Retailing in the countries of Asia Pacific is changing dramatically. Changes which took decades, even centuries, elsewhere are happening in a few years. The growth of larger firms and the arrival of international retailers are changing the business landscape, bringing the consistent supply and presentation of wider ranges of goods to consumers, and leading to the development of new kinds of retail stores and modern shopping malls, often in new locations. All of these developments are important for economic growth and for consumers and their lifestyles, They raise questions for governments about foreign investment, about social and environmental change, and about the fate of traditional retailers. This book examines the trends, seeking to understand how far they are global and how local circumstances affect developments. International retailers have spread across the region, but not always successfully. Studies in several countries look at their processes of growth and some of the reasons for success and failure. A review of changing regulation across the region suggests regulators should be concerned to avoid the problems of overconcentration of retail power, and country studies reflect on the effects of regulation as well as cultural and other influences on change. This book was published as a special issue of Asia Pacific Business Review.

This edited collection explores the histories of trade, a peculiar literary genre that emerged in the context of the historiographical and cultural changes promoted by the histoire philosophique movement. It marked a discontinuity with erudition and antiquarianism, and interacted critically with universal history. By comparing and linking the histories of individual peoples within a common historical process, this genre enriched the reflection on civilisation that emerged during the long eighteenth century. Those who looked to the past wanted to understand the political constitutions and manners most appropriate to commerce, and grasp the recurring mechanisms underlying economic development. In this sense, histories of trade constituted a declination of eighteenth-century political economy, and thus became an invaluable analytical and practical tool for a galaxy of academic scholars, journalists, lawyers, administrators, diplomats and government ministers whose ambition was to reform the political, social and economic structure of their nations. Moreover, thanks to these investigations, a lucid awareness of historical temporality and, more particularly, the irrepressible precariousness of economic hegemonies, developed. However, as a field of tension in which multiple and even divergent intellectual sensibilities met, this literary genre also found space for critical assessments that focused on the ambivalence and dangers of commercial civilisation. Examining the complex relationship between the production of wealth and civilisation, this book provides unique insights for scholars of political economy, intellectual history and economic history.

"In The Open Sea, J. G. Manning offers a major new history of economic life in the Mediterranean world in the Iron Age, from Phoenician trading down to the Hellenistic era and the beginning of Rome's imperial supremacy. Drawing on a wide range of ancient sources and the latest social theory, Manning suggests that a search for an illusory single "ancient economy" has obscured the diversity of lived experience in the Mediterranean world, including both changes in political economies over time and differences in cultural conceptions of property and money. At the same time, he shows how the region's economies became increasingly interconnected during this period." -- Publisher's description

.".. 6th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East held in Rome on May 5th-10th, 2008 (www.6icaane.it)"--Foreword.

In Ebla , Paolo Matthiae presents the results of 47 years of excavations at this fascinating site, providing a detailed account of Ebla’s history and archaeology. Ebla grew from a small Early Bronze Age settlement into an important trading and political centre, which endured until its final destruction in c. 1600 BC . The destruction of its royal palace c. 2300 BC was particularly significant as it preserved the city’s rich archives, offering a wealth of information on its history, economy, religion, administration, and daily life. The discovery of Ebla is a pivotal moment in the history of archaeological investigations of the twentieth century, and this book is the result of all the excavation campaigns at Tell Mardikh- Ebla from 1964 until 2010, when field operations stopped due to the war in Syria. Available for the first time in English, Ebla offers a complete account of one of the largest pre-classical urban centres by its discoverer, making it an essential resource for students of Ancient Near Eastern archaeology and history.

Ancient Economies, Modern Methodologies is a collection of essays which focuses on the art of questioning; it is about ideas and analytical experiment. Ancient economic history has developed enormously since the publication of M.I. Finley’s The Ancient Economy in 1973. Much new material has been brought to bear on the debate on the character of economic life in the Greek and Roman world. But, at the same time, discussions have been going round in circles. This is because not enough attention has been given to the questions ancient historians ask and the concepts with which they approach the economy. In this collection, an attempt is made to renew the terms of the debate by presenting a wide variety of new analytical approaches to ancient economic history ranging from literary theory, cross-cultural comparison, statistical analysis of archaeological data to neo-institutional economics and model-building.