Social sciences and humanities print books and ebooks | Elsevier

The Czech Republic and Economic Transition in Eastern Europe

1st Edition
October 22, 2013
Jan Svejnar
English
eBook
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The Czech Republic and Economic Transition in Eastern Europe is the first in-depth, comparative analysis of the Czech Republic's economic transition after the fall of the Communist bloc. Edited by Jan Svejnar,a principal architect of the Czech economic transformation and Economic Advisor to President Vaclav Havel, the book poses important questions about the Republic and its partners in Central and Eastern Europe. The thirty-five essayists describe the country's macroeconomic performance; its development of capital markets; the structure and performance of its industries; its unemployment, household behavior, and income distribution; and the environmental and health issues it faces.In this in-depth, comparative analysis of the Czech Republic's economic transition, an international team of thirty-five economists examine the Republic and its partners in Central and Eastern Europe. Important questions and issues permeate the essays. For example, prior to 1939 the Czech Republic possessed the most advanced economy in the region; is it capable of reestablishing its dominance? Relative to its neighbors, the Republic ranks especially high on some transition-related performance indicators but low on others. What economic effects are related to the 1993 dissolution of the Czech and Slovak governments? And what can be learned by comparing the economic outcomes of two countries that shared legal and institutional frameworks? Data describe the country's macroeconomic performance; its development of capital markets; the structure and performance of its industries; its unemployment, household behavior, and income distribution; and the environmental and health issues facing it. Its most important contributions are its clarifications of the transition process.The authors included in Transforming Czechoslovakia combine the best available data and techniques of economic analysis to assess the replacement of the inefficient but internally consistent central planning system with a more efficient market system. These authors, among whom are central European economic analysts, senior U.S. economists, and Czechoslovakian professors and economic researchers, discuss the country's macroeconomic performance; its development of capital markets; the structure and performance of its industries; its unemployment, household behavior, and income distribution; and the environmental and health issues facing it. The essays vary between presentations of history and policy and technical examinations of data. Together they offer the most comprehensive and detailed assessment of the country's economic transformation in print.This book is important because its essayists compile results and reach conclusions that are broad and credible. The empirical data were gathered on the ground and have been subjected to advanced methodologies, including game theory, industrial organization, and Granger-Sims causality.

Spatial Choices and Processes

1st Edition
October 22, 2013
M.M. Fischer + 2 more
English
eBook
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 9 0 8 8 1

Spatial decisions and processes are fundamental to the understanding of spatial structure. In the earlier stages of spatial analysis proposed explanations were typically on the aggregate, phenomenological level. Now a new field has evolved and matured which calls for a deeper understanding of spatial structure with a particular emphasis on spatial decisions and processes. The present volume serves as a guide and as an anthology by discussing a wide variety of new modelling approaches, techniques and issues related to spatial decision and processes and drawing these seemingly disparate, but interlocking parts together.

Urban Planning Practice In Developing Countries

1st Edition
Volume 25
October 22, 2013
J.L. Taylor + 1 more
English
eBook
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 8 5 4 7 4

Focuses on the key issues of urban planning practice in Asia's developing countries by describing and appraising a selection of the most significant planning studies or projects carried out in the last 20 years. These case studies have been specially written so that the emphasis is on planning practice and form the major part of the book. The editors contribute the conceptual and philosophical frame of reference with which this volume opens, as well as the final chapter which summarizes the lessons to be learned.

Volcanic Hazards

1st Edition
October 22, 2013
R. J. Blong
English
eBook
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 8 8 2 0 8

Volcanic Hazards: A Sourcebook on the Effects of Eruptions provides a comprehensive discussion of volcanic eruptions and their effects. This volume provides background data on volcanic activity with attention directed specifically at those types of activity and those characteristics which are hazardous. It establishes the direct effects of volcanic eruptions on humans in terms of death and injuries, and social aspects such as perception of eruption hazards, evacuation, panic, looting, and religious beliefs. It discusses the indirect consequences of volcanic eruptions for humans by illustrating the effects on buildings, utilities, communication networks and machinery, agriculture, and commercial activity. This book should be of interest to planners, engineers, city administrators, agriculturalists, and emergency services personnel who must deal with the effects of volcanic hazards; to volcanologists and geologists who did not know eruptions affected so many things; to geographers, environmentalists, and natural hazard scientists who are interested in the interrelatedness of phenomena; and to citizens who have experienced, or might yet experience, some of these effects.

Women in the Two Germanies

1st Edition
October 22, 2013
Harry G. Shaffer
English
Paperback
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 2 0 9 4 2
eBook
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 5 3 3 6 0

Women in the Two Germanies: A Comparative Study of a Socialist and a Non-Socialist Society is a comparative study of the status and position of women in socialist East Germany and non-socialist West Germany. Drawing on research carried out in 1977 and 1978, as well as interviews with hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals from all walks of life and from all parts of the two Germanies, this book considers a wide variety of legal, economic, political, and social aspects of life in the two countries, such as equality or the lack thereof under the law, in education, on the job, and in the home. This monograph is comprised of seven chapters and opens with a brief comparison of East and West Germany and a historical perspective on European men and women, as well as the status of German women before 1945 and after World War II. The discussion then turns to the status and rights of German women under the law, particularly the Constitution, labor law, family law, and social security legislation. The following chapters focus on the employment of women in the two German states; education and training; and in the home and family. Women's organizations, including religious women's organizations, professional women's organizations, and radical women's groups, are also considered. This text is written primarily for women and should also be of interest to historians, sociologists, social scientists, and policymakers concerned with women's rights.

Government in the Federal Republic of Germany

1st Edition
October 22, 2013
Nevil Johnson
English
Paperback
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 2 1 5 6 7
Hardback
9 7 8 0 0 8 0 1 7 6 9 9 4
eBook
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 5 3 9 8 8

Government in the Federal Republic of Germany: The Executive at Work focuses on the government in the Federal Republic of Germany as an executive activity, as well as the institutional framework for the overall control and direction of public action. The effects of the decentralized structure of government on the behavior and relationships of political parties are also explored. This book is comprised of eight chapters and begins with a discussion on past institutional structures and procedures that have shaped particular ideas about law, politics, and government in West Germany, including the retention of a federal structure of government, constitutionalism, and the Rechtsstaat. The following chapters deal with the political framework of the Federal Republic of Germany; federal executive leadership; the federal administrative system; and federalism and decentralization in West German government. The bureaucracy, the problem of how to control the exercise of governmental powers, and the challenge of expanding government in West Germany are also considered. This monograph will be of interest to political scientists, politicians, government officials, and students of government and politics.

Topics in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychology

1st Edition
October 22, 2013
Daniel B. Hier + 2 more
English
Paperback
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 7 6 9 0 1
eBook
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Topics in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychology provides information pertinent to neuropsychology and behavioral neurology. This book serves as a guide to those caring for patients with disorders of higher cortical function. Organized into 18 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the classes of disorders of higher cortical function according to major behavioral disturbance. This text then presents the various classification schemes for aphasic syndromes. Other chapters consider the multidimensional process of the analysis of various speech disorders, including dysprosody, dysarthria, hysteria, anomia, and aphasia. This book discusses as well the various forms of alexia, including pure alexia, alexia, alexia with agraphia, and frontal alexia. The final chapter deals with stroke and other brain disorders. This book is a valuable resource for neurologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, neurology residents, speech pathologists, and rehabilitation medicine specialists. Readers who are interested in the study of the disorders of the higher cortical function will also find this book useful.

Too Much Invested to Quit

1st Edition
October 22, 2013
Allan I. Teger
English
Paperback
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 1 9 8 0 9
eBook
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 5 2 2 2 6

Too Much Invested to Quit focuses on the applications of paradigms in the resolution of international relations, taking as backdrop issues in marriage, labor disputes, and price wars. The manuscript first offers information on the dollar auction game, a simple game that can be employed in large groups or in laboratory situations. Studies on economic and interpersonal motives when bidding against a deck of cards; sex differences and effects of team bidding; and effects of experience on the length of auction are discussed. The text also focuses on the stages of escalation and physiological and personality correlates of escalation. Topics include effects of resources on the length of auction; physiology as a dependent measure; physiology as an independent manipulation; and personality and the dollar auction. The publication explains the dollar auction and study of conflict escalation, as well as study and theories of escalation; the dollar auction and the Vietnam War; limit setting in warfare; and price warfare. The book also takes a look at real life and the dollar auction. Considerations include generalized dollar auction game and industrial bargaining, strikes, work stoppages, and divorce. The manuscript is a dependable source of reference for readers interested in the use of paradigms in the resolution of international relations.

The Heart's Eye

1st Edition
October 22, 2013
Paula M. Niedenthal + 1 more
English
eBook
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 8 8 7 6 5

Recent years have seen a great deal of attention directed towards the so-called "warm-look," investigating how "cold" cognition and "hot" affect intermingle in perception and decision processes. Following in this vein, this book discusses conceptual models and research findings with respect to how affect influences non-conscious processing. The book is divided into two sections: the first on affect and perception, the second on affect and attention, with discussants bringing each section into a cohesive whole.

Program Evaluation in Social Research

1st Edition
October 22, 2013
Jonathan A. Morell
English
Paperback
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 1 7 5 3 9
eBook
9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 4 9 9 5 0

Program Evaluation in Social Research presents a plan for developing evaluation into a form of applied social research that is not only methodologically sound, but also relevant to the problems of society and built on a technological (as opposed to a scientific) model. This book views evaluation as applied, relevant social research and as social technology and assesses its validity and usefulness. This monograph is comprised of eight chapters and begins with an assessment of the consequences of program evaluation for the conduct of social research and for society at large, and how evaluation can be made into a method of generating practical and powerful suggestions for planning successful social programs. The concept of ""outcome evaluation"" is also organized into meaningful categories which can be used for the intelligent planning of appropriate evaluation activities. The reader is then introduced to the types of evaluation that are carried out, the relative merits of each type, and how to optimize the validity and utility of each type. Evaluation as a technological, rather than a scientific, pursuit is also discussed. The remaining chapters focus on the frictions that arise during the implementation of program evaluation; program evaluation as a profession; and how evaluation can be developed into a relevant and powerful method of guiding the course of social innovations. This text will be a useful resource for sociologists, social scientists, and social researchers.

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