The Recreational Frontier


Book Description

This study treats ecotourism in National Protected Areas of Lao PDR as a “recreational frontier” which instrumentalizes the recreation of human natures in capitalism’s centers for that of nonhuman natures at capitalism’s (closing) frontiers. This world-ecological practice of ecorational instrumentality – i.e. of nature domination in the name of “Nature” – presents a remedy for capitalism’s crisis that is itself crisis-ridden, enacting a central tension of ecocapitalism: that between “conservation” and “development”. This epistemic-institutional tension is traced through the preconditions, modes and effects of ecotourism in Laos by gradually zooming from the most general scale of societal nature relations into the most detailed intricacies of ecotouristic practice. The combination of Bourdieu, Marx and Critical Theory enables a systematic analysis of the recreational frontier as enactment of various contradictions deriving from the “false-and-real” Nature/Society dualism.




Frontier Investor


Book Description

Where are the next decade's greatest investment opportunities? Veteran investor Marko Dimitrijevic argues that they can be found in frontier markets, which account for seventy-one of the world's seventy-five fastest-growing economies and 19 percent of the world's GDP. Yet many investors ignore them. Fueled by new access to technology and information, frontier markets are emerging even faster than their predecessors, making them an essential component of a globally diversified portfolio. In Frontier Investor, Dimitrijevic shows through colorful case studies, compelling charts, and fascinating travel anecdotes that it is not only possible but prudent to invest in these unfamiliar and undervalued options. Dimitrijevic explains how frontier markets such as Nigeria, Panama, and Bangladesh are poised to follow the similar paths of Chinese, Indian, and Russian markets, which were considered exotic two decades ago. He details a strategy for how and where to invest, directly or indirectly, to profit from frontier growth. Dimitrijevic covers the risks, political and otherwise, of these markets, the megatrends that promise exciting investment opportunities in the coming years, and the prospects for countries beyond the frontier, including Myanmar, Cuba, and even Iran. Rich with experience and insight, Frontier Investor opens up a whole new world—and worldview—to investors.




The United Service


Book Description




The Wild West


Book Description

Will Wright explores the continuing popularity of the myth of the Wild West, demonstrating how, as a cultural icon, it speaks deeply to a desire for individualism and liberty. The author discusses the myth through market and social theory.







Prairie Schooner


Book Description




Introduction to International Economics, 3rd Edition


Book Description

Introduction to International Economics, 3rd edition has been revised and updated to deliver the most current information on today's global economy for a one-semester course. Renowned educator and author, Dominick Salvatore provides a clear presentation making difficult economic principles easy to understand, in a global context. The text presents students with an introduction to the field of international economics using real-world case studies while pointing out to the student the relevance and importance of studying international economics. The text seeks to explain how the world economy works, the major benefits that it provides to people and nations, and the most serious problems that it faces, all in a clear and realistic way that students with a limited background in economics can understand. By covering the topics essential to an understanding of the global economy, this text is easily accessible for economics, business, and political science majors, alike. For any international economics course, Salvatore's 3rd edition takes the students' understanding of economics well beyond the classroom and across the globe.







Advanced Mathematical Methods for Economic Efficiency Analysis


Book Description

Economic efficiency analysis has received considerable worldwide attention in the last few decades, with Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) establishing themselves as the two dominant approaches in the literature. This book, by combining cutting-edge theoretical research on DEA and SFA with attractive real-world applications, offers a valuable asset for professors, students, researchers, and professionals working in all branches of economic efficiency analysis, as well as those concerned with the corresponding economic policies. The book is divided into three parts, the first of which is devoted to basic concepts, making the content self-contained. The second is devoted to DEA, and the third to SFA. The topics covered in Part 2 range from stochastic DEA to multidirectional dynamic inefficiency analysis, including directional distance functions, the elimination and choice translating algorithm, benefit-of-the-doubt composite indicators, and internal benchmarking for efficiency evaluations. Part 3 also includes exciting and cutting-edge theoretical research on e.g. robustness, nonparametric stochastic frontier models, hierarchical panel data models, and estimation methods like corrected ordinary least squares and maximum entropy.




The Recursive Frontier


Book Description

The Recursive Frontier is an innovative spatial history of both the literature of Los Angeles and the city itself in the mid-twentieth century. Setting canonical texts alongside underexamined works and sources such as census bulletins and regional planning documents, Michael Docherty identifies the American frontier as the defining dynamic of Los Angeles fiction from the 1930s to the 1950s. Contrary to the received wisdom that Depression-era narratives mourn the frontier's demise, Docherty argues that the frontier lives on as a cruel set of rules for survival in urban modernity, governing how texts figure race, space, mobility, and masculinity. Moving from dancehalls to offices to oil fields and beyond, the book provides a richer, more diverse picture of LA's literary production during this period, as well as a vivid account of LA's cultural and social development as it transformed into the multiethnic megalopolis we know today.