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Indebted: How Families Make College Work at Any Cost
by Caitlin ZaloomHow the financial pressures of paying for college affect the lives and well-being of middle-class familiesThe struggle to pay for college is a defining feature of middle-class life in America. Caitlin Zaloom takes readers into homes of families throughout the nation to reveal the hidden consequences of student debt and the ways that financing college has transformed our most sacred relationships. She describes the profound moral conflicts for parents as they try to honor what they see as their highest parental duty—providing their children with opportunity—and shows how parents and students alike are forced to gamble on an investment that might not pay off. Superbly written and unflinchingly honest, Indebted breaks through the culture of silence surrounding the student debt crisis, exposing the unspoken costs of sending our kids to college.
Indentured Students: How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt
by Elizabeth Tandy ShermerThe untold history of how America’s student-loan program turned the pursuit of higher education into a pathway to poverty. It didn’t always take thirty years to pay off the cost of a bachelor’s degree. Elizabeth Tandy Shermer untangles the history that brought us here and discovers that the story of skyrocketing college debt is not merely one of good intentions gone wrong. In fact, the federal student loan program was never supposed to make college affordable. The earliest federal proposals for college affordability sought to replace tuition with taxpayer funding of institutions. But Southern whites feared that lower costs would undermine segregation, Catholic colleges objected to state support of secular institutions, professors worried that federal dollars would come with regulations hindering academic freedom, and elite-university presidents recoiled at the idea of mass higher education. Cold War congressional fights eventually made access more important than affordability. Rather than freeing colleges from their dependence on tuition, the government created a loan instrument that made college accessible in the short term but even costlier in the long term by charging an interest penalty only to needy students. In the mid-1960s, as bankers wavered over the prospect of uncollected debt, Congress backstopped the loans, provoking runaway inflation in college tuition and resulting in immense lender profits. Today 45 million Americans owe more than $1.5 trillion in college debt, with the burdens falling disproportionately on borrowers of color, particularly women. Reformers, meanwhile, have been frustrated by colleges and lenders too rich and powerful to contain. Indentured Students makes clear that these are not unforeseen consequences. The federal student loan system is working as designed.
Independence, Propertylessness, And Basic Income
by Karl WiderquistIndependence, Propertylessness, and Basic Income argues that philosophers have focused too much on scalar freedom and proposes a theory of status freedom as effective control self-ownership: the power to have or refuse active cooperation with other willing people, or simply: freedom as the power to say no.
Independent Consulting
by Bob Adams David KintlerThis authoritative guide to building an independent consulting practice takes a look at one of the fastest-growing areas of small business, Kintler offers expert advice on all aspects of starting and running a consulting practice, from choosing a target market to setting fees for services. Two-color illustrations.
Independent Diplomat: Dispatches from an Unaccountable Elite
by Carne RossAlthough diplomats negotiate more and more aspects of world affairs--from trade and security issues to health, human rights, and the environment--we have little idea of, and even less control over, what they are doing in our name. In Independent Diplomat, Carne Ross provides a compelling account of what's wrong with contemporary diplomacy and offers a bold new vision of how it might be put right. For more than fifteen years, Ross was a British diplomat on the frontlines of numerous international crises, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Afghanistan, and the buildup to the invasion of Iraq, over which he eventually resigned from the British civil service. In 2005, he founded Independent Diplomat, a nonprofit advisory firm that offers diplomatic advice and assistance to poor, politically marginalized or inexperienced governments and political groups, including Kosovo, Somaliland, and the Polisario movement in the Western Sahara, as well as to NGOs and other international institutions. Drawing on vivid episodes from his career in Oslo, Bonn, Kabul, and at the UN Security Council, Ross reveals that many of the assumptions that laypersons and even government officials hold about the diplomatic corps are wrong. He argues passionately and persuasively that the institutions of contemporary diplomacy--foreign ministries, the UN, the EU, and the like--often exclude those they most affect. He exposes the very limited range of evidence upon which diplomats base their reports, and the profoundly closed and undemocratic nature of the world's diplomatic forums. As a diplomat, Ross was encouraged to see the world in a narrow way in which the power of states and interests overwhelmed or excluded more complex, sophisticated ways of understanding. As Ross demonstrates, however, the reality of diplomatic negotiations, whether at the UN or among the warlords of Afghanistan, shows different forces at play, factors ignored in reductionist descriptions and academic theories of "international relations." To cope with the complexities of today's world, diplomats must open their doors--and minds--to a far wider range of individuals and groups, concerns and ideas, than the current and increasingly dysfunctional system allows.
Independent Directors in Asia: A Historical, Contextual and Comparative Approach (International Corporate Law and Financial Market Regulation)
by Harald Baum Luke Nottage Dan W. Puchniak.The rise of the independent director in Asia is an issue of global consequence that has been largely overlooked until recently. Less than two decades ago, independent directors were oddities in Asia's boardrooms. Today, they are ubiquitous. Independent Directors in Asia undertakes the first detailed analysis of this phenomenon. It provides in-depth historical, contextual and comparative perspectives on the law and practice of independent directors in seven core Asian jurisdictions (China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan) and Australia. These case studies reveal the varieties of independent directors in Asia, none of which conform to its original American concept. The authors develop a taxonomy of these varieties, which provides a powerful analytical tool for more accurately understanding and effectively researching independent directors in Asia. This new approach challenges foundational aspects of comparative corporate governance practice and suggests a new path for comparative corporate governance scholarship and reform. Provides in-depth analysis of the independent director in seven of Asia's leading economies, appealing to comparative corporate governance scholars, regulators and lawyers with an interest in Asia, but who experience difficulty accessing primary sources. A concise overview of the developments concerning independent directors in Asia, avoiding the need for detailed research in different languages and jurisdictions, external resources for extra information or translating materials into English. Integrates the largely overlooked story of the independent director in Asia into this critically important corporate governance debate, providing a new perspective on how to conduct comparative corporate law and governance research for scholars and students interested in this growing field of study.
Independent Energy Regulation in a Developing Economy: Stakeholder Perspectives and Legal Interpretations
by Sudha Mahalingam Kapilan MahalingamThis book is an introduction to the challenges of independent regulation, a new governance institution introduced in developing economies in the wake of liberalization, to perform the role of a surrogate for competitive markets. It examines, in the Indian context, regulatory interpretation of key provisions of energy laws and regulatory statutes, as manifest in the adjudicatory orders of India’s petroleum and electricity regulators. The objective is to assess regulatory interpretations for consistency with the stated objectives of independent regulation. Comparing regulatory interpretation of energy laws with those of the higher judiciary, this study highlights the divergent perspectives of regulators and the higher judiciary on the role of independent regulation in a liberalized economy. In the process, this research attempts to gauge, not only the extent of regulatory expertise and independence in India’s energy space, but crucially, the Indian government's commitment to independence of regulators. The book also offers a glimpse of the operation of checks and balances in a relatively new institution situated outside the scope of the conventional Madisonian framework. Framed against the backdrop of extant regulatory theories, this book is of interest to regulators, policy makers, utility executives, students of law, economics and regulatory studies as well as lawyers interpreting regulators’ remit and role in a liberalized economy.
Independent Evaluation Report: The Role of the IMF as Trusted Advisor
by International Monetary FundA report from the International Monetary Fund.
Independent Evaluation of IFC's Development Results 2009
by Independent Evaluation Group, IFCThe 'Independent Evaluation of IFC's Development Results 2009' assesses the development outcomes and additionality (unique role and contribution) of IFC interventions. It analyzes factors driving results, and reviews performance patterns on a thematic topic. This year's thematic is IFC's Advisory Services (AS)-knowledge services that IFC provides to either private companies or governments in support of private sector development. The report's main findings are: Investment Services results improved overall. Performance was especially strong in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Most operations were implemented prior to the crisis and thus results do not yet reflect the deterioration in global economic conditions. In terms of results, 70 percent of reviewed AS operations achieved high development ratings. Performance has been strongest in ECA and weakest in LAC. Results were significantly better for infrastructure, business enabling environment, and corporate advice operations and weaker in the case of environmental and social sustainability Key drivers of AS performance have been: client commitment; programmatic approaches; IFC's additionality; and monitoring and evaluation quality. Charging for AS has been associated with better performance. To enhance development impact, the report recommends that IFC: (i) Effectively manage the tension between protecting the portfolio and responding to opportunities during crisis; (ii) Set out an overall strategy for IFC advisory services, addressing the need for a clear vision and business framework and more closely linked with IFC's global corporate strategy; (iii) Pursue more programmatic AS interventions; (iv) Improve execution of the AS pricing policy; and (v) Strengthen AS performance measurement and internal knowledge management.
Independent Film Finance: A Research-Based Guide to Funding Your Movie (American Film Market Presents)
by David OffenbergFor aspiring producers and directors who need to learn film finance from the ground up, this revolutionary new book teaches the fundamentals, through the voices of more than 60 successful independent producers. Using a research and data-based approach, award-winning professor David Offenberg combines the wisdom of well-known and successful producers into one fun, easy-to-follow guide. Within, readers will learn how to talk to potential investors and what those financiers will expect from them in return. The book is also packed with informative anecdotes and examples to enrich each chapter and contextualize the film financing landscape. As the book progresses, equity, debt, revenue, profits, and their role in your movie will be explored. Accessible information about tax incentives and profit participations is included to help emerging filmmakers build out a workable financing plan. The book combines hard numbers and data sets, with direct guidance from successful producers, to construct a holistic overview on how you can turn your new-found financial knowledge into funding for your movie. This ground-breaking book is a must-read for any aspiring producer or director who wishes to gain an informed and easily digestible understanding of film finance.
Independent Film Finance: A Research-Based Guide to Funding Your Movie (ISSN)
by David OffenbergFor aspiring producers and directors who need to learn film finance from the ground up, this revolutionary new book teaches the fundamentals, through the voices of more than 60 successful independent producers. Using a research and data-based approach, award-winning professor David Offenberg combines the wisdom of well-known and successful producers into one fun, easy-to-follow guide.Within, readers will learn how to talk to potential investors and what those financiers will expect from them in return. The book is also packed with informative anecdotes and examples to enrich each chapter and contextualize the film financing landscape. As the book progresses, equity, debt, revenue, profits, and their role in your movie will be explored. Accessible information about tax incentives and profit participations is included to help emerging filmmakers build out a workable financing plan. The book combines hard numbers and data sets, with direct guidance from successful producers, to construct a holistic overview on how you can turn your new-found financial knowledge into funding for your movie.This ground-breaking book is a must-read for any aspiring producer or director who wishes to gain an informed and easily digestible understanding of film finance.
Independent Luxury
by Jonas Hoffmann Laurent LecampThere is an endangered species in luxury: independent companies! In an ever-challenging globalized luxury environment, difficulties arise for companies striving to escape the ever-growing clout of luxury conglomerates. But so do opportunities! Through case studies of game-changing brands including: W Motors, HYT watches, Iris Van Herpen, Comme des Gar#65533;ons, Brunello Cuccinelli, Etudes Studio, Holition, Digital Luxury Group, and many others, this book introduces the luxury innovation framework presenting four winning strategies and a unique approach for entrepreneurs, creators, designers, and managers daring to challenge the status quo and to become ground breakers. For updates and more information about this book, visitwww. theindependentluxury. com
Independent Thinking in an Uncertain World: A Mind of One’s Own
by David Waltner-Toews Valerie A. Brown John A. HarrisAny effective response to an uncertain future will require independently thinking individuals working together. Human ideas and actions have led to unprecedented changes in the relationships among humans, and between humans and the Earth. Changes in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the energy we use are evidence of Nature – which has no special interest in sustaining human life – looking out for itself. Even the evolutionary context for humans has altered. Evolutionary pressures from the digital communication revolution have been added to those from natural systems. For humans to meet these challenges requires social re-organisation that is neither simple nor easy. Independent Thinking in an Uncertain World explores workable, field-tested strategies from the frontiers of creating a viable future for humans on Earth. Based on research results from hundreds of social learning workshops with communities worldwide, many of them part of Australian National University’s Local Sustainability Project, authors with diverse interests explore the gap between open-minded individual thinking and closed socially defined knowledges. The multiple dimensions of individual, social and biophysical ways of thinking are combined in ways that allow open-minded individuals to learn from one another.
Indesit Company: Does Global Matter?
by Joseph L. BowerIn 2007, the leadership of the Indesit Company is focused on long-term corporate strategy. After 3 decades, the company has emerged as the number 2 home appliance producer in Europe. Should they invest further to be number 1, or should they focus on the global market, and if so, which part of the world? A subordinate issue is how to manage their multiple brands. Should they consolidate? This case has extensive data on global markets.
Index
by Jose B. Alvarez Julia KelleyIn December 2017, Marc Freed-Finnegan and Jonathan Wall, the co-founders of retail technology company Index, had to discuss the company's direction as they entered 2018. Five years earlier, Freed-Finnegan and Wall had founded Index after observing the technological advantages that Amazon and other online retailers had over brick-and-mortar retailers. Index's first product was a customer database tool that allowed brick-and-mortar retailers to collect customer contact information (e.g., email addresses) at the time of checkout. Index soon added automated marketing tools and payment/security tools (e.g., encryption) to its product portfolio. However, selling to large retail chains had proved challenging-many stakeholders were involved in the buying decision, creating a long sales process, and some retailers did not understand why they should trust a small, young company with their payment security. By late 2017, Index had made some changes to reduce the average sales cycle, but there was still room for improvement. Now, Index was preparing to launch a new product, Index Connect, that would essentially allow retailers to pool customer contact data and be more competitive with Amazon. Participants must evaluate whether Index was taking the right approach to sales and marketing and consider how the company could position Index Connect to be a success.
Index Fund Management: A Practical Guide to Smart Beta, Factor Investing, and Risk Premia
by Fadi ZaherThis book brings simplicity to passive investing, smart beta, and factor investing, which is the fastest growing type of investment in the asset management industry. The subject has a strong academic foundation but often taught and presented in a quite complex and unorganized way.In recent years, index and factor investing solutions have been bestsellers. But factor investing success is not a foregone conclusion, and there are plenty of quirks and misprints in the literature. Do investors need a novel approach? The book provides answers to some of these questions in an open and objective fashion.Index fund management is increasingly taught in finance courses at universities. For market practitioners including trustees and investors, this book facilitates an increased understanding of how to invest in index and smart beta strategies, how to implement them, and what to be aware of with concrete and practical real-world examples.
Index Investing For Dummies
by Russell WildA recommended, proven way to broaden portfolios and profitsRecommended by finance experts and used extensively by institutional investors, index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) provide unmanaged, diversified exposure to a variety of asset classes. Index Investing For Dummies shows active investors how to add index investments to their portfolios and make the most of their money, while protecting their assets. It features plain-English information on the different types of index funds and their advantage over other funds, getting started in index investing, using index funds for asset allocation, understanding returns and risk, diversifying among fund holdings, and applying winning strategies for maximum profit.
Index Investing: A Low Cost, Low Risk Strategy to Investment Success
by Abhishek KumarWelcome to the mysterious world of equity market, which is not so mysterious after all! Most investors get it wrong when it comes to understanding the nuances of the equity market. It is not because they are ignorant or lack the requisite skills to understand the factors affecting this market, but mainly because they get misleading information from market players and financial intermediaries. Consequently, these entities thrive and flourish, leaving the investor wringing his hands, wondering where all the money has gone. No more lies! This book is your window to the equity market from a completely different perspective and earn your fair share of stock market return.
Index Numbers in Economic Theory and Practice
by R. G. AllenThere is no book currently available that gives a comprehensive treatment of the design, construction, and use of index numbers. However, there is a pressing need for one in view of the increasing and more sophisticated employment of index numbers in the whole range of applied economics and specifically in discussions of macroeconomic policy. In this book, R. G. D. Allen meets this need in simple and consistent terms and with comprehensive coverage.The text begins with an elementary survey of the index-number problem before turning to more detailed treatments of the theory and practice of index numbers. The binary case in which one time period is compared with another is first developed and illustrated with numerous examples. This is to prepare the ground for the central part of the text on runs of index numbers. Particular attention is paid both to fixed-weighted and to chain forms as used in a wide range of published index numbers taken mainly from British official sources.This work deals with some further problems in the construction of index numbers, problems which are both troublesome and largely unresolved. These include the use of sampling techniques in index-number design and the theoretical and practical treatment of quality changes. It is also devoted to a number of detailed and specific applications of index-number techniques to problems ranging from national-income accounting, through the measurement of inequality of incomes and international comparisons of real incomes, to the use of index numbers of stock-market prices. Aimed primarily at students of economics, whatever their age and range of interests, this work will also be of use to those who handle index numbers professionally.
Indexation and Causation of Financial Markets
by Yoko Tanokura Genshiro KitagawaThis book presents a new statistical method of constructing a price index of a financial asset where the price distributions are skewed and heavy-tailed and investigates the effectiveness of the method. In order to fully reflect the movements of prices or returns on a financial asset, the index should reflect their distributions. However, they are often heavy-tailed and possibly skewed, and identifying them directly is not easy. This book first develops an index construction method depending on the price distributions, by using nonstationary time series analysis. Firstly, the long-term trend of the distributions of the optimal Box-Cox transformed prices is estimated by fitting a trend model with time-varying observation noises. By applying state space modeling, the estimation is performed and missing observations are automatically interpolated. Finally, the index is defined by taking the inverse Box-Cox transformation of the optimal long-term trend. This book applies the method to various financial data. For example, applying it to the sovereign credit default swap market where the number of observations varies over time due to the immaturity, the spillover effects of the financial crisis are detected by using the power contribution analysis measuring the information flows between indices. The investigations show that applying this method to the markets with insufficient information such as fast-growing or immature markets can be effective.
Indexing Multimedia and Creative Works: The Problems of Meaning and Interpretation
by Pauline Rafferty Rob HidderleyIndexing and information retrieval work properly only if language and interpretation are shared by creator and user. This is more complex for non-verbal media. The authors of Indexing Multimedia and Creative Works explore these challenges against a background of different theories of language and communication, particularly semiotics, questioning the possibility of ideal multimedia indexing. After surveying traditional approaches to information retrieval (IR) and organization in relation to issues of meaning, particularly Panofsky’s ’levels of meaning’, Pauline Rafferty and Rob Hidderley weigh up the effectiveness of major IR tools (cataloguing, classification and indexing) and computerised IR, highlighting key questions raised by state-of-the-art computer language processing systems. Introducing the reader to the fundamentals of semiotics, through the thinking of Saussure, Peirce and Sonesson, they make the case for this as the basis for successful multimedia information retrieval. The authors then describe specific multimedia information retrieval tools: namely the Art and Architecture Thesaurus, Iconclass and the Library of Congress Thesaurus of General Materials I and II. A selection of multimedia objects including photographic images, abstract images, music, the spoken word and film are read using analytical and descriptive categories derived from the literature of semiotics. Multimedia information retrieval tools are also used to index the multimedia objects, an exercise which demonstrates the richness of the semiotic approach and the limitations of controlled vocabulary systems. In the final chapter the authors reflect on the issues thrown up by this comparison and explore alternatives such as democratic, user-generated indexing as an alternative . Primarily intended for third-year undergraduate and postgraduate information studies students, the breadth and depth of Indexing Multimedia and Creative Works will also make it relevant and fascinating rea
Indexing for Maximum Investment Results
by Albert S. NeubergTwenty four years after investment managers decided to implement Standard & Poor's 500 indexing strategy, the verdict is in. The first indexers beat more than 99% of all actively managed stock funds. Over the last ten years, funds based on the S&P 500 out-performed more than 80% of all mutual funds. Today about $450 billion is indexed to the S&P 500, almost 10% of the total market value of all stocks traded in the US. The strategy has been applied to other asset classes, including bonds and real estate. In total, indexing now accounts for more than 25% of the investment methodology of all pension funds in the US. Topics include: choosing a benchmark; overview of the marketplace; using derivatives to index; performance track record versus active management; index methodology and other styles; and index price effects on constituent securities. Albert S. Neubert is director of the Domestic S&P Indexes Unit within the Equity Services Group.
India
by Patrick FrenchA monumental biography of the subcontinent from the award-winning author of The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul.Second only to China in the magnitude of its economic miracle and second to none in its potential to shape the new century, India is fast undergoing one of the most momentous transformations the world has ever seen. In this dazzlingly panoramic book, Patrick French chronicles that epic change, telling human stories to explain a larger national narrative.Melding on-the-ground reports with a deep knowledge of history, French exposes the cultural foundations of India's political, economic and social complexities. He reveals how a nation identified with some of the most wretched poverty on earth has simultaneously developed an envied culture of entrepreneurship (here are stories like that of C. K. Ranganathan, who trudged the streets of Cuddalore in the 1980s selling sample packets of shampoo and now employs more than one thousand people). And even more remarkably, French shows how, despite the ancient and persistent traditions of caste, as well as a mind-boggling number of ethnicities and languages, India has nevertheless managed to cohere, evolving into the world's largest democracy, largely fulfilling Jawaharlal Nehru's dream of a secular liberal order.French's inquiry goes to the heart of all the puzzlements that modern India presents: Is this country actually rich or poor? Why has its Muslim population, the second largest on earth, resisted radicalization to such a considerable extent? Why do so many children of Indians who have succeeded in the West want to return "home," despite never having lived in India? Will India become a natural ally of the West, a geostrategic counterweight to the illiberal rising powers China and Russia? To find the answers, French seeks out an astonishing range of characters: from Maoist revolutionaries to Mafia dons, from chained quarry laborers to self-made billionaires. And he delves into the personal lives of the political elite, including the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, one of the most powerful women in the world.With a familiarity and insight few Westerners could approach, Patrick French provides a vital corrective to the many outdated notions about a uniquely dynamic and consequential nation. His India is a thrilling revelation.From the Hardcover edition.
India - Culture Smart!
by Becky StephenIndia is in transition. Since the publication of Culture Smart's first guide to India in 2003, it has been transformed from a developing, third-world country into the world's fastest growing economy. Today, a huge, confident, emerging middle class is exporting technology, brains, and enterprise to the rest of the world. At the same time, young Indians educated abroad are returning home to take advantage of the new opportunities, bringing Western expectations and lifestyles with them. The impact of all this wealth-creation, modernity, and individualism on the timeless values and ancient caste structures of India is beginning to be felt well beyond the great cities, adding yet another facet to the giant kaleidoscope of Indian society. This completely new and up-to-date volume by American author Becky Stephens is unrivalled. It highlights the many subtle and not so subtle changes that are taking place in Indian society, describes and explains those areas of life where traditional attitudes and practices continue to prevail, and offers original insights, practical tips, and vital human information to guide you through the pitfalls and delights of this complex, vibrant, and increasingly important country.
India - The Political Economy of Growth, Stagnation and the State, 1951-2007 (India in the Modern World)
by Matthew McCartneyUnderstanding the drivers and inhibitors of economic growth is critical for promoting development in less developed countries, including India. This book examines economic growth in India from 1951 to the present, challenging many accepted orthodox views. It argues that growth and stagnation should be considered over the medium term, and that the precise role of the state – in relation to particular historical and political-economic circumstances – is more important than the overall level of state involvement or disengagement. The book uses an empirical approach to contend that the state has an important role in several key areas including: mobilising a surplus; allocating the surplus in an efficient way to productive investment projects; and in building institutions (including political parties) through which conflict can managed between the different losers and rent-seekers affected by economic changes. It shows how, over time and in periods of growth and stagnation, the state in India has acted in key areas, and how the actions of the state has had a profound impact on economic outcomes. Overall, the book makes a major contribution to understanding the economic history of development in India and to understanding the role of the state in economic development more generally.