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"Over the last three decades, wine economics has emerged as a growing field within agricultural economics, but also in other fields such as finance, trade, growth, environmental economics and industrial organization. Wine has a few characteristics that differentiate it from other agricultural commodities, rendering it an interesting topic for economists in general. Fine wine can regularly fetch bottle prices that exceed several thousand dollars. It can be stored a long time and may increase in value with age. Fine wine quality and prices are extraordinarily sensitive to fluctuations in the weather of the year in which the grapes were grown. And wine is an experience good, i.e., its quality cannot be ascertained before consumption. As a result, consumers often rely on "expert opinion" regarding quality and maturation prospects. This handbook takes a broad approach and familiarizes the reader with the main research strands in wine economics. After a general introduction to wine economics by Karl Storchmann, Volume 1 focuses on the core areas of wine economics. The first papers shed light on the relevance of the vineyard's natural environment for wine quality and prices. "Predicting the Quality and Prices of Bordeaux Wine" by Orley Ashenfelter is a classic paper and may be the first wine economics publication ever. Ashenfelter shows how weather influences the quality and the price of Bordeaux Grands Crus wine. Since the weather condition of the year when the grapes were grown is known, an econometric analysis may be constructed. It turns out this model outperforms expert opinion, i.e., critical vintage scores. At best, expert opinion reflects public information. The subsequent papers, by Ashenfelter and Storchmann, Gergaud and Ginsburgh, and Cross, Plantinga and Stavins, tackle the terroir question. That is, they examine the relevance of a vineyard's physical characteristics for wine quality and prices, but from various dimensions and with different results. Next, Alston et al. analyze a question of great concern in the California wine industry: the causes and consequences of the rising alcohol content in California wine. Is climate change the culprit? The next chapter presents three papers that apply hedonic price analyses to fine wine. Combris, Lecocq and Visser show that Bordeaux wine market prices are essentially determined by the wines' objective characteristics. Costanigro, McCluskey and Mittelhammer differentiate their hedonic analysis for various mark ...

The relation of theoretical economics to empirical historical analysis has been one of the central problems of economic historians ever since the recognition of economic history as a separate discipline. Recent studies in logic and philosophy, by constructing new frames of meaning for both theory and history, have opened up several avenues for a fresh approach to this and other problems of importance to the historian and the economist.

Offering a compelling critique of orthodox economic analysis in the public realm, Mike Berry exposes the lack of development in economic thinking in public policy since the economic crisis of 2008. Focusing on both the ethically unacceptable outcomes of recent public policy and the threat of populism and rising nationalism, this book offers noteworthy suggestions for an alternative social democratic future. Both students and practitioners of heterodox economics and public policy will find this a compelling insight into the ethical concerns and social impacts raised by the political ascendency of neoliberal policies in recent decades.--

The issue of planning prompted some of the fiercest debate in mid-twentieth century economics. Politics of Economic Planning collects together a number of papers from journals and contributed books that examine the problems of economic planning in a free society. They fall into three groups:Part 1 explains the idea of socialism and defines it in relation to democracy.Part 2 discusses problems of economic planning both in relation to political economy on the practice of planning and with the application of the theory of value to the conditions of a centrally directed econom

This unique Handbook explores both the economics of the firm and the theory of the firm, two areas which are traditionally treated separately in the literature. On the one hand, the former refers to the structure, organization and boundaries of the firm, while the latter is devoted to the analysis of behaviours and strategies in particular market contexts. The novel concept underpinning this authoritative volume is that these two areas closely interact, and that a framework must be articulated in order to illustrate how linkages can be created. This interpretative framework is comprehensively

This book can help overcome the widely observed math-phobia and math-aversion among undergraduate students in these subjects. The book can also help them understand why they have to learn different mathematical techniques, how they can be applied, and how they will equip the students in their further studies. The book provides a thorough but lucid exposition of most of the mathematical techniques applied in the fields of economics, business and finance. The book deals with topics right from high school mathematics to relatively advanced areas of integral calculus covering in the middle the top

Exploring how the economy can grow by upholding the social contract and giving social partners like trade unions the space and a key role in this new economy, A New Left Economicsreviews the dominant neo-classical economic paradigm and provide insights into a new economic model by critically assessing the new left economics.