Today, more than ever, the state of a country's science and technology is a critical factor for economic competitiveness and long-term growth. This book traces the development of science and technology policies and initiatives in Singapore since 1965. Developed as a trading entrepot by the British, science and technology were never strongly emphasized, right up to the 1970s. However, the need to stay ahead of economic competitiveness motivated the Singapore Government to initiate its national science and technology policy from the 1980s-moving Singapore from a low-skilled, low-technology economy to a high-skilled, high-technology one. Today, the drive for Singapore to become a hotbed for technological start-ups and R&D activities, supported by strong government funding and cutting-edge facilities, seems promising. Are the aspirations of nurturing a Silicon Valley-type culture in Singapore achievable? Are pragmatic, risk-averse Singaporeans ready for the mindset change? Can a nation of traders and service-brokers become a nation of technological innovators and entrepreneurs? This book attempts to provide the answers.

Today, more than ever, the state of a country’s science and technology is a critical factor for economic competitiveness and long-term growth. This book traces the development of science and technology policies and initiatives in Singapore since 1965. Developed as a trading entrepôt by the British, science and technology were never strongly emphasized, right up to the 1970s. However, the need to stay ahead of economic competitiveness motivated the Singapore Government to initiate its national science and technology policy from the 1980s — moving Singapore from a low-skilled, low-technology economy to a high-skilled, high-technology one. Today, the drive for Singapore to become a hotbed for technological start-ups and R&D activities, supported by strong government funding and cutting-edge facilities, seems promising. Are the aspirations of nurturing a Silicon Valley–type culture in Singapore achievable? Are pragmatic, risk-averse Singaporeans ready for the mindset change? Can a nation of traders and service-brokers become a nation of technological innovators and entrepreneurs? This book attempts to provide the answers

This book is a completely revised version of a study published in 1943. That study, entitled Tribal Legislation among the Tswana of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, dealt with the role of chiefs as agents of social change and, in particular, with the changes they brought about by making new laws. It described the various kinds of legislative process current among the Tswana, and reviewed systematically the content and scope of the many laws made, from the earliest known instances up to the time of writing (1942), in eight different chiefdoms or 'tribes'; it also stated, where possible, why those laws were enacted, and discussed how far they really succeeded in establishing new ways of life.

This important book delivers a critical wake-up call: a fierce global race for innovation advantage is under way, and while other nations are making support for technology and innovation a central tenet of their economic strategies and policies, America lacks a robust innovation policy. What does this portend? Robert Atkinson and Stephen Ezell, widely respected economic thinkers, report on profound new forces that are shaping the global economy—forces that favor nations with innovation-based economies and innovation policies. Unless the United States enacts public policies to reflect this reality, Americans face the relatively lower standards of living associated with a noncompetitive national economy.The authors explore how a weak innovation economy not only contributed to the Great Recession but is delaying America's recovery from it and how innovation in the United States compares with that in other developed and developing nations. Atkinson and Ezell then lay out a detailed, pragmatic road map for America to regain its global innovation advantage by 2020, as well as maximize the global supply of innovation and promote sustainable globalization.

This Handbook provides breakthrough analyses on an important, cutting-edge topic: the connections between the legal system, both in substance and process, and innovation and growth. Arguably the most important intellectual development in legal scholarship and judicial decision-making over the past four decades has been the increasing use of economic modes of analysis in legal reasoning. The Handbook on Law, Innovation and Growth sheds new light on the linkages between innovation, growth and the legal system, answering questions that will help policymakers better understand and implement the law in an effort to advance economic welfare. This Handbook brings together many prominent scholars to examine the features of the legal infrastructure that affect both innovation and growth. Individual chapters explore different legal subject areas, in most cases offering recommendations for rule changes that could accelerate growth, primarily in the context of the US economy. The introductory chapter cohesively ties all of the contributions together and explains why it is time for legal scholarship and research to move in a new direction. Surpassing other literature on the subject, this landmark Handbook is certainly a critical volume for any student or scholar of law and economics.

Trade Finance provides a much-needed re-examination of the relevant legal principles and a study of the challenges posed to current legal structures by technological changes, financial innovation, and international regulation. Arising out of the papers presented at the symposium, Trade Finance for the 21st Century, this collection brings together the perspectives of scholars and practitioners from around the globe focusing on core themes, such as reform and the future role of the UCP, the impact of technology on letters of credit and other forms of trade finance, and the rise of alternative forms of financing. The book covers three key fields of trade finance, starting with the challenges to traditional trade financing by means of documentary credit. These include issues related to contractual enforceability, the use of "soft clauses", the doctrine of strict compliance, the fraud exception, the role of the correspondent bank, performance bonds, and conflict of laws problems. The second main area covered by the work is the technological issues and opportunities in trade finance, including electronic bills of exchange, blockchain, and electronically transferable records. The final part of the work considers alternative and complementary trade finance mechanisms such as open account trading, supply-chain financing, the bank payment obligation, and countertrade.

Commissioned and brought tohgether for the research project by the world-renowned Council on Foreign Relations, the authors have produced an important compendia in applied economics.