In September 2010, the Cuban government decided to embark on an economic reform program, unprecedented after the Revolution in 1959. This opened up opportunities for Cuban economists and scholars to participate in the development of the reform program. Thanks to grants from SSRC (Social Sciences Research Council, New York) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, several researchers from the Cuban think tank CEEC (Center for Studies of the Cuban Economy, Havana) got an opportunity to visit countries that could be of interest for the reform process, notably Vietnam, but also Brazil, South Africa and Norway. The result of these field visits and a subsequent workshop involving contributions from Cuban as well as non-Cuban scholars, this volume showcases unprecedented new insights into the process and prospects for reform along many dimensions, including foreign direct investment, import substitution, entrepreneurship and business creation, science and technology development, and fiscal policies. The resulting analysis, in a comparative perspective, provides a framework for future research as well as for business practice and policymaking.

The bestselling author of Perfectly Legal returns with a powerful new exposé How does a strong and growing economy lend itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and economic fear for a vast number of Americans? Free Lunch provides answers to this great economic mystery of our time, revealing how today's government policies and spending reach deep into the wallets of the many for the benefit of the wealthy few. Johnston cuts through the official version of events and shows how, under the guise of deregulation, a whole new set of regulations quietly went into effect-- regulations that thwart competition, depress wages, and reward misconduct. From how George W. Bush got rich off a tax increase to a $100 million taxpayer gift to Warren Buffett, Johnston puts a face on all of the dirty little tricks that business and government pull. A lot of people appear to be getting free lunches, but of course there's no such thing as a free lunch, and someone (you, the taxpayer) is picking up the bill. Johnston's many revelations include: How we ended up with the most expensive yet inefficient health-care system in the world How homeowners title insurance became a costly, deceitful, yet almost invisible oligopoly How our government gives hidden subsidies for posh golf courses How Paris Hilton's grandfather schemed to retake the family fortune from a charity for poor children How the Yankees and Mets owners will collect more than $1.3 billion in public funds In these instances and many more, Free Lunch shows how the lobbyists and lawyers representing the most powerful 0.1 percent of Americans manipulated our government at the expense of the other 99.9 percent. With his extraordinary reporting, vivid stories, and sharp analysis, Johnston reveals the forces that shape our everyday economic lives and shows us how we can finally make things better.

Darwin's greatest accomplishment was to show how life might be explained as the result of natural selection. But does Darwin's theory mean that life was unintended? William A. Dembski argues that it does not. As the leading proponent of intelligent design, Dembski reveals a designer capable of originating the complexity and specificity found throughout the cosmos. Scientists and theologians alike will find this book of interest as it brings the question of creation firmly into the realm of scientific debate. The paperback is updated with a new Preface by the author.

The second edition of Government Contracting: Promises and Perils picks up where the first edition’s mission left off: exposing fraud, incompetence, waste, and abuse (FIWA) and analyzing corruption, mismanagement, and ineptitude that defile government contracting. The first edition thoroughly outlined procurement throughout the contracting cycle including initial planning, contractor selection, contract administration, contract closeout, and auditing. This significantly revised new edition provides additional much-needed guidance on contracting documents, management tools, and processes for addressing negative influences on government contracting, including an improved approach to evaluating proposals. Specific guidance for avoiding FIWA is provided for government officials and employees, government agencies, and government contractors, and practical solutions to problems faced by individuals and organizations involved in government contracting are intended for both practitioner and pedagogical applications. The "Government Procurement Corruption Wall of Shame" that was introduced in the first edition to illustrate contracting perils such as conflicts of interest, duplicity, favoritism, incompetence, kickbacks, and protests is continued in the second edition, and cases illustrating the existence of FIWA in government contracting have been thoroughly updated. Contracting documents and contract management tools are provided on a website designed to accompany the book. Written at the graduate level and specifically intended for state, local, federal, and international government procurement activities, this textbook is required reading for public procurement, contract management, business, and public administrations courses.

Faced with the problem of how to measure the magnitude of economic disadvantage in the populations served by schools or districts, researchers addressing school finance topics have invariably turned to the fraction of students eligible for free- or reduced-lunches (FRPL). But the facile dependence on FRPL may be problematic. A large and growing literature in learning sciences and in the field of education itself has pivoted towards studies that explore the relationship between social/emotional health and the learning of children. The growing body of research on social/emotional health and learning (e.g. Gershoff, Aber, Raver, and Lennon, 2007) suggests that more refined measures of wealth, income and hardship more fully account for the effects of economic disadvantage than does FRPL. Historically, research in school finance has not utilized these refined measures but instead has depended on FRPL. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a recent change in how student eligibility for free lunch is determined, may have the unintended, and yet fortuitous, consequence that it will force school finance researchers to use more sophisticated measures of student hardship. The CEP makes it possible for schools serving low-income populations to classify all students as eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch. Koedel and Parsons (2021) argue that, while FRPL might have been a workable measure of student disadvantage prior to CEP, post-CEP the extent of a school’s or a district’s population that is disadvantaged is no longer measured accurately by FRPL. The CEP made accurate FRPL counts less critical for many schools and districts; post-pandemic legislation (Vock, 2023) in a number of states to make school meals free for all students in those states has increased the number of districts for which accurate counts are unimportant. Fazlul, Koedel, and Parsons (2023) go on to argue that, even prior to CEP, FRPL failed to provide an accurate measure of a school or district’s poverty. This new policy environment makes it imperative to explore alternatives to FRPL and the implications for school finance. The book aims to provide a timely collection of new research on a measurement issue that is central to much research on K-12 education finance. The book is meant to serve scholars in education finance and policy who need a refined perspective on the context of schooling. The book is also meant to serve students and faculty from programs in public administration, public policy, community development and applied economics, education administration, educational leadership and policy studies who are studying content related to education policy, the economics of education, state and local public finance, and taxation. Some upper-level undergraduate students may also benefit from this resource. ENDORSEMENTS: "Fundamental to understanding the efficacy of many policies and interventions is having a clear picture of student poverty. The increasing uncertainty about the validity of student poverty measures due to changes in the free- and reduced-price lunch program in schools thus creates challenges for researchers and policymakers alike. This book offers insights into how to think about the ongoing utility of existing and new measures of students’ economic and social disadvantage, a topic that is both timely and important." — Dan Goldhaber, American Institutes for Research and University of Washington "Understanding differences across schools in what they provide for students and, particularly the extent to which students living in poverty have access to differential opportunities, is essential for effective policy making. Yet, policy makers and education decision makers have not had accurate measures of their students’ economic resources, especially since changes in the subsidized lunch program. This important book offers needed suggestions for a range of new and reliable measures and related directions for research to improve education decision-making." — Susanna Loeb, Stanford University

An exposé of the medical and pharmaceutical communities, Bottom Line confirms your fear that you may be receiving substandard medical care. A critical care nurse and former pharmaceutical research scientist, Stanzak has written a brutally honest book to.