The chapters included in this volume are composed of some selected contributions from the 8th International Conference of Political Economy (ICOPEC 2017) held in Belgrade on June 28-30, 2017 with the main theme of “Institutions, National Identity, Power, and Governance in the 21st Century”. All chapters are peer-reviewed by both the editors and independent scholars from the elds relevant to the manuscript's subject area. The purpose of the volume is to provide and enhance our understanding of the recent trends in the social, economic and nancial analysis. Therefore, this volume includes chapters that focus on the importance of these three disciplines of social sciences which interact heavily with almost every other social science as well as the normative sciences. In this sense, this volume aims at providing a contemporary update to the literature from various dierent perspectives and tries to contribute to our knowledge in an eective manner. The chapters do not only present analysis of certain topics but also help to build the mindset for further studies that would be helpful in looking for answers to some of the remaining questions in these three crucial social sciences disciplines. Hence, we are glad to put together a volume that would be useful to a large audience rather than just the technical experts.

This synthesis report will be of interest to DOT administrators, supervisors, and staff, as well as to the consultants working with them in assessing the economic development impacts of existing or proposed transportation investments. Metropolitan Planning Organization regional and local staffs might also find it informative. It is intended to help practicing planners become aware of the range of methods and analysis techniques available, organized by the different categories of agency needs, to address different types of planning, policy, and research needs. This synthesis summarizes the current state of the practice by means of a survey of transportation planning agencies in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. This report provides reviews of the analysis methods used in recent project and program evaluation reports of these agencies, in addition to a bibliography of economic literature and guides.