These essays are for Americans concerned about the future of our country and for policy wonks. By and large, the political process is controlled by those who take an intertest in politics, large in number but small as a percent of population. Are you a member of the political class? Membership is voluntary. Our first 800 years of thinking: science culture and empathy from the Enlightenment ~1600 to ~ 2400 The Crisis of the Anthropocene: The most comprehensive description of all issues of the crisis in less than 100 pages. For the purpose of going through your mind to influence your brain. Musings on our Present Discontent: America, not advanced, not a democracy. Right to life for baby; right to choose for mom. Taxation. The security of a free state. Issues not discussed. The threat from within, Trumpism. The threat from without: Putinism. How to participate. Renewal.

Globally the hospitality and tourism industry is evolving and undergoing radical changes. The past practices are now advancing through the rapid development of knowledge and skills acquired to adapt and create innovations in various ways. Hence, it is imperative that we have an understanding of the present issues so that we are able to remedy problems on the horizon. Current Issues in Hospitality and Tourism: Research and Innovations is a complilation of research in the broad realm of hospitality and tourism. This book is divided into eight sections covering the following broad themes: – Training and education (hospitality students learning); – Organization and management (practical issues and current trends in the hotel, catering and tourism industry); – Product and food innovation; – Marketing; – Islamic hospitality and tourism issues; – Gastronomy; – Current trends; – Tourism The contributions, from different parts of the globe, present a new outlook for future research, including theoretical revelations and innovations, environmental and cultural exploration aspects, tourist destinations and other recreation and ecotourism aspects of the hospitality and tourism industry. Current Issues in Hospitality and Tourism: Research and Innovations will be useful as a reference for academics, industry practitioners and policy makers, and for those with research interests in the fields of hotels, tourism, catering and gastronomy.

This thesis consists of three essays that are linked by thread of international economics. The first essay uses a panel vector autoregressive model to study the transmission of economic shocks from the United States (U.S.) to Caribbean economies. Unlike prior studies, this analysis includes remittance and tourism as additional channels of transmission. The results suggest that shutting down the remittance and tourism channels lower the effect of a U.S. economic shock on real GDP. Further, the inclusion of these two channels unearth measurement bias previously attributed to the traditional channels. As such, Caribbean governments should consider these two additional channels when designing countercyclical policies. The second essay investigates if evidence in favour of the J-curve phenomenon depends on a country's trading partner and, if there is any cross-country evidence of the J-curve. The assessment introduces asymmetric real exchange rate (RER) effects on bilateral trade balance, within an autoregressive distributed lag framework. Introducing asymmetric effects provide greater evidence supporting the J-curve relative to the linear framework, particularly in the annual assessment, where capturing delay in the J-curve is possible. The finding is consistent regardless of the measure of RER or trading partner considered. Unlike the quarterly panel analysis, support for the J-curve is evident in the annual panel but, specific to the country group and RER measure. The results have implications for designing bilateral trade policy if, exchange rate is considered a policy tool to improve trade balance over time. In the final essay, a panel of 45 Emerging Markets and Developing Economies is used to examine if remittances, foreign aid and institutions influence FDI's effect on economic growth. The results show that the positive effect of FDI on growth as well as on the growth of agriculture and manufacturing value added (VAD) diminishes as the level of institutions increases. The findings also indicate that higher remittances only enhance the marginal effect of FDI in the growth of agriculture VAD. Additionally, FDI's effect on the growth process is independent of foreign aid and should be treated as such.

A collection of essays from scholars evaluating tourism as a means of simulating economic growth and fighting economic inequalities in poor countries. It takes a look at the successes and failures of tourism in this role, and considers why tourism as a catalyst for economic development can be a controversial device.