International Productivity Monitor


Book Description

The 32nd issue of the International Productivity Monitor is a special issue produced in collaboration with the OECD. All articles published in this issue were selected from papers presented at the First Annual Conference of the OECD Global Forum on Productivity held in Lisbon, Portugal, July ...




Handbook of the Economics of Innovation


Book Description

Economists examine the genesis of technological change and the ways we commercialize and diffuse it. The economics of property rights and patents, in addition to industry applications, are also surveyed through literature reviews and predictions about fruitful research directions. Two volumes, available as a set or sold separately - Expert articles consider the best ways to establish optimal incentives in technological progress - Science and innovation, both their theories and applications, are examined at the intersections of the marketplace, policy, and social welfare - Economists are only part of an audience that includes attorneys, educators, and anyone involved in new technologies




E-Learning in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region


Book Description

In the last decade, due to factors of ICT infrastructural and broadband maturation, rising levels of educational attainment and computer literacy, and diversification strategies, e-learning has exploded in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. However, significant barriers remain in the region’s e-learning development: lack of research on outcomes and effectiveness, paucity of Arabic language learning objects, monopolies and high cost of telecommunications, cultural taboos, accreditation, censorship, and teacher training. This unique volume is the first comprehensive effort to describe the history, development, and current state of e-learning in each of the 20 MENA countries from Algeria to Yemen. Each entry is expertly written by a specialist who is acutely familiar with the state of e-learning in their respective country, and concludes with a bibliography of key reports, peer-reviewed books and articles, and web resources. E-Learning in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) proves itself as a vital compendium for a wide readership that includes academics and students, transnational program directors, international education experts, MENA government departments, commercial vendors and investors, and ICT development and regulatory agencies involved in e-learning in the Middle East.




Information Systems, E-learning, and Knowledge Management Research


Book Description

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 4th World Summit on the Knowledge Society, WSKS 2011, held in Mykonos, Greece, in September 2011. The 90 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 198 submissions. The papers address issues such as information technology, e-learning, e-business, cultural heritage, e-government.




The Volta River Basin


Book Description

The Volta River Basin (VRB) is an important transboundary basin in West Africa that covers approximately 410,000 square kilometres across six countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Togo. Its natural resources sustain the livelihoods of its population and contribute to economic development. This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary review and assessment of the issues and challenges faced. The authors provide a science-based assessment of current and future scenarios of water availability, the demands of key sectors, including agriculture and hydropower, and the environment under changing demographic, economic, social and climatic conditions. They also identify solutions and strategies that will allow available water resources to be sustainably used to improve agricultural productivity, food security and economic growth in the VRB. Overall, the work examines from a multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder perspective the solutions and strategies to improve the use of water and other natural resources in the VRB to achieve enhanced food security, livelihoods and economic growth.




Cyber Defence in the Age of AI, Smart Societies and Augmented Humanity


Book Description

This publication highlights the fast-moving technological advancement and infiltration of Artificial Intelligence into society. Concepts of evolution of society through interconnectivity are explored, together with how the fusion of human and technological interaction leading to Augmented Humanity is fast becoming more than just an endemic phase, but a cultural phase shift to digital societies. It aims to balance both the positive progressive outlooks such developments bring with potential issues that may stem from innovation of this kind, such as the invasive procedures of bio hacking or ethical connotations concerning the usage of digital twins. This publication will also give the reader a good level of understanding on fundamental cyber defence principles, interactions with Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and the Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C3I) decision-making framework. A detailed view of the cyber-attack landscape will be garnered; touching on the tactics, techniques and procedures used, red and blue teaming initiatives, cyber resilience and the protection of larger scale systems. The integration of AI, smart societies, the human-centric approach and Augmented Humanity is discernible in the exponential growth, collection and use of [big] data; concepts woven throughout the diversity of topics covered in this publication; which also discusses the privacy and transparency of data ownership, and the potential dangers of exploitation through social media. As humans are become ever more interconnected, with the prolificacy of smart wearable devices and wearable body area networks, the availability of and abundance of user data and metadata derived from individuals has grown exponentially. The notion of data ownership, privacy and situational awareness are now at the forefront in this new age.




Handbook of Econometrics


Book Description

As conceived by the founders of the Econometric Society, econometrics is a field that uses economic theory and statistical methods to address empirical problems in economics. It is a tool for empirical discovery and policy analysis. The chapters in this volume embody this vision and either implement it directly or provide the tools for doing so. This vision is not shared by those who view econometrics as a branch of statistics rather than as a distinct field of knowledge that designs methods of inference from data based on models of human choice ...




Amber Waves


Book Description




Handbook of Economic Forecasting


Book Description

The highly prized ability to make financial plans with some certainty about the future comes from the core fields of economics. In recent years the availability of more data, analytical tools of greater precision, and ex post studies of business decisions have increased demand for information about economic forecasting. Volumes 2A and 2B, which follows Nobel laureate Clive Granger's Volume 1 (2006), concentrate on two major subjects. Volume 2A covers innovations in methodologies, specifically macroforecasting and forecasting financial variables. Volume 2B investigates commercial applications, with sections on forecasters' objectives and methodologies. Experts provide surveys of a large range of literature scattered across applied and theoretical statistics journals as well as econometrics and empirical economics journals. The Handbook of Economic Forecasting Volumes 2A and 2B provide a unique compilation of chapters giving a coherent overview of forecasting theory and applications in one place and with up-to-date accounts of all major conceptual issues. - Focuses on innovation in economic forecasting via industry applications - Presents coherent summaries of subjects in economic forecasting that stretch from methodologies to applications - Makes details about economic forecasting accessible to scholars in fields outside economics




Quarterly Economic Commentary


Book Description