Devil's Advocate Economics: The Other Side of the Stories PDF Download

Author: Katherine Davis Butler
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0359209262
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
With economic and social issues, we all have ideas of what is correct. A closer inspection reveals that things may not be as we thought, and invites questions. The answers may be contrary to prior opinion. Should we strive for fairness and equality, or will doing so create some unintended consequences? Is it possible that people that are viewed negatively ?illegal immigrants, big-game hunters, price gougers, and ticket scalpers ?create more economic benefits than costs? Is discrimination an oversimplified and over-blamed boogeyman of convenience? Do the rich actually pay MORE than their fair share of taxes? What happens if we tax the rich too much? Devil's Advocate Economics examines these questions and more, inviting readers to think about the other side of the story. The other side may not be the popular or well-publicized result, but the conclusion reached by examining incentives, consequences of policy, data about behavior, and the general well-being of individuals.

Author: Taylor Caldwell
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504042921
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
A revolution is waged against a totalitarian regime in this “courageous” novel of a dystopian near-future America by a #1 New York Times–bestselling author (Chicago Tribune). In the heart of Philadelphia, insurgent Andrew Durant has been nursing a festering rage. And he’s not alone. Through underground networks, he’s found himself among a secret thousands, building an army called the Minute Men. They’re readying themselves for war to reclaim what was once America. In the nation now known as the Democracy, independent thought is a thing of the past. The Constitution is waste paper. A conscienceless president has been appointed by the military—for life. The government has co-opted farmland crops. Citizens are divided between two classes: wealthy corporations and the destitute. Areas of the country devastated by war or natural disaster remain unchecked. On behalf of national security, neighbors are instructed to spy on one another. Exposing those who are undemocratic is law. And all dissenters are eliminated. Durant, the chosen agent for the poverty-stricken rural Democracy, finds himself increasingly isolated and afraid. Mobilizing revolutionaries has become a dangerous tactic; the Minute Men have their own traitors, infiltrators assigned to undo everything Durant and his men are fighting to conquer. Now, the rebels have only their beliefs left to trust. A stunning dystopian vision in the tradition of George Orwell’s 1984 and Ayn Rand’s Anthem, The Devil’s Advocate is author Taylor Caldwell’s “tour de force” (Kirkus Reviews). More than a half-century after its original publication, it is timelier than ever. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Taylor Caldwell including rare images from the author’s estate.

Author: David P. Ellerman
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Capital investments
Languages : en
Pages : 18

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Book Description
May 1998 The most likely outcome of the strategy of voucher privatization with investment funds may be a two-sided grab fest by fund managers and enterprise managers-along with drift, stagnation, and decapitalization of the privatized industrial sector. Common wisdom among post-socialist reformers has been to use voucher investment funds to provide the corporate governance needed to restructure newly privatized enterprises after mass privatization efforts. The idea has been that mass privatization would spread the ownership too wide and make corporate governance difficult. Ellerman examines the likely institutional behavior of voucher funds and the possible effects of their development on a transition economy. Since most policy advice has been in favor of voucher privatization with investment finds, Ellerman can be seen as playing the devil's advocate, but his argument is institutional, not statistical. Policymaking requires insight and foresight into how institutions will tend to function. He concludes that voucher funds will introduce a bias in the economy away from the real industrial sector toward an ersatz financial sector that will have little if any positive financial role but will be well-protected by friendly regulators. One long-term consequence of voucher privatization with investment funds, according to this view, is a de facto industrial policy of real sector decapitalization in favor of short-term rent-seeking by fund managers through board sinecures and lucrative side deals with portfolio companies and through financial market manipulation and paper entrepreneurship in the financial sector. Without strong corporate governance from the funds and without stable ownership of their own, many enterprise managers will exploit the post-socialist version of the separation of ownership and control to grab what they can in the form of salaries, bonuses, perquisites, and side deals. The most likely results of the strategy of voucher privatization with investment funds may be a two-sided grab fest by fund managers and enterprise managers-together with the accompanying drift, stagnation, and decapitalization of the privatized industrial sector. This paper-a product of the Office of the Senior Vice President, Development Economics-is part of a larger effort in the Bank to define policymaking using institutional analysis. The author may be contacted at [email protected].

Author: Calum Waddell
Publisher: Devils Advocates
ISBN: 9781911325116
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Cannibal Holocaust is one of the most controversial horror films ever made. Despite not achieving huge success when it was first released, the Italian production found an audience on home video in the 1980s and became a 'must-see' for connoisseurs of extreme cinema. Indeed, Cannibal Holocaust's foremost legacy is in the United Kingdom, where it obtained its reputation as one of the most harrowing and offensive 'video nasties' - a term used to refer to a group of films deemed to be 'obscene' by the Department of Public Prosecutions. However, as the years have progressed, Cannibal Holocaust has been re-evaluated, mainly as the forefather of the 'found footage' film, and recent home video re-releases have added some valuable perspective to the onscreen violence with extensive cast and crew interviews. What is missing from this contemporary activity is contextualization of Cannibal Holocaust's style, affirmation and discussion of its locations and any extensive discourse about its representation of third world inhabitants (i.e. as 'primitives'). In addition, and also amiss from previous dialogue on the production, is that Cannibal Holocaust can be seen as one of the key post-Vietnam films. It is the spectre of war - and an explicit warning about Western involvement in civil conflict - which progresses Deodato's story of jungle adventurers in peril. By approaching the film from a more formalist position, this Devil's Advocate provides an insightful discussion of this groundbreaking film.

Author: David G. Winter
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199355770
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 441

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Book Description
Ever since Thucydides pondered reasons for the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, writers, philosophers, and social scientists have tried to identify factors that promote conflict escalation: for example, history (tomorrow's wars are often rooted in yesterday's conflicts), changing balance of power among nations, or domestic political forces. In the end, however, these "causes" are constructed by human beings and involve the memories, emotions, and motives of both the leaders and the led. In July 1914, the long-standing peace of Europe was shattered when the Sarajevo assassinations quickly escalated to World War I. In contrast, at the height of the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis could have easily plunged the world into a thermonuclear world war, but was ultimately peacefully resolved. Why the different outcomes? In Roots of War: Wanting Power, Seeing Threat, Justifying Force, David G. Winter identifies three psychological factors that contributed to the differences in these historical outcomes: the desire for power, exaggerated perception of the opponent's threat, and justification for using military force. Several lines of research establish how these factors lead to escalation and war: comparative archival studies of "war" and "peace" crises, laboratory experiments on threat perception, and surveys of factors leading people to believe that a particular war is "just." The research findings in Roots of War also demonstrate the importance of power in preserving peace through diplomatic interventions, past and present.

Author: James P. Barber
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000977609
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Students’ ability to integrate learning across contexts is a critical outcome for higher education. Often the most powerful learning experiences that students report from their college years are those that prompt integration of learning, yet it remains an outcome that few educators explicitly work towards or specify as a course objective. Given that students will be more successful in college (and in life) if they can integrate their learning, James Barber offers a guide for college educators on how to promote students’ integration of learning, and help them connect knowledge and insights across contexts, whether in-class or out-of-class, in co-curricular activities, or across courses and disciplinary boundaries. The opening chapters lay the foundation for the book, defining what integration of learning is, how to promote it and students’ capacities for reflection; and introduce the author’s research-based Integration of Learning (IOL) model.The second section of the book provides practical, real-world strategies for facilitating integration of learning that college educators can use right away in multiple learning contexts. James Barber describes practices that readers can integrate as appropriate in their classes or activities, under chapters respectively devoted to Mentoring, Writing as Praxis, Juxtaposition, Hands-On Experiences, and Diversity and Identity. The author concludes by outlining how to apply IOL to a multiplicity of settings, such as a major, a single course, programming for a student organization, or other co-curricular experience; as well as offering guidance on assessing and documenting students’ mastery of this outcome.This book is addressed to a wide range of educators engaged with college student learning, from faculty to student affairs administrators, athletic coaches, internship supervisors, or anyone concerned with student development.

Author: Jonathan Lipow
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498512992
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
How should national security concerns alter our perception of what constitutes good economic policy? Survival: The Economic Underpinnings of American National Security introduces principles of national security thinking relevant to public policy, then illustrates application of these principles in a number of policy areas including fiscal policy, healthcare, education, immigration, welfare and poverty abatement, energy, and the environment.

Author: Andrew Neiderman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451682557
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
The inspiration behind the major motion picture starring Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino, an unputdownable thriller about a lawyer who discovers that he’s become a defender of the damned. When Kevin Taylor joins the Manhattan criminal law firm of John Milton & Associates, he’s hit the big time. At last, he and his wife can enjoy the luxuries they’ve always dreamed of—a chauffeur and a limo, a stunning high-rise home. Then Kevin is assigned to one of the most notorious cases of the year, with a file that had been put together prior to the crime. Throwing himself into his work, Kevin begins to see a pattern of evil emerging from behind the firm’s plush facade. Acquittal after acquittal, every criminal client walks free, and Kevin’s suspicions slowly give way to terror.

Author: Napoleon Hill
Publisher: Sharon Lechter
ISBN:
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description
Originally written in 1938 but never published due to its controversial nature, an insightful guide reveals the seven principles of good that will allow anyone to triumph over the obstacles that must be faced in reaching personal goals.

Author: Robert Selman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351324748
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
Worldwide, the number of poor people increased during the past decade, despite technological improvements, more open trade, and improved policy frameworks in developing countries. Regional conflicts, adverse shifts in terms of trade, and marginalization of poor countries in the new global economy explain this outcome. This highlights the need to reform development assistance and improve its effectiveness. Making Development Work examines the four key principles of the Comprehensive-Development Framework, a World Bank initiative currently being piloted in twelve developing counties. The initiative promotes a holistic long-term vision of development, domestic ownership of development programs, and focus on results; and stronger partnership between government, the private sector, and the civil society. The first section of the volume describes the evolution in development thinking that culminated in this new consensus. The second focuses on country ownership of development policies and programs. Based on empirical evidence, it proposes a new view of the aid relationship as a mutual-learning process. The third section focuses on results and on the ways aid agencies might enhance development impact of their operations. It concludes with a preliminary assessment of strategies for scaling up from specific projects to sector and programmatic approaches, and suggests ways to adapt them to counter conditions. The experience of a bilateral aid agency, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is examined in this context. The fourth section focuses on partnership, emphasizing that aid agencies must be explicit about the kinds of partnerships they seek with countries and the kinds of strategic selectivity they will exercise. The final chapter pulls together the lessons of development experience at various levels of operation. It outlines key tensions between comprehensiveness and selectivity, ownership and conditionality, speed and broad-based ownership, focus on results and poor local evaluation capacity, and enhanced country focus and globalization. Promising approaches to manage these tensions are put forward to replace one-size-fits-all prescriptions with client empowerment and social learning. Making Development Work offers rich lessons on improving the effectiveness of aid. It will be of particular interest to development practitioners, students and professors of development economics studies. Nagy Hanna is a lead corporate strategist and evaluation officer at the World Bank. He has published extensively on development, management, and knowledge. Robert Picciotto is director-general of Operations Evaluation at the World Bank.