China, Trust and Digital Supply Chains presents a critical reflection on blockchain technologies in the context of their adoption in China and the world that China is engaged in and shaping. Approaching the issues of blockchain technology adoption and development on China’s own terms is critical if policy makers and others are to make effective sense of one of the key dynamics shaping the next few decades of the global landscape. The work challenges the ‘trust’ trope that dominates much discussion of blockchain technology’s application. It argues, contrary to the predominant trust trope, that blockchain is not about trust at all. It shows that China’s re-imagining of the 21st century global order is premised on driving intensified cross-border economic interactions without the presupposition of trust, and blockchain technology makes that possible. It also explores the paradox of technological decentralisation being taken up with vigour by a centralist polity, the role of blockchain technology as a critical condition of existence for the successful globalisation of China’s digital currency initiative, and the need to devise governance institutions that are multilateral in nature, to reflect the multi-polar nature of decentralised information systems with domestic and cross-border permutations. This book is of significant interest to readers of political economy, public policy, blockchain technology and Chinese studies.

The two-volume set LNBIP 480 and 481 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 22nd Wuhan International Conference, WHICEB 2023, held in Wuhan, China, in May 2023. The 61 full papers presented in these proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 350 submissions. They focus on innovative research findings, solutions, and approaches to make the Internet a productive and efficient vehicle for global commerce. This year’s topic is “Digital Empowerment for an Intelligent Future“.

Blockchain and Supply Chain Management combines discussions of blockchain and supply chains, linking technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, satellite imagery, and machine vision. The book examines blockchain's basic concepts, relevant theories, and its roles in meeting key supply chain objectives. The book addresses problems related to inefficiency, opacity, and fraud, helping the digitization process, simplifying the value creation process, and facilitating collaboration. The book is balanced between blockchain and supply chain application and theory, covering the latest technological, organizational and regulatory developments in blockchain from a supply chain perspective. The book discusses the opportunities, barriers, and enablers of blockchain in supply chain policy, along with legal and ethical implications. Supply chain management faces massive disruption with the dynamic changes in global trade, the impact of Covid-19, and technological innovation. Entire industries are also being transformed by blockchain, with some of the most promising applications in supply chain management. - Provides theoretical and practical insights into both blockchain and supply chains - Features numerous illustrative case studies, boxes, tables, and figures - Examines blockchain's impacts on supply chains in four key industries: Food and beverage, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and finance

Applied mathematics, modelling, and computer simulation are central to many aspects of engineering and computer science, and continue to be of intrinsic importance to the development of modern technologies. This book presents the proceedings of AMMCS 2023, the 3rd International Conference on Applied Mathematics, Modeling and Computer Simulation, held on 12 and 13 August 2023 in Wuhan, China. The conference provided an ideal opportunity for scholars and researchers to communicate important recent developments in their areas of specialization to their colleagues, and to scientists in related disciplines. More than 250 submissions were received for the conference, of which 133 were selected for presentation at the conference and inclusion here after a thorough peer-review process. These range from the theoretical and conceptual to strongly pragmatic papers addressing industrial best practice, and cover topics such as mathematical modeling and application; engineering applications and scientific computations; and the simulation of intelligent systems. The book explores practical experiences and enlightening ideas, and will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, and to all those working in the fields of applied mathematics, modeling and computer simulation.

This book explores America’s decline as a global power, arguing that the implosion of Pax Americana was initiated by the process of globalization, preceding the collapse of the Soviet Union by nearly a decade. The era of Pax Americana, and with it American hegemony, is conclusively passed, and will not return in current global conditions. There is a stark contrast between the present epoch and the postwar era of American hegemony (1945–1979) in which the United States, at least outside of the Soviet sphere of influence, largely managed the international economy and reigned over international politics and relations. Drawing on both theoretical and empirical evidence, this book shows that the era of globalization unleashed forces—social, political, and economic—which broke down the status quo of American hegemony. Author Cyrus Bina also establishes that since the Iranian Revolution (1979), US involvement throughout the Middle East, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and now notably in Ukraine has been motivated by the freefall of American hegemony and an attempt to get it back by direct or indirect military force. Bina utilizes these contexts for wider analysis and critique of a number of theories commonly used to analyze economy, polity, geopolitical, and dynamics of crisis and social change in capitalism. This book will be of great interest to students, academics, and policymakers on subjects of Economics, International Relations, Global Studies, International Political Economy, Political Geography, Sociology, and postwar History.

The aim of Bernard Schmitt’s analysis of the monetary economy of production was twofold: to introduce and to explain the logical character of the macroeconomic laws governing our economies and to explain the origin of the pathologies that follow if these laws are not complied with. Schmitt’s main original contributions concern the theories of value, profit, and capital, as well as his explanation of inflation, unemployment and international payments, unified as quantum macroeconomic analysis. This book expounds on the key principles of quantum macroeconomic analysis as he conceived and developed them. Schmitt’s starting point was the analysis of bank money and the way it is associated with produced output. His macroeconomics was not founded on microeconomics nor derived from the aggregation of microeconomic variables. Schmitt’s theory does not rely on mathematics and modelling either; instead, it is based on logical laws derived from the nature of money and monetary payments. Part I of this book deals with the quantum macroeconomic analysis of capitalism and its pathologies developed by Schmitt and provides the elements necessary to understand its ‘structural’ mechanism. Parts II and III deal with the principles of two reforms that enable the passage from capitalism to post-capitalism and from the present non-system of international payments to an orderly system. This book provides essential reading for all those interested in heterodox approaches to macroeconomics, monetary economics, banking, international economics, and the history of economic thought.