This open access book examines the impact of political leadership on agricultural transformation to understand why cases of successful agricultural transformation are so rare in the developing world. It highlights the importance of leadership and its interaction with the socio-political system as a key factor impacting agricultural transformation. The book takes a first step in systematically e…
This open access textbook offers a critical introduction to human and economic development prospects in Africa revolving around three questions: where is Africa today, what explains the current state, and, given historical trends and what we know about the world, where do we think the continent will be in 2040? And, a final question: what can we do to create a better tomorrow? It models ambitio…
This book offers a comprehensive analysis of social protection in Latin America, its origins, institutions, and outcomes. The chapters are organised in three groups. The earlier chapters discuss in turn appropriate methods, an analytical framework, and core institutions. The book advocates a causal inference approach to the study of the institutions that have dominated social protection in t…
This open access book presents the evolution of the Spanish economy over the past seven centuries since the end of the Reconquest and examines how much economic progress has Spain achieved, as well as its impact on living standards and income distribution over the very long run. It shows that preindustrial Spain was far from stagnant, although levels of output per head in the early nineteenth c…
This open access book explores the most recent trends in the EU in terms of development, progress, and performance. Ten years after the 2008 economic crisis, and amidst a digital revolution that is intensifying the development race, the European Union, and especially Central and Eastern Europe, are ardently searching for their development priorities. Against this background, by relying on a cr…
Circular Economy is an emerging production-consumption paradigm showing the potential to recover and re-use functions and materials from post-use, end-of-life, products. Even if several barriers still exist at different levels, from legislation to customer acceptance, the transition to this sustainable industrial model has been demonstrated to potentially bring economic, environmental, and …
This open access book expounds in detail on the profound meaning and main characteristics of modernization with Chinese characteristics. This was done utilizing tools of historical investigation and fact-based research on the modernization of New China. The author provides a far-reaching outlook of the strategic goals and future trends of modernization with Chinese characteristics. In this book…
Based on the analysis of China’s basic national conditions and development trends, this book begins with a general introduction to the study of “modernization with Chinese characteristics,” and then discusses the comprehensive construction of a prosperous society in all respects, unprecedented changes, the new national system, green modernization, and technological modernization. In addit…
This Open Access book from the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy explains how money creation and banking works, describes the main problems of the current monetary and financial system and discusses several reform options. This book systematically evaluates proposals for fundamental monetary reform, including ideas to separate money and credit by breaking up banks, introducin…
This open access book questions the stereotype depicting all Gulf (GCC) economies as not sustainable, and starts a critical discussion of what these economies and polities should do to guarantee themselves a relatively stable future. Volatile international oil markets and the acceleration of the energy transition has challenged the notion that oil revenues are sufficient to sustain oil eco…