EUROPEAN DOCUMENTATION CENTRE
hosted by
The Institute for European Studies
University of Malta
Msida MSD 2080 – Malta
Tel: (356) 2340 3386
Fax: (356) 2133 7624
Website: http://www.um.edu.mt/europeanstudies/edc
Email: daniela.callus@um.edu.mt
The following new publications are available for reference at the European Documentation Centre.
Q-SQUARED: COMBINING QUALITATIVE
APPROACHES IN POVERTY ANALYSIS
Paul Shaffer
AND
QUANTITATIVE
Oxford University Press
This book examines the underlying assumptions and implications of how we
conceptualise and investigate poverty. The empirical entry point for such inquiry is a
series of research initiatives that have used mixed method, combined qualitative and
quantitative, or Q-Squared ( Q^2) approaches, to poverty analysis. The Q^2 literature
highlights the vast range of analytical tools within the social sciences that may be
used to understand and explain social phenomena, along with interesting research
results. This literature serves as a lens to probe issues about knowledge claims made
in poverty debates concerning who are the poor (identification analysis) and why they
are poor (causal analysis).
BEYOND GDP: MEASURING
SUSTAINABILITY
Marc Fleurbaey & Didier Blanchet
WELFARE
AND
ASSESSING
Oxford University Press
This book revisits the foundations of indicators of social welfare, and critically
examines the four main alternatives to GDP that have been proposed: composite
indicators, subjective well-being indexes, capabilities (the underlying philosophy of
the Human Development Index), and equivalent incomes. Its provocative thesis is
that the problem with GDP is not that it uses a monetary metric but that it focuses on
a narrow set of aspects of individual lives. A further provocative idea is that, in
contrast, most of the currently available alternative indicators, including subjective
well-being indexes, are not as respectful of people's values because, like GDP, they
are too narrow and give specific weights to the various dimensions of life in a more
uniform way, without taking account of the diversity of views on life in the population.
PARLIAMENTARY
GLOBALIZATION:
INSTITUTIONS
Oliver Costa et al.
DIMENSIONS OF REGIONALIZATION AND
THE
ROLE
OF
INTER-PARLIAMENTARY
Palgrave MacMillan
This volume intends to make sense of the current 'puzzle' that international
parliamentary institutions represent. Their rapid growth in numbers and under a
diversity of forms in the post-Cold War emerging new order is a worldwide
phenomenon, even if its first expression dates back to the end of the 19th century.
Their objectives vary from creating a permanent institutional structure for the
peaceful settlement of disputes to promoting transparency in international politics,
including the reinforcement of civil society participation in regional integration
schemes. Are these goals kept nowadays? Are they being achieved? Which means
and interests define the work within these assemblies? The three parts of the book
include analyses of supranational and non-supranational regional parliaments and
the specific case of the inter-regional relations established by the European
Parliament.
THE NEW MEMBER STATES AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: FOREIGN
POLICY AND EUROPEANIZATION
Michael Baun & Dan Marek
Routledge
This book examines the impact of EU membership on the foreign policies of the 12
new member states that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. Expert contributors
examine the impact of EU integration and membership, with chapters on the 12 new
EU entrants since 2004: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Malta, Bulgaria, and Romania. Utilizing a common
analytical framework, each of the country case studies examines the impact of EU
membership on the foreign policies of the new member states in three key areas:
foreign policy making institutions and procedures, interests and preferences, and
strategies and actions.
THE ECONOMICS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Richard E. Baldwin & Charles Wyplosz
McGraw Hill
The Economics of European Integration, 4th edition provides students with an
accessible presentation of the facts, theories and controversies driving rapid change
in the heart of Europe. The authors combine essential elements of European history,
institutions, law, politics and policies with clear and accessible explanations of the
economic principles of European integration. The result is an expert analysis of the
contemporary status of integration within the European Union. Designed for students
taking modules in European economics, the book offers a rigorous exposition of
economic arguments alongside examples, illustrations, and questions that bring the
contemporary topic to life. The up-to-date economics coverage is also ideal for
students taking economics modules that do not require extensive analysis of social
and policy issues. Key topics explored in the new edition Updated and expanded
Lisbon Treaty coverage Credit crisis and EU response, especially banking regulation
The impact of the 'great recession' Developments related to EU enlargement to the
East The problem of the Greek public debt Future of the Stability and Growth Pact.
THE ECONOMICS OF EUROPE AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
Larry Neal
Cambridge University Press
This distinctive textbook combines comprehensive coverage of the key policy areas of
the European Union with analysis of individual countries, including the recent
accession countries and Turkey. Part I analyzes the economic bases for the rise of
the European Union from its origins in the post-World War II recovery to its historic
enlargement in 2004. Part II takes up the different nation-state perspectives on the
EU's economic policies by looking in turn at all European countries, whether
members of the EU or not. The book is unique in providing both an EU perspective
and European nation-state perspective on the major policy issues which have arisen
since the end of World War II, as well as putting the economic analysis into an
historical narrative which emphasizes the responses of policy-makers to external
shocks such as the Cold War, the oil shocks, German reunification, and the collapse
of the Soviet Union.
INNOVATION AND REGIONAL GROWTH IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Riccardo Crescenzi
Springer-Verlag
This book investigates the EU's regional growth dynamics and, in particular, the
reasons why peripheral and socio-economically disadvantaged areas have
persistently failed to catch up with the rest of the Union. It shows that the capability
of the knowledge-based growth model to deliver its expected benefits to these areas
crucially depends on tackling a specific set of socio-institutional factors which
prevents innovation from being effectively translated into economic growth. The
book takes an eclectic approach to the territorial genesis of innovation and regional
growth by combining different theoretical strands into one model of empirical
analysis covering the whole EU-25. An in-depth comparative analysis with the
United States is also included, providing significant insights into the distinctive
features of the European process of innovation and its territorial determinants. The
evidence produced in the book is extensively applied to the analysis of EU
development policies.
THE LISBON TREATY: A LEGAL AND POLITICAL ANALYSIS
Jean-Claude Piris
Cambridge University Press
Given the controversies and difficulties which preceded the coming into force of the
Lisbon Treaty, it is easy to forget that the Treaty is a complex legal document in need
of detailed analysis for its impact to be fully understood. Jean-Claude Piris, the
Director General of the Legal Service of the Council of the European Union, provides
such an analysis, looking at the historical and political contexts of the Treaty, its
impact on the democratic framework of the EU and its provisions in relation to
substantive law. Impartial legal analysis of the EU's functions, its powers and the
treaties which govern it make this the seminal text on the most significant recent
development in EU law.
AUSTERITY: THE HISTORY OF A DANGEROUS IDEA
Mark Blyth
Oxford University Press
Conservatives in America have succeeded in casting government spending as
useless profligacy that has made their economy worse, centering the policy debate in
the wake of the financial crisis on draconian budget cuts. Americans are told that
they need to live in an age of austerity since they have all lived beyond their means
and now need to tighten their belts. The problem, according to political economist
Mark Blyth, is that austerity is a very dangerous idea, for a number of reasons. In
Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea, Blyth demolishes the conventional
wisdom, marshalling an army of facts to demand that we recognize austerity for what
it is, and what it costs us.
A DICTIONARY OF ECONOMICS
John Black et al.
Oxford University Press
An authoritative and comprehensive dictionary containing clear, concise definitions of
over 3,400 key economic terms, this A to Z covers all aspects of economics including
economic theory, applied microeconomics and macroeconomics, labour economics,
public economics and public finance, monetary economics, and environmental
economics. There is strong coverage of international trade and many entries on
economic organizations and institutions from around the world. Fully revised to keep
up-to-date with this fast-moving field, this new edition expands the coverage to
include terms relevant to the financial crisis, such as black swan, credit crunch,
Northern Rock, and Iceland, making this dictionary the most up-to-date available.
MACROECONOMICS: A EUROPEAN TEXT
Michael Burda
Oxford University Press
Macroeconomics provides a comprehensive analysis of contemporary
macroeconomics. Now in its sixth edition, it analyses different theoretical approaches
and contextualises theory with up-to-date monetary policy examples. These fully
reflect the fallout from the global financial crisis. This text explains the modern
approach to macroeconomics with simplicity and rigour, while retaining the focus on
the special aspects of the European economy.
EU COMPETITION LAW AND ECONOMICS
Damien Geradin et al.
Oxford University Press
This is the first EU competition law treatise that fully integrates economic reasoning
in its treatment of the decisional practice of the European Commission and the caselaw of the European Court of Justice. Since the European Commission's move to a
"more economic approach" to competition law reasoning and decisional practice, the
use of economic argument in competition law cases has become a stricter
requirement. Many national competition authorities are also increasingly moving
away from a legalistic analysis of a firm's conduct to an effect-based analysis of such
conduct, indeed most competition cases today involve teams composed of lawyers
and industrial organisation economists. Ensuring a genuinely integrated approach to
legal and economic analysis, this major new work is written by a team combining the
widely recognised expertise of two competition law practitioners and a prominent
economic consultant.
UNIONS, CENTRAL BANKS AND EMU
Bob Hancke
Oxford University Press
This book examines the crisis of EMU through the lenses of comparative political
economy. It retraces the development of wage-setting systems in the core and
peripheral EMU member states, and how these contributed to the increasing
divergence between creditor and debtor states in the late 2000s. Starting with the
construction of the Deutschmark bloc, through the Maastricht process of the 1990s,
and into the first decade of EMU, this book analyzes how labour unions and wage
determination systems adjusted in response to monetary integration and, in turn,
influenced the shape that monetary union would eventually take.
CHANGING WELFARE STATES
Anton Hemerijck
Oxford University Press
Changing Welfare States is a major new examination of the wave of social reform
that has swept across Europe over the past two decades. In a comparative fashion, it
analyses reform trajectories and political destinations in an era of rapid socioeconomic restructuring, including the critical impact of the global financial crisis on
welfare state futures. The book argues that the overall scope of social reform across
the member states of the European Union varies widely. In some cases welfare state
change has been accompanied by deep social conflicts, while in other instances
unpopular social reforms received broad consent from opposition parties, trade
unions and employer organizations. The analysis reveals trajectories of welfare
reform in many countries that are more proactive and reconstructive than is often
argued in academic research and the media.
WELFARE STATES AND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS: THE POLITICS OF
INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION
Diane Sainsbury
Oxford University Press
Welfare States and Immigrant Rights deals with the impact of welfare states on
immigrants' social rights, economic well-being and social inclusion, and it offers the
first systematic comparison of immigrants' social rights across welfare states. To
study immigrants' social rights the author develops an analytical framework that
focuses on the interplay between 1) the type of welfare state regime, 2) forms of
entry, or entry categories, and 3) the incorporation regime regulating the inclusion or
exclusion of immigrants. The book maps out the development of immigrants' social
rights from the early post-war period until around 2010 in six countries representing
different welfare state regimes: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany,
France, Sweden, and Denmark.
ECONOMICS OF THE WELFARE STATE
Nicholas Barr
Oxford University Press
The fifth edition of this successful textbook discusses the different parts of the
welfare system, in particular, cash benefits, health care and education. The text
argues that the welfare state does not exist only to help the underprivileged, but also
for reasons of efficiency, in areas where private markets would be inefficient or would
not exist at all. Suitable for economics students and for students on related
disciplines such as social policy and political economy, this book is accessible and
contains a non-technical appendix to each of the theory chapters, diagrams,
additional readings, worked examples and end of chapter discussions.
FINANCIAL REGULATION
ANALYSIS
Eddy Wymeersch et al.
AND
SUPERVISION:
A
POST-CRITIC
Oxford University Press
This comprehensive account of financial regulation and supervision in times of crisis
analyses the complex changes under way regarding the new financial regulatory
structures in the EU. Focusing on the organisation of financial supervision, it deals
with the background to the reforms, the architecture of the regulatory system, the
likely implications for the financial institutions and the challenge of international cooperation. Changes in the US have been heavily criticised and in Europe a brand
new regulatory system with three new regulatory agencies and a systemic risk board
has been developed. This book gives an overall view of these complex changes. The
first section of the book provides an assessment of the reforms and considers the
background to their making. In the section on regulatory structure there is analysis of
the new regulatory bodies, their complex competences and actions. The book also
takes a critical look at their likely effectiveness. The final section of the work
considers the actual implementation of the new rules in a cross-border context.
ECONOMIC CRISIS, QUALITY OF WORK AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION:
THE EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE
Duncan Gallie
Oxford University Press
The quality of working life has been central to the sociological agenda for several
decades, and has also been increasingly salient as a policy issue, and for
companies. This book breaks new ground in the study of the quality of work by
providing the first rigorous comparative assessment of the way it has been affected
by the economic crisis. It examines the implications of the crisis on developments in
skills and training, employees' control over their jobs, and the pressure of work and
job security. It also assesses how changing experiences at work affect people's lives
outside of work: the risks of work-life conflict, the motivation to work, personal wellbeing, and attitudes towards society. The book draws on a rich new source of
evidence-the European Social Survey-to provide a comparative view over the period
2004 to 2010. The survey provides evidence for countries across the different
regions of Europe and allows for a detailed assessment of the view that institutional
differences between European societies-in terms of styles of management, social
partnership practices, and government policies-lead to very different levels of work
quality and different experiences of the crisis. This comparative aspect will thus
forward our understanding of how institutional differences between European
societies affect work experiences and their implications for non-work life.