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Articles 3621 à 3640 sur 5433
Par Kenneth S Rogoff. 2016
From the New York Times bestselling author of This Time Is Different, "a fascinating and important book" (Ben Bernanke) about…
phasing out most paper money to fight crime and tax evasion--and to battle financial crises by tapping the power of negative interest ratesThe world is drowning in cash--and it's making us poorer and less safe. In The Curse of Cash, Kenneth Rogoff, one of the world's leading economists, makes a persuasive and fascinating case for an idea that until recently would have seemed outlandish: getting rid of most paper money.Even as people in advanced economies are using less paper money, there is more cash in circulation--a record $1.4 trillion in U.S. dollars alone, or $4,200 for every American, mostly in $100 bills. And the United States is hardly exceptional. So what is all that cash being used for? The answer is simple: a large part is feeding tax evasion, corruption, terrorism, the drug trade, human trafficking, and the rest of a massive global underground economy.As Rogoff shows, paper money can also cripple monetary policy. In the aftermath of the recent financial crisis, central banks have been unable to stimulate growth and inflation by cutting interest rates significantly below zero for fear that it would drive investors to abandon treasury bills and stockpile cash. This constraint has paralyzed monetary policy in virtually every advanced economy, and is likely to be a recurring problem in the future.The Curse of Cash offers a plan for phasing out most paper money--while leaving small-denomination bills and coins in circulation indefinitely--and addresses the issues the transition will pose, ranging from fears about privacy and price stability to the need to provide subsidized debit cards for the poor.While phasing out the bulk of paper money will hardly solve the world's problems, it would be a significant step toward addressing a surprising number of very big ones. Provocative, engaging, and backed by compelling original arguments and evidence, The Curse of Cash is certain to spark widespread debate.Par Robert Silverberg. 1962
POMPEII! TROY! BABYLON! ANGKOR! KNOSSOS! CHICHEN ITZA! The fantastic stories of how men lived at the dawn of civilization!POMPEII --…
proud city of the Caesars preserved in its last agonized moment of life by a sudden torrent of volcanic ash. TROY -- the golden treasures of a great mythical city discovered hidden beneath a hilly Turkish town. BABYLON-the great tower of Babel rising over the desert like a modern skyscraper. ANGKOR -- its vine-enshrouded towers brooding over the steaming jungles of Cambodia. KNOSSOS-glittering, maze-like palace, home of the Minotaur, where Cretan aristocracy lived in glittering splendor. CHICHEN ITZA-site of the great Mayan pyramid and the Sacred Well of death. Here are Robert Silverberg's fascinating stories of six great civilizations that lived and died as long as 7,000 years ago and the men who helped to rediscover them.Par James P Allen. 2010
Middle Egyptian introduces the reader to the writing system of ancient Egypt and the language of hieroglyphic texts. It contains…
twenty-six lessons, exercises (with answers), a list of hieroglyphic signs, and a dictionary. It also includes a series of twenty-five essays on the most important aspects of ancient Egyptian history, society, religion and literature. The combination of grammar lessons and cultural essays allows users to not only read hieroglyphic texts but also to understand them, providing readers with the foundation to understand texts on monuments and to read great works of ancient Egyptian literature in the original text. This second edition contains revised exercises and essays, providing an up to date account of current research and discoveries. New illustrations enhance discussions and examples. These additions combine with the previous edition to create a complete grammatical description of the classical language of ancient Egypt for specialists in linguistics and other fields.Par Duncan Lunan. 1945
There are at least 48 identified prehistoric stone circles in Scotland. In truth, very little is known about the people…
who erected them, and ultimately about what the stone circles were for. Most stone circles are astronomically aligned, which has led to the modern debate about why the alignment was significant. The megaliths certainly represented an enormous co-operative effort, would at the very least have demonstrated power and wealth, and being set away from any dwellings probably served a ceremonial, or perhaps religious, purpose. Observations at the site of the stone circles, of solar, lunar, and stellar events, have already cast light on some of the questions about the construction and use of ancient megalithic observatories. In his capacity as manager of the Parks Department Astronomy Project, author Duncan Lunan designed and built the first astronomically aligned stone circle in Britain in over 3,000 years. 'The Stones and the Stars' examines the case for astronomical alignments of stone circles, and charts the development of a fascinating project with a strong scientific and historical background. The work was documented in detail by the artist and photographer Gavin Roberts, and this archive has been added to since - so an appropriate selection of illustrations will bring the project vividly to life.Par Gregory S. Zaric. 2013
Operations research tools are ideally suited to providing solutions and insights for the many problems health policy-maker's face. Indeed, a…
growing body of literature on health policy analysis, based on operations research methods, has emerged to address the problems mentioned above and several others. The research in this field is often multi-disciplinary, being conducted by teams that include not only operations researchers but also clinicians, economists and policy analysts. The research is also often very applied, focusing on a specific question driven by a decision-maker and many times yielding a tool to assist in future decisions. The goal of this volume was to bring together a group of papers by leading experts that could showcase the current state of the field of operations research applied to health-care policy. There are 18 chapters that illustrate the breadth of this field. The chapters use a variety of techniques, including classical operations research tools, such as optimization, queuing theory, and discrete event simulation, as well as statistics, epidemic models and decision-analytic models. The book spans the field and includes work that ranges from highly conceptual to highly applied. An example of the former is the chapter by Kimmel and Schackman on building policy models, and an example of the latter is the chapter by Coyle and colleagues on developing a Markov model for use by an organization in Ontario that makes recommendations about the funding of new drugs. The book also includes a mix of review chapters, such as the chapter by Hutton on public health response to influenza outbreaks, and original research, such as the paper by Blake and colleagues analyzing a decision by Canadian Blood Services to consolidate services. This volume could provide an excellent introduction to the field of operations research applied to health-care policy, and it could also serve as an introduction to new areas for researchers already familiar with the topic. The book is divided into six sections. The first section contains two chapters that describe several different applications of operations research in health policy and provide an excellent overview of the field. Sections 2 to 4 present policy models in three focused areas. Section 5 contains two chapters on conceptualizing and building policy models. The book concludes in Section 6 with two chapters describing work that was done with policy-makers and presenting insights gained from working directly with policy-makers.Par Meta F. Janowitz, Diane Dallal. 1731
Historical Archaeology of New York City is a collection of narratives about people who lived in New York City during…
the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, people whose lives archaeologists have encountered during excavations at sites where these people lived or worked. The stories are ethnohistorical or microhistorical studies created using archaeological and documentary data. As microhistories, they are concerned with particular people living at particular times in the past within the framework of world events. The world events framework will be provided in short introductions to chapters grouped by time periods and themes. The foreword by Mary Beaudry and the afterword by LuAnne DeCunzo bookend the individual case studies and add theoretical weight to the volume. Historical Archaeology of New York City focuses on specific individual life stories, or stories of groups of people, as a way to present archaeological theory and research. Archaeologists work with material culture--artifacts--to recreate daily lives and study how culture works; this book is an example of how to do this in a way that can attract people interested in history as well as in anthropological theory.Par Myra Shackley, Elizabeth Reitz. 2012
One of the most significant developments in archaeology in recent years is the emergence of its environmental branch: the study…
of humans' interactions with their natural surroundings over long periods, and of organic remains instead of the artifacts and household items generally associated with sites. With the current attention paid to human responsibility for environmental change, this innovative field is recognized by scientists, conservation and heritage managers, and policymakers worldwide. In this context comes Environmental Archaeology by Elizabeth Reitz and Myra Shackley, updating the seminal 1981 text Environmental Archaeology by Myra Shackley. Rigorously detailed yet concise and accessible, this volume surveys the complex and technical field of environmental archaeology for researchers interested in the causes, consequences, and potential future impact of environmental change and archaeology. Its coverage acknowledges the multiple disciplines involved in the field, expanding the possibilities for using environmental data from archaeological sites in enriching related disciplines and improving communication among them. Introductory chapters explain the processes involved in the formation of sites, introduce research designs and field methods, and walk the reader through biological classifications before focusing on the various levels of biotic and abiotic materials found at sites, including:Sediments and soils.Viruses, bacteria, archaea, protists, and fungi.Bryophytes and vascular plants. Wood, charcoal, stems, leaves, and roots. Spores, pollen, and other microbotanical remains. Arthropods, molluscs, echinoderms, and vertebrates. Stable isotopes, elements, and biomolecules.The updated Environmental Archaeology is a major addition to the resource library of archaeologists, environmentalists, historians, researchers, policymakers--anyone involved in studying, managing, or preserving historical sites. The updated Environmental Archaeology is a major addition to the resource library of archaeologists, environmentalists, historians, researchers, policymakers--anyone involved in studying, managing, or preserving historical sitesPar Mark Q Sutton. 2019
Archaeology: The Science of the Human Past provides an introduction to the broad and fascinating world of archaeology from the…
scientific perspective. Conveying the exhilaration of archaeological work, it explores the ways archaeologists analyse and interpret evidence. Varying perspectives are considered to provide holistic coverage of archaeological techniques and methods and show how the complexity of the past can be captured by the empirical science of archaeology. The Fifth Edition has been updated and revised to include the latest archaeological approaches and the impact developments in archaeological science have made in recent years. The chapter on bioarchaeology has been completely rewritten to reflect these developments. Archaeology: An Introduction will allow students to understand the theoretical and scientific aspects of archaeology and how various archaeological perspectives and techniques help us understand how and what we know about the past.Par Ben Ford. 2009
Maritime cultural landscapes are collections of submerged archaeological sites, or combinations of terrestrial and submerged sites that reflect the relationship…
between humans and the water. These landscapes can range in size from a single beach to an entire coastline and can include areas of terrestrial sites now inundated as well as underwater sites that are now desiccated. However, what binds all of these sites together is the premise that each aspect of the landscape -cultural, political, environmental, technological, and physical - is interrelated and can not be understood without reference to the others. In this maritime cultural landscape approach, individual sites are treated as features within the larger landscape and the interpretation of single sites add to a larger analysis of a region or culture. This approach provides physical and theoretical links between terrestrial and underwater archaeology as well as prehistoric and historic archaeology; consequently, providing a framework for integrating such diverse topics as trade, resource procurement, habitation, industrial production, and warfare into a holistic study of the past. Landscape studies foster broader perspectives and approaches, extending the study of maritime cultures beyond the shoreline. Despite this potential, the archaeological study of maritime landscapes is a relatively untried approach with many questions regarding the methods and perspectives needed to effectively analyze these landscapes. The chapters in this volume, which include contributions from the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Australia, address many of the theoretical and methodological questions surrounding maritime cultural landscapes. The authors comprise established scholars as well as archaeologists at the beginning of their careers, providing a healthy balance of experience and innovation. The chapters also demonstrate parity between method and theory, where the varying interpretations of culture and space are given equal weight with the challenges of investigating both wet and dry sites across large areas.Par Loren G. Davis, Nuno F. Bicho, Jonathan A. Haws. 2007
Human settlement has often centered around coastal areas and waterways. Until recently, however, archaeologists believed that marine economies did not…
develop until the end of the Pleistocene, when the archaeological record begins to have evidence of marine life as part of the human diet. This has long been interpreted as a postglacial adaptation, due to the rise in sea level and subsequent decrease in terrestrial resources. Coastal resources, particularly mollusks, were viewed as fallback resources, which people resorted to only when terrestrial resources were scarce, included only as part of a more complex diet. Recent research has significantly altered this understanding, known as the Broad Spectrum Revolution (BSR) model. The contributions to this volume revise the BSR model, with evidence that coastal resources were an important part of human economies and subsistence much earlier than previously thought, and even the main focus of diets for some Pleistocene and early Holocene hunter-gatherer societies. With evidence from North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, this volume comprehensively lends a new understanding to coastal settlement from the Middle Paleolithic to the Middle Holocene.Par Greg Brunner, Roberto Rocha. 2008
'Risk-Based Supervision of Pension Funds' provides a review of the design and experience of risk-based pension fund supervision in countries…
that have been leaders in the development of these methods. The utilization of risk-based methods originates primarily in the supervision of banks. In recent years it has increasingly been extended to other types of financial intermediaries, including pension funds and insurers. The trend toward risk-based supervision of pensions reflects an increasing focus on risk management in both banking and insurance based on three key elements: capital requirements, supervisory review, and market discipline. Although similar in concept to the techniques developed in banking, its application to pension funds has required modifications, particularly for defined contribution funds that transfer investment risk to fund members. The countries examined-Australia, Denmark, Mexico, and the Netherlands-provide a range of experience that illustrates both the diversity of pension systems and the approaches to risk-based supervision, and also presents a commonality of focus on sound risk management and effective supervisory outcomes.Par Stephen Greenblatt. 1991
Explores how Europeans of the late Middle Ages and early modern period represented newly discovered exotic peoples in travel narratives,…
judicial documents, and official reports. Especially shows how the sense of the marvellous was primarily used to encourage the appropriation of new lands (but not always).Par Victoria White, Joanna Ledgerwood. 2006
In response to a clear need by low-income people to gain access to the full range of financial services including…
savings, a growing number of microfinance NGOs are seeking guidelines to transform from credit-focused microfinance organizations to regulated deposit-taking financial intermediaries. In response to this trend, this book presents a practical 'how-to' manual for MFIs to develop the capacity to become licensed and regulated to mobilize deposits from the public. 'Transforming Microfinance Institutions' provides guidelines for regulators to license and regulate microfinance providers, and for transforming MFIs to meet the demands of two major new stakeholders-regulators and shareholders. As such, it focuses on developing the capacity of NGO MFIs to mobilize and intermediate voluntary savings. Drawing from worldwide experience, it outlines how to manage the transformation process and address major strategic and operational issues inherent in transformation including competitive positioning, business planning, accessing capital and shareholders, and how to 'transform' the MFI's human resources, financial management, MIS, internal controls, and branch operations. Case studies then provide examples of developing a new regulatory tier for microfinance, and how a Ugandan NGO transformed to become a licensed financial intermediary. This book will be invaluable to regulators and microfinance NGOs contemplating institutional transformation and will be of tremendous use to donors and technical support agencies supporting MFIs in their transformation.Par David Gaimster, Teresita Majewski. 2009
In studying the past, archaeologists have focused on the material remains of our ancestors. Prehistorians generally have only artifacts to…
study and rely on the diverse material record for their understanding of past societies and their behavior. Those involved in studying historically documented cultures not only have extensive material remains but also contemporary texts, images, and a range of investigative technologies to enable them to build a broader and more reflexive picture of how past societies, communities, and individuals operated and behaved. Increasingly, historical archaeology refers not to a particular period, place, or a method, but rather an approach that interrogates the tensions between artifacts and texts irrespective of context. In short, historical archaeology provides direct evidence for how humans have shaped the world we live in today. Historical archaeology is a branch of global archaeology that has grown in the last 40 years from its North American base into an increasingly global community of archaeologists each studying their area of the world in a historical context. Where historical archaeology started as part of the study of the post-Columbian societies of the United States and Canada, it has now expanded to interface with the post-medieval archaeologies of Europe and the diverse post-imperial experiences of Africa, Latin America, and Australasia. The 36 essays in the International Handbook of Historical Archaeology have been specially commissioned from the leading researchers in their fields, creating a wide-ranging digest of the increasingly global field of historical archaeology. The volume is divided into two sections, the first reviewing the key themes, issues, and approaches of historical archaeology today, and the second containing a series of case studies charting the development and current state of historical archaeological practice around the world. This key reference work captures the energy and diversity of this global discipline today.Par Alain Deneault, William Sacher. 2012
Par Peter J. Wallison. 2015
The 2008 financial crisis-like the Great Depression-was a world-historical event. What caused it will be debated for years, if not…
generations. The conventional narrative is that the financial crisis was caused by Wall Street greed and insufficient regulation of the financial system. That narrative produced the Dodd-Frank Act, the most comprehensive financial-system regulation since the New Deal. There is evidence, however, that the Dodd-Frank Act has slowed the recovery from the recession. If insufficient regulation caused the financial crisis, then the Dodd-Frank Act will never be modified or repealed; proponents will argue that doing so will cause another crisis.A competing narrative about what caused the financial crisis has received little attention. This view, which is accepted by almost all Republicans in Congress and most conservatives, contends that the crisis was caused by government housing policies. This book extensively documents this view. For example, it shows that in June 2008, before the crisis, 56 percent of all US mortgages were subprime or otherwise low-quality. Of these, 76 percent were on the books of government agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. When these mortgages defaulted in 2007 and 2008, they drove down housing prices and weakened banks and other mortgage holders, causing the crisis.After this book is published, no one will be able to claim that the financial crisis was caused by insufficient regulation, or defend Dodd-Frank, without coming to terms with the data this book contains.Par Joanna L. Robinson. 2002
Attempts by local governments to privatize water services have met with furiousopposition. Activists argue that to give private companies control…
of the water supply is to turnwater from a common resource into a marketized commodity. Moreover, to cede local power to a globalcorporation puts communities at the center of controversies over economic globalization. InContested Water, Joanna Robinson examines local social movement organizingagainst water privatization, looking closely at battles for control of local water services inStockton, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia. The movements in these two communities haddifferent trajectories, used different tactics, and experienced different outcomes. Robinsonanalyzes the factors that shaped these two struggles. Drawing on extensive interviews with movementactors, political leaders, and policymakers and detailed analysis of textual material, Robinsonshows that the successful campaign in Vancouver drew on tactics, opportunities, and narratives fromthe broader antiglobalization movement, with activists emphasizing the threats to local democracyand accountability; the less successful movement in Stockton centered on a ballot initiative thatwas made meaningless by a pre-emptive city council vote. Robinson finds that global forces arereshaping local movements, particularly those that oppose neoliberal reforms at the municipal level. She argues that anti--water privatization movements that link local and international concerns andbuild wide-ranging coalitions at local and global levels offer an effective way to counter economicglobalization. Successful challenges to globalization will not necessarily come from transnationalmovements but rather from movements that are connected globally but rooted in localcommunities.Par Sergei Rudenko, Paul Tolstoy, Henry N. Michael. 1961
The original work, in Russian, appeared in 1947 and is still regarded as an important contribution to knowledge of the…
early history of the Eskimo. This translation makes available in English the results of archaeological research in a significant area, the extreme northeast of continental Asia, and the data reported are a valuable addition to previous information on the ethnology, linguistics and physical anthropology of the peoples of the Arctic. In particular this book reports investigations made by the author on the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula from the village of Uwelen in the north to the village of Sirhenik in the south. This is volume I in a series Anthropology of the North: Translations from Russian Sources being sponsored by the Arctic Institute of North America.Par Roger Martin, James Milway. 1989
Canadians have achieved an enviable balance of economic prosperity and civic harmony, but as emerging countries like China, India, and…
Brazil take their place alongside developed economies, we cannot be complacent. Our high paying jobs, world-class learning and research institutes, excellent health care, and social safety nets exist only to the extent that we are innovative and competitive globally.Canada: What It Is, What It Can Be provides an incisive examination of this country's increasing prosperity gap - the difference in value between what we do create and what we could create if we performed at our full potential. As Roger Martin and James Milway demonstrate, although we are proud of our trading prowess, we do not participate as aggressively in world markets with innovative products and services as we could. While we want to take risks to achieve success, our business strategies and economic policies need to set the bar higher to achieve the success we want for Canada.Written in an accessible style that helps general readers understand complex economic concepts, Canada: What It Is, What It Can Be exposes the myths currently guiding our public policy, and provides ground-breaking new approaches for realizing our full prosperity potential.Par Bill White. 2014
What would Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, Truman, and Eisenhower have done about today's federal debt crisis?America's Fiscal Constitution…
tells the remarkable story of fiscal heroes who imposed clear limits on the use of federal debt, limits that for two centuries were part of an unwritten constitution. Those national leaders borrowed only for extraordinary purposes and relied on well-defined budget practices to balance federal spending and revenues. That traditional fiscal constitution collapsed in 2001. Afterward-for the first time in history-federal elected officials cut taxes during war, funded permanent new programs entirely with debt, grew dependent on foreign creditors, and claimed that the economy could not thrive without routine federal borrowing.For most of the nation's history, conservatives fought to restrain the growth of government by insisting that new programs be paid for with taxation, while progressives sought to preserve opportunities for people on the way up by balancing budgets. Virtually all mainstream politicians recognized that excessive debt could jeopardize private investment and national independence.With original scholarship and the benefit of experience in finance and public service, Bill White dispels common budget myths and distills practical lessons from the nation's five previous spikes in debt. America's Fiscal Constitution offers an objective and hopeful guide for people trying to make sense of the nation's current, most severe, debt crisis and its impact on their lives and our future.