The medieval Republic of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) was a prosperous small open economy, rivalling bigger competitors. This study collects together evidence on how Ragusa compared to other economies of the region, and addresses the difficult question of why it outperformed its Dalmatian rivals (Kotor, Split and Zadar).

For over eighty years the Arab region has been deriving massive wealth from its natural resources. Nevertheless, its economic performance has been at the mercy of ebbs and flows of oil prices and its resources have been slowly depleting. The two critical questions are why and how Arab countries might escape the oil curse. Institutions and Macroeconomic Policies in Resource-Rich Arab Economies focuses on the unique features of the Arab world to explain the disappointing outcomes of macroeconomic policy. It explores the interaction between oil and institutions to draw policy recommendations on how Arab countries can best exploit their oil revenues to avoid the resource curse. Case studies and contributions from experts provide an understanding of macroeconomic institutions (including their underlying rules, procedures and institutional arrangements) in oil-rich Arab economies and of their political economy environment, which has largely been overlooked in previous research. Institutions and Macroeconomic Policies in Resource-Rich Arab Economies offers novel macroeconomic policy propositions for exchange rate regimes, fiscal policy and oil wealth distribution that is more consistent with macroeconomic stability and fiscal sustainability. These policy reforms, if implemented successfully, could go a long way in helping the resource-rich countries of the Arab region and elsewhere to avoid the oil curse.

COVID-19: Cultural Change and Institutional Adaptations provides critical insights into the impact of the pandemic on the relationship between cultures and institutions. The scholarship presented in this volume examines such important issues as the impact on health-care workers, changes in the interaction order, linguistic access, social stigma, policing, new understandings of social class, and the role of misinformation. Brought together, these insights can help us better understand both the micro- and macrochanges that have been brought about by the pandemic. Drawing on the expertise of scholars from around the world, the work presented here represents a remarkable diversity and quality of impassioned scholarship on the impact of COVID-19 and is a timely and critical advance in knowledge related to the pandemic.

Using examples from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the book considers what scholarship has defined as a village within the rapid changes taking place in rural Southeast Asia.

As scholars and practitioners in higher education attempt to embrace and lead diversity efforts, it is imperative that they have an understanding of the issues that affect historically underrepresented students. Using an intersectional approach that connects the categories of race, class, and gender, Diversity and Inclusion on Campus comprehensively covers the range of college experiences, from gaining access to higher education to successfully persisting through degree programs. Authors Winkle-Wagner and Locks bridge research, theory, and practice related to the ways that peers, faculty, administrators, and institutions can and do influence racially and ethnically underrepresented students’ experiences. This book is an invaluable resource for future and current higher education and student affairs practitioners working toward full inclusion and participation for all students in higher education. Special features: Chapter Case Studies—cases written by on-the-ground practitioners help readers make meaningful connections between theory, research, and practice. Coverage of Theory and Research—each chapter provides a systematic treatment of the literature and research related to underrepresented students’ experiences of getting into college, getting through college, and getting out of college. Discussion Questions—questions encourage practitioners and researchers to explore concepts in more depth, consider best practices, and make connections to their own contexts.

This book aims to define comparative economics and to illustrate the breadth and depth of its contribution. It starts with an historiography of the field, arguing for a continued legacy of comparative economic systems, which compared socialism and capitalism, a field which some argued should have been replaced by institutional economics after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The process of transition to market capitalism is reviewed, and itself exemplifies a new combination of comparative analysis with a focus on institutional development. Going beyond, chapters broadening the application of comparative analysis and applying it to new issues and approaches, including the role and definition of institutions, subjective wellbeing, inequality, populism, demography, and novel methodologies. Overall, comparative economics has evolved in the past 30 years, and remains a powerful approach for analyzing important issues.

Includes bibliographical references.

As a stunning tide of democratization sweeps across much of the world, countries must cope with increasing problems of economic development, political and social integration, and greater public demand of scarce resources. That ability to respond effectively to these issues depends largely on the institutional choices of each of these newly democratizing countries. With critics of national political institutions in the United States arguing that the American separation-of-powers system promotes ineffectiveness and policy deadlock, many question whether these countries should emulate American institutions or choose parliamentary institutions instead. The essays in this book fully examine whether parliamentary government is superior to the separation-of-powers system through a direct comparison of the two. In addressing specific policy areas—such as innovation and implementation of energy policies after the oil shocks of 1970, management of societal cleavages, setting of government priorities in budgeting, representation of diffuse interest in environmental policy, and management of defense forces—the authors define capabilities that allow governments to respond to policy problems. Do Institutions Matter? includes case studies that bear important evidence on when and how institutions influence government effectiveness. The authors discover a widespread variation among parliamentary systems both in institutional arrangements and in governmental capabilities, and find that many of the failings of policy performance commonly attributed to American political institutions are in fact widely shared among western industrial countries. Moreover, they show how American political institutions inhibit some government capabilities while enhancing others. Changing American institutions to improve some aspects of governmental performance could hurt other widely valued capabilities. The authors draw important guidelines for institutional reformers wh

This book aims at clarifying the role of materiality, spaces, digitality and embodiment in institutional dynamics from the perspective of Management & Organization Studies. Presenting a rich set of theoretical, methodological and epistemological advances on materiality and institutions, it also gives voice to distinctive and diverse perspectives on materiality in institutions, structuring chapters into four major topics: artefacts and objects, digitality and information, space and time, body and embodiment. This book sparks discussion and debate about ontological dimensions of Management & Organization Studies, including post-discursive, visual, phenomenological and material. With a foreword by Professor Thomas B. Lawrence, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.