended to overcome a research limitation that acquisitions are often examined independent of other corporate strategies, including internal development, alliances, and divestment. The second question addresses novel relationships associated with the primary focus of acquisition research in examining what drives acquisition performance. The third question reflects on the underlying complexity of the phenomenon that makes it a challenge to identify what drives acquisition performance. Overall, the intent of presenting ideas on these fundamental questions is to illustrate promising areas for future research. This book presents the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of interest to researchers, academics, and advanced students in the fields of strategic management, international business, and organizational studies.