Enron, Worldcom, Arthur Anderson, Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Citygroup - once the great icons of the US economy, worshipped at corporate alters world over, are now nothing more than an embarrassing memory. The universally accepted American enterprise model, which these and many other corporate giants have slavishly followed, has at last been called into question. Free market capitalism and globalism are not quite what they seem after all, as the decline of the US economy might testify. Donald Kalff passionately believes that the time is right for a sea-change in the way businesses operate and that a credible alternative is a European enterprise model, one which is founded on quite different values of culture, ethics and economic considerations. Packed with vital facts and figures, AnUnAmerican Business is a fresh and agnostic look at the past, present and future performance of companies that have embraced the American way of doing business.

Economic development has cyclical dynamics and long-term dynamics – the latter are typically related to demographical changes, innovation and long-term insti- tional changes in open economies. Financial markets – that means mainly capital markets – and labor markets are affected in OECD countries both by innovations and institutional reforms. As regards demographics ageing is a typical challenge on both sides of the Atlantic, and pension reforms in industrialized countries have placed greater emphasis on capital markets than in previous decades. Innovation dynamics certainly are also quite important for all high wage OECD countries. The Lisbon Agenda has put particular emphasis on more growth, higher innovation dynamics and better exploitation of the advantages of a digitally networked society. Traditionally, the US has a lead in global innovations, and the US policy certainly has contributed to the American technological leadership. There still is a per capita income gap in favor of the US and the US labor market situation also looks relatively favorable, but in the ?ve years since 2001 employment growth in the euro area was higher than that of the US. The euro area is, however, a rather heterogeneous set of countries which differ in terms of institutions, attitudes and reform progress – and everywhere governments are aware that there have to be reforms, not least in the context of globalization which bring a more complex and dynamic spatial structure of value-added.

A critical assessment of European social policy that suggests ways to improve coverage of fundamental labour standards in Europe.

A fresh, commanding, and thought-provoking narrative history of the competing Russian and American empires. The American road to empire started when the first English settlers landed in Virginia. Simultaneously, the first Russians crossed the Urals and the two empires that would dominate the twentieth century were born. Empires Apart covers the history of the Americans and Russians from the Vikings to the present day. It shows the two empires developed in parallel as they expanded to the Pacific and launched wars against the nations around them. They both developed an imperial 'ideology' that was central to the way they perceived themselves. Soon after, the ideology of the Russian Empire also changed with the advent of Communism. The key argument of this book is that these changes did not alter the core imperial values of either nation; both Russians and Americans continued to believe in their manifest destiny. Corporatist and Communist imperialism changed only the mechanics of empire. Both nations have shown that they are still willing to use military force and clandestine intrigue to enforce imperial control. Uniquely, Landers shows how the broad sweep of American history follows a consistent path from the first settlers to the present day and, by comparing this with Russia's imperial path, demonstrates the true nature of American global ambitions.

In 1944, the International Labour Organization laid out its "Declaration of Philadelphia," a full-fledged social bill of rights in the same spirit as FDR's State of the Union address of the same year. The welfarist spirit was then at its apex-but Supiot argues that with neoliberalism still rampant, even following the economic crash, the Declaration remains an important baseline. Then as now, social ties had been compromised in favor of market values; now, as then, the law must be reorganized to uphold social values and the spirit of solidarity. Short, punchy and often rousing, The Spirit of Philadelphia describes the worldwide triumph of neoliberalism as once-communist elites turn towards market dogma and the privatization of welfare states. Arguing against the return to social Darwinism, and the bureaucratic embrace of numbers and statistics as ends, Supiot champions the social democratic spirit, hoping for its revival in the wake of the recent crash.