The editors should be commended for taking on such a big task, and succeeding so well. This book should be in the library of every institution where students have to write a paper that may be related to sport, or on the shelf of any lecturer teaching economics or public finance who has even a remote interest in sport. The material is very accessible, and useful in many different settings. Ruud H. Koning, Jahrbücher f. Nationalökonomie u. Statistik Edward Elgar s brilliant market niche is identifying a topic in economics, finding editors who know the area backwards and challenging them to assemble the best cross-section of relevant articles either already published or newly commissioned. Handbook on the Economics of Sport is Edward Elgar at its very best. If you love economics you ll find many fascinating insights here; if you love sport but know little economics then this book is mostly accessible and will teach you a lot; and if you are a sports-mad economist then you will be in hog heaven. Furthermore, if, like this reviewer, you are broadly very sceptical about the reports consultants produce for governments on the supposed economic windfall from hosting a big event or subsidising a stadium then you will get a lot of good counter-arguments in this volume. Indeed there are several chapters on the above theme that I m sure I ll be copying frequently to government officials in years to come. . . The demand for sport is a fascinating subject and it is hard to pick out just one chapter from the second section. Read them all they make a wonderful 65-page treat. . . Part VI was a real feast, a smorgasbord. . . This is a magnificent piece of work and the 36-page index rounds it all off splendidly. John Blundell, Economic Affairs The book covers the most important areas of research of an emerging economic sub-discipline spanning the past half a century. It serves admirably the purpose of an introduction into the rich and growing area of reflection for all concerned. . . the editors and authors of the Handbook have done a commendable job of accumulating sophisticated material for many economists, managers, politicians and self-conscious fans, who are sure to find excellent training ground for the whole heptathlon. . . This book will be invaluable for advanced students investigating professional sport. From the point of view of lawyers, particularly those engaged with the relationship between law and sports governance, the Handbook offers invaluable analysis of the economic issues that are alluded to in those debates but rarely examined in detail. . . These insights will also prove useful for policy analysts and sports administrators for whom many sections should be considered mandatory reading. Aleksander Sulejewicz, Journal of Contemporary European Research Over 800 pages on the economics of sport. What a feast! What a treat! The editors have done a wonderful job both in terms of breadth from David Beckham to child labour in Pakistan and depth, tournaments and luxury taxes for example. . . The 86 chapters are uniformly of a very high standard and illuminating. And there are real gems in some of the contributions. British Journal on the Economics of Sport This very interesting and comprehensive book achieves its objective, namely to present an overview of research in sports economics at an introductory level. . . [The editors] have produced an excellent reference book that belongs in all academic institutions libraries. It provides extensive introduction to the growing body of literature in the rising field of economics of sport. The book s relevant monographs should be read by institutions, cities and countries prior to their committing major resources towards sports facilities or a sporting event. James Angresano, Journal of Sports Economics One could think of this book as the sports-and-economics counterpart to Joy of Cooking, because it will satisfy the needs of those with a keen interest in such subjects as the

This timely book offers a critical interpretation of the traditional social and economic accounts of sport. It provides an incisive analysis of professional sport and defines alternative foundations to the present model. The authors demonstrate that professional sport is an extremely complex phenomenon encompassing many unique factors depending on its global reach, financing and organization. In particular they address three significant issues: • an analysis of the relationship between sport and economic development in order to explain the place of professional sport in modern societies • a study of the main difficulties facing the organization of professional sports in terms of financing, collective bargaining and the consequences of revenue sharing for competitive balance • an exploration of alternatives to current governance structures which would involve a return to professional ethics. This insightful and topical book is essential for academics and students of sport management, researchers of the economics of sport, managers of clubs and federations involved in professional sports, as well as civil servants and journalists.

Since the global financial crisis, government debt has soared globally by 40 percent and now exceeds an astonishing $100 trillion. Not all countries, though, have fared the same. Indeed, even prior to the financial crisis, the fiscal fates of countries have been diverging, despite predictions that pressures from economic globalization push countries toward more convergent fiscally conservative policies. Featuring the work of an international interdisciplinary team of scholars, this volume explains patterns of fiscal performance (persistent patterns of budget deficits and government debt) from the 1970s to the present across seven countries – France, Italy, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, and the United States. Employing a comparative case study approach, seldom employed in studies of fiscal performance, contributions illuminate the complex causal factors often overlooked by quantitative studies and advances our theoretical understanding of fiscal performance. Among other things, the cases highlight the role of taxpayer consent, tax structure, the welfare state, organization of interests, and labor and financial markets in shaping fiscal outcomes. A necessary resource to understand a broader array of factors that shape fiscal outcomes in specific national contexts, this book will reinvigorate the study of fiscal performance.

This is a fictionalized account of the life and career of world chess champion Alexander Alekhine. Born into Russian nobility, Alekhine lost his family and nearly his life to the Bolsheviks before becoming the world's most powerful chess player. The coming of World War II placed the grandmaster in a difficult position, forcing him to collaborate with the Nazis and to produce anti-Semitic materials. Desperate to win back his credibility after the war, Alekhine was preparing for a redemptive title match at the time of his sudden death. Alekhine's life was marked by alcoholism, fits of depression, scandalous affairs, marriages of convenience, painful compromises, and his battle to become "the Greatest." The novel is told as fiction but is based on the actual people and events that were part of his triumphant career and troubled life.

The twenty-first century is now underway, and it's time to look at France once again as it moves into the new millennium. The current collection of essays explores cultural themes which are different than those in the editors' earlier volume, La France à l'aube du XXIe siècle: Tendances et mutations / France at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century: Trends and Transformations, published in 2000 (Summa Publications; see Google Book Seach on home page). Among the topics explored in this new volume are the presidential election of 2007, changing dietary habits, the condition of women, environmental policies, the economy, education, social mobility, young people, religion, as well as contemporary music, cinema, regional theater, and literature. Articles on multiculturalism, the position of French in today's world, and France in the European Union also provide the reader with provocative insights. All chapters include extensive references (and web sites) and will be of interest to academics, teachers and students of contemporary French culture, and all Francophiles. For the classroom teacher, additional cultural information and activities will be found on the editors' own home page; this material will be updated on a regular basis, thus facilitating the task of presenting a modern-day France that is continuously changing. - Publisher.

This volume proposes a reconsideration of ecological and environmental aspects of the work and ideas of various heterodox authors and traditions in the history of economic thought, including the field of economic development. Many of the contributors to this book focus on thinkers and works which are not typically considered as part of the ecological sphere, while others consider such economists in a new light or domain. Thus, the book elucidates a new and useful research field of reconsidering ecological dimensions in the traditional history of economic thought as well as helping to delineate alternative views for ongoing debates on ecological themes. Did Veblen, Keynes, Sraffa, C. Furtado and other key economists and schools of thought of our age have relevant and useful insights with respect to environmental issues? Which aspects of their intellectual legacies should eventually be discarded in the face of our new environmental challenges? On the contrary, what aspects of their economic theories can be updated and adapted to a better interpretation of our present ecological concerns? How do they differ, and why? The essays contained in this book will help to answer these questions, by means of recovering, analysing and updating the work of some of the most relevant heterodox economists and schools of thought of our time. This book will be of great interest for readers in the history of economic thought, ecological economics, environmental economics and economic development.