BiblioVault - Books about Financing

Congressional Parties, Institutional Ambition, and the Financing of Majority Control

Eric S. Heberlig and Bruce A. Larson

University of Michigan Press, 2013

With the need for ever increasing sums of money to fuel the ongoing campaign for majority control, both Republicans and Democrats have made large donations to the party and its candidates mandatory for members seeking advancement within party and congressional committee hierarchies. Eric S. Heberlig and Bruce A. Larson analyze this development and discuss its implications for American government and democracy. They address the consequences of selecting congressional leaders on the basis of their fundraising skills rather than their legislative capacity and the extent to which the battle for majority control leads Congress to prioritize short-term electoral gains over long-term governing and problem-solving.

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The Financing of Catastrophe Risk

Edited by Kenneth A. Froot

University of Chicago Press, 1999

Is it possible that the insurance and reinsurance industries cannot handle a major catastrophe? Ten years ago, the notion that the overall cost of a single catastrophic event might exceed $10 billion was unthinkable. With ever increasing property-casualty risks and unabated growth in hazard-prone areas, insurers and reinsurers now envision the possibility of disaster losses of $50 to $100 billion in the United States.

Against this backdrop, the capitalization of the insurance and reinsurance industries has become a crucial concern. While it remains unlikely that a single event might entirely bankrupt these industries, a big catastrophe could place firms under severe stress, jeopardizing both policy holders and investors and causing profound ripple effects throughout the U.S. economy.

The Financing of Catastrophe Risk assembles an impressive roster of experts from academia and industry to explore the disturbing yet realistic assumption that a large catastrophic event is inevitable. The essays offer tangible means of both reassessing and raising the level of preparedness throughout the insurance and reinsurance industries.

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The Financing of Politics

Latin American and European Perspectives

Edited by Carlos Malamud and Eduardo Posada-Carbo

University of London Press, 2004

This volume stresses the need for a comparative approach when dealing with the funding of party politics and a major related aspect - corruption. This topic lies at the heart of any realistic discussion of the logic of democratic representation. Corruption, or the perception of corruption, has led to an ever-increasing concern with political financing. In some cases the trend is toward a greater role for the state in financing political parties, in others the reverse is true. In this collection the individual experiences of several Latin American countries (including Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela) are examined against the background of Western Europe, with a view to identifying similarities as well as differences. Given the centrality of political parties to liberal democracies, this subject is of great significance.
Contributors include Angel Alvarez (Universidad Central, Venezuela), Kevin Casas Zamora (University of Costa Rica), Fernando Cepeda Ulloa (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia), Pilar del Castillo (Spanish Minister of Education), Justin Fisher (University of Brunel), Manuel Antonio Garreton (University of Chile), Emilio Lama de Espinosa (Real Instituto Espanol Elcano de Relaciones Internacionales y Estrategicas, Madrid, Spain), Juan Molinar Horcasitas (Partido de Accion Nacional, Mexico), Michael Pinto-Duschinsky (University of Brunel), Weronique Pujas (University of Grenoble, France), Martin Rhodes (European University Institute, Florence, Italy), Diego Urbaneja (Universidad Central, Venezuela), and Laurence Whitehead (Nuffield College, University of Oxford, UK).

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Paying the Piper

Productivity, Incentives, and Financing in U.S. Higher Education

Michael S. McPherson, Morton Owen Schapiro, and Gordon C. Winston, Editors

University of Michigan Press, 1994

Rising tuitions and shrinking government budgets have pushed questions about productivity and resource use in U.S. higher education to the fore. In Paying the Piper three distinguished researchers examine the many successes of U.S. higher education, identify real problems, and carefully analyze potential solutions. Among the questions addressed are: On what do colleges and universities spend their money and how have their spending patterns changed over time; what does "quality" really mean in higher education and how is it related to price and cost; what are appropriate measures of "productivity"; and does increasing the amount of federal financial aid encourage colleges to raise their tuitions? The essays comprising this volume demonstrate that the application of basic economic principles and a combination of both descriptive and econometric analyses can illuminate a number of issues. Using economic concepts and tools to provide insight into these pressing questions, Paying the Piper helps us to understand the recent past, anticipate the future, and develop policies that can influence the future.

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