This book offers an introduction to transfer pricing with particular reference to China, for those who are looking for an overview that can be rapidly comprehended and who value diagrammatic images as a vehicle for learning. The subject is of importance both for Chinese and foreign personnel engaged in foreign company activity in China and for those who are similarly engaged in Chinese-owned companies already operating abroad, or which are to be extended to foreign locations.

Policing Financial Crime presents theories of financial crime, stages of financial crime, and criminal entrepreneurship. Response, regulation, and prevention of financial crime are described in terms of police intelligence strategy, intelligence information sources, and information systems. By combining insights into the broad variety of financial crime types and behaviors and alternative law enforcement approaches, this book provides a unique insight into the growing local and global phenomena of financial crime. By the same author: White-Collar Crime: Detection, Prevention and Strategy in Business Enterprises Knowledge Management in Police Oversight: Law Enforcement Integrity and Accountability Essential Knowledge and Management Issues in Law Firms

Economics demonstrates how markets can serve as remarkably efficient institutions in allocating scarce resources. At the same time, incomplete information generates prices that can lead to a mis-allocation, producing in some cases too little while in others too much of a good. Matters become more complicated when striking a balance is influenced by our perceptions of risk. Here, neuroscience provides insights into which, and what kind of public sector interventions one should consider. While there are many types of risk – political, economic, financial, and environmental as individuals confront any crisis, our perceptions of risk can alter significantly the extent to which we look to public sector intervention as a response. In the short run, crises many be managed through greater pu...

Theory and Practice of Modern Islamic Finance seeks to contribute to the existing body of work in the area of Islamic finance through examining the extent of divergence in practice of Islamic financing from the traditional Shari`ah in the Australian context. The author makes a discursive analysis of the regulation of Islamic finance in Australia in terms of (a) the financing instruments used, (b) certainty of transactions between participants in the system, and (c) institutional risk management of Islamic financial institutions. The work's objectives are two-fold: (a) to analytically study the extent to which Islamic Financial Services Providers (IFSPs) of Australia differ from the traditional Shari`ah in their current practices of Islamic legal financial system by their use of different f...

This book reveals and discusses existing and potential problems derived from the transport economics domain in relation to their environment, and the social, political and economic impacts, with reference to a wide range of transport modes. It is suitable not only for academics or students, but also for people working in the transport industry. From this book, readers will learn how to apply economic principles to transport, drawing specifically upon a number of case studies of different areas of Great Britain. This book is particularly useful for those who are interested in the subject of transport economics, but may not have studied economics, statistics or mathematics. REVIEWS A useful collection of concepts on transport economics for all of us that work in the transport field, and ar...

"Development" is one of the most ubiquitous yet least understood concepts of our age. It is something all governments claim to be engaged in and is considered desirable by scholars, activists, policymakers, and laypeople alike. Yet it is also a highly contested term. For some, development is simply a matter of economic growth. Others maintain that it must entail improving life expectancy, literacy, education levels, and access to resources. Others yet, disillusioned by the results of development initiatives, have rejected development altogether, equating it with a self-serving aid industry that entraps the poor in a vicious cycle of dependency. Still, critics argue these "post-development" theorists merely replicate earlier doctrines of development and have themselves become part of the pr...

Economic activity of humankind is considered in the book through the prism of fundamental physical concepts of Irreversible Thermodynamics. In the frame of such an approach the Economy appears as an immense global system, which performs work, necessary for functioning human societies, at the expense of dissipation of energy, both biological, provided with food, and technological, used for industrial and everyday needs. Money plays a fundamental role of virtual energy specific for economic processes, that makes possible mutual coupling of energy flows distinct in their nature. The author applies the concept of entropy of money and shows that it depends upon the degree of concentration of money. In turn entropy of money is shown to define attainable level of capability of money to perform wo...

Today, policy makers in both developed and developing countries are pursuing regionalization as a means to achieve easier market access, economies of scale, and welfare gains. South Asia Trade and Energy Security explains how regional economic cooperation in trade and energy security could help facilitate the economic transformation of the region, reducing poverty and expanding production. Currently, intra-regional trade in South Asia is constrained by tariff and non-tariff barriers. A fully-functional free trade area as envisaged in the South Asian Free Trade Area agreement has yet to be realized. This book explains the current patterns and limitations of energy trade between countries in South Asia, and how the growing demand for energy could be met by working closely with energy rich Ir...

'Attitudinal change' in the context of economic reforms has been referred to in Rodrik and Subramanian (2005), DeLong (2003), Kohli (1989), and Panagariya (2004, 2008). This dissertation provides empirical support for this literature, establishing an earlier start for India's economic policy liberalisation than presented in stylized accounts. It demonstrates the endogenous nature of the origins of these policy shifts. 'Attitudinal change' literature had directed attention to the need for further research into India's policy changes of the early 1980s and for studying broader comparability issues in other developing countries. This research makes a contribution towards filling these gaps. This dissertation shows that India started its economic liberalisation under the Indira Gandhi admin...

This research is an empirical study of the legitimacy of economic inequality with a focus on the case of Chile. Chile is an appealing case study in this regard because it has been one of the countries with the highest indexes of economic inequality over the past several decades. Theoretical perspectives based on the rational interest of the median voter have pointed out a negative association between high levels of inequality and legitimacy. Nevertheless, empirical evidence indicates that an unequal distribution of income is not necessarily challenged by the majority of a society, a phenomenon associated with the concept of legitimacy of economic inequality. Most empirical studies of this topic to date have considered social contexts that are not characterized by (comparatively) high level...

The Islamic Moral Economy is an academic book that analyzes the religious permissibility or lack thereof of the existing repertoire of financial instruments used in Islamic banking and finance. The work is both timely and sound, especially considering the growth of the international Islamic banking and insurance industries, and the Great Recession of 2007-2010. The Islamic Moral Economy is an excellent introductory book for academics and finance professionals wishing to gain a better understanding of Islamic moral constraints on economic transactions and how most current Islamic banking transactions are structured. More specifically, the author examines the utopian nature of the Islamic moral economy with a special emphasis on riba (i.e., financial interest and illogical increase), ...

In the field of antitrust, the freedoms to contract and compete can and do contradict. Profit-maximizing companies desire perfectly competitive input markets to minimize their costs, but want monopolistic markets for their outputs to maximize their profits. Consequently, they have strong incentives to undermine competition in their output markets. In a world without antitrust laws, many companies would thus eliminate competition by using their freedom to contract, either by entering into legally enforceable agreements which fix prices or divide up markets, or by merging and acquiring rivals to gain market control. Therefore, guaranteeing and safeguarding companies' abilities to compete comes at the cost of restricting their freedoms to contract. The states role in this task is a delicate o...

This study examines U.S.-Mexico sugar trade with special attention given to the impact of changes in trade and market environments caused by implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the introduction of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). These two factors contributed to shaping sugar markets in the United States and Mexico as well as sugar trade between the two countries. The study includes two sections: (1) a description of the sugar markets from an historic point of view and (2) an empirical study forecasting the market and trade outlook. In section one, characteristics of the sugar industry and transition of the sugar markets brought by the two factors (NAFTA and HFCS) are presented. Adoption of HFCS shaped the U.S. sweetener market in the 1980s and a similar ...

International Journal of Finance and Policy Analysis (IJFPA) ISSN 0974-3499 aims to publish high quality papers that are of interest to academicians and practitioners. IJFPA is peer-reviewed and publishes both applied and theoretical papers bi-annually. The journal only considers original manuscripts for publication. IJFPA welcomes contributions in the areas of corporate finance, investments, corporate governance, international finance, financial markets & institutions, credit analysis, financial planning, financial risk management, behavioural finance, financial services management, capital structure, international financial market linkages, portfolio management, financial analysis, financial market regulations, and international banking. Other papers that might be of interest to the read...

International Journal of Economics and Business Studies (IJEBS) ISSN 0974-3456 is a peer-reviewed journal, which is intended not only to promote the discussion of challenging economic and business issues at applied and policy levels but also to disseminate research information and knowledge in latest developments in business and economics. The main objective of IJEBS is to provide an intellectual platform for researchers, in which research in alternative paradigms for business and economic inquiry could be analysed and discussed. The journal provides opportunities for economists and business-related professionals in a global realm to publish their papers in one source. The International Journal of Economics and Business Studies is also intended to bring together academicians and profession...

Ever since Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859, genetic evolutionary theory has increasingly served as the foundation for fields that deal with organisms that arose by natural selection. This thesis argues that economic theory should integrate with Darwinian theory through the creation of a "genetic evolutionary economics". The promise of genetic evolutionary economics is a better understanding of human nature and, consequently, a more accurate and comprehensive economic science. Economic theory rests on a set of assumptions about human nature. These economic axioms concern human genes, but there is no explicit connection between genetic evolution and economic theory. As a result, human behavior and economic predictions of that behavior diverge in a va...

Developments in Islamic Banking Practice: The Experience of Bangladesh examines global developments in the Islamic banking practice, and provides an in-depth analysis of the theory and practice of Islamic banking in Bangladesh, the third-largest Muslim country in the world, with over 150 million Muslims. This book is the first of its kind to examine Islamic banking principles and practices in Bangladesh on such a broad scale. Learners, teachers, researchers, and those practically involved in the burgeoning financial industry will derive value from this book. Readers from all disciplines will become familiarized with the key differences between the principles and practices of two distinct banking systems: the interest-free Islamic banking and the interest-based conventional banking. Wi...

Recent changes in the New South Wales water utilities show a trend towards usage-related pricing, with the aim of providing efficient signals for consumption. This thesis evaluates alternative pricing strategies for water against the criteria of efficiency and equity while maintaining the financial viability of the public utility. First, the water utility cost structure is examined by developing cost functions to estimate short and long-run marginal costs, using a quarterly time-series data from 1970/71 to 1995/96. Second, a residential water demand model is developed using a panel data set (constructed for the analysis), comprising 822 cross-sectional units and 23 quarterly time periods from 1990/91 to 1995/96. The purposes of developing the demand model are to test the sensitivity of...

This study investigated whether known economic and international business theories available in the literature are meaningful enough to explain the nature, existence and role of multinational companies (MNCs) in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia. Two sets of questionnaires were distributed in major cities of Saudi Arabia -- one set for 100 multinational managers and another for 280 multinational customers. 234 questionnaires were collected -- 45 from multinational managers and 189 from customers. This represents a total response rate of 62 percent, which is adequate for this study.The empirical results, supported with comprehensive secondary data, confirmed virtually all of the research hypotheses. The study found that joint ventures are the dominant form of multinational business...

On July 1st 1993, the EU implemented the Common Organization for the Market of Bananas (COMB) to replace the different national banana policies that previously existed in its member countries. As it turned out, the adopted regime became one of the most bitterly internally disputed outcomes of the completion of the EU single common market, and is an on-going source of dispute at the WTO level between the EU on the one side, and the US and Latin American countries on the other side. The most controversial aspects of the COMB relate to the management of banana trade with non-EU countries, and in particular, to the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) imposed on non-traditional ACP and dollar bananas. These issues are at the center of this work which focuses on the German and French banana markets, the tw...

An empirical study was undertaken to (a) examine various determinants influencing (de-)centralisation in Trans-World, the largest producer of television programs in Taiwan, and (b) make normative recommendations as to how insights from organisational dynamics models can be used in practice. The research was based on a sample of 63 standardised personal interviews with all Trans-World employees. Scales were particularly developed for the purpose of this study. In-depth interviews, participant observer and archival data were combined with the survey data to test a model predicting uncertainty and interdependence as primary drivers of decentralisation. Results showed that despite high uncertainty and interdependence, Trans-World was highly centralised. This apparent paradox was explained by t...

In as much as trade fosters economic development, it also exacerbates poverty, especially in the sub Saharan African (SSA) countries. Against this backdrop, this study will increase our understanding of the estimation of non-oil commodity trade flows between Nigeria and the U.S. More specifically, the study aims to analysing the impact of African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) on the U.S. imports of non-oil products from Nigeria. The research objectives are woven around the following questions: - What is the nature of Nigeria's and the U.S.'s foreign trade policies with particular reference to non-oil trade? - What are the patterns, magnitude, composition and trends in Nigeria-US non-oil trade? - Which economic sectors possess greatest potential for fostering trade in the non-oil sector ...

Amidst the dramatic real estate fluctuations in the first decade of the twenty-first century, this study recognized that there is a necessity to create a real estate prediction model for future real estate ventures and prevention of losses such as the mortgage meltdown and housing bust. This real estate prediction model study sought to reinstall the integrity into the American building and development industry, which was tarnished by the sudden emergence of various publications offering get-rich-quick schemes. In the fast-paced and competitive world of lending and real estate development, it is becoming more complex to combine current and evolving factors into a profitable business model. This prediction model correlated past real estate cycle pinpoints to economical driving forces in o...

This research seeks to examine the issue of lack of staff resources within the office of the Auditor-General of NSW, with reference to the Australian Audit Office (AAO). In particular, the lack of staff resources and the implications given the changes which have occurred sine the 1970Ís, when efficiency audit responsibilities were introduced into the public accounting sector auditing, are examined. The present responsibilities to conduct not only regularity/compliance audits but also efficiency audits, coupled with the increasing complexities within the public sector, have placed significant pressure upon the staff resources within the offices of the Auditor's-General. The intention of the research is to provide empirical evidence of these changes on the utilization of staff resources. ...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is pivotal to the UK economy, with the UK being both the second largest investor abroad and the second largest host to foreign companies. Although since the Second World War FDI has been dominated by the USA, the more recent rise of Japan as both an international force in global markets and as an investor, has seen increasing amounts of Japanese FDI being directed towards the UK. Further, the perceived innovativeness of Japanese work organisation is held by many to have an even greater qualitative impact than the quantitative significance of Japanese FDI would indicate, providing both a 'demonstration' effect and a competitive spur to indigenous companies that it is believed has the power to transform the UK's competitiveness. However, many aspects of t...

Based on data on publicly traded insurance firms, the first essay examines questions about the effect of large catastrophic events on insurance firms. Rather than looking at a single event, thirty catastrophic events were aggregated into quintiles and the cumulative abnormal returns around these events were found to be significantly positive over a 25 day trading window. There is no significant evidence that post-catastrophic stock returns are correlated to the magnitude of the catastrophe. The second essay analyzes the effect of a large land grant university, the University of Illinois, on the State Treasury of Illinois. If the State Treasury were acting as its own agent trying to maximize revenues, would it choose higher education as an investment versus other alternative investm...

Soil degradation has made erosion control and water harvesting an important measure in most of sub-Sahelian Western Africa. The construction of stone lines, dikes and dams has been proven a sustainable measure which is widely accepted by the rural population of northern Burkina Faso. The objective of a field study which was conducted in Bam Province from 1992 to 1994 was to investigate economic profitability of erosion control measures under farmers' conditions on household level and for different household sub-groups. Main aspects concerned yield changes in small farmers' staple food grain production of sorghum and millet as well as the competition of rock bund construction with other dry season activities. Based on farm surveys, assessment of impact on farmers' fields, investmen...

This thesis analyses the origins and the implications of the services sector's development, including a case study on Switzerland. In the first part, we study the definitions and classifications of service activities, as well as the post- and neo-industrial theses on the origins of the strong expansion of services in developed countries over the last decades. The second part analyses the implications for economic growth, employment and productivity growth of the services sector's development. Starting from a discussion of Baumol's unbalanced growth model, we discuss the variety of productivity measurements and the multiple causalities behind what is known as the 'productivity paradox'. Finally, the third part is a case study of the services sector's expansion in Switzerland from 1960 until...

Free market economics has made many advances during the past thirty years. These advances are due to the maturing of public choice theory and empirical studies, along with a resurgence of interest in Austrian economic themes like free banking, market process entrepreneurship, and the critique of socialism and interventionism. In addition, new avenues have opened in law and economics and regulatory studies which favor free market ideas. The purpose of this book is to introduce and summarize some of the important advances in contemporary free market economics and policy by introducing the key concepts of public choice, public policy, Austrian economics, and law and economics. This volume is a non-technical compendium of thought which incorporates long quotations from important scholars in e...

Nigeria's political economy has straddled the ideological divide between socialism and capitalism. The country produces oil, and at some point in its existence, it embarked on robust state involvement in the economy. This was marked by the acquisition, or establishment, of numerous state enterprises. Over the years, the performance of these enterprises was found to be dismal, and as part of the overall reform of the economy, Nigeria has joined the global trend toward reduction in direct state ownership of enterprises. Indeed, it has embarked on massive divestment of state interests in once publicly owned firms. Besides the universal rationale of efficiency, one of the objectives of the privatization exercise in Nigeria is the attraction and retention of foreign investments. This work exami...