India Rising: Emergence of a New World Power

India Rising: Emergence of a New World Power
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India Rising: Emergence of a New World Power
Colette Mathur , Frank-Jürgen Richter , and Tarun Das
Manufacturer: Marshall Cavendish Business
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9812611967

Product Description

As India marks a decade of economic reforms, it stands poised to enter a new era. With the reform process finally starting to pay off, the economy has been developing along the path of sustainable growth. If the current reforms are sustained, India will be the third largest economy in the world by 2050. "India Rising" is a timely publication on Indias political, economic and social underpinnings. It provides a sharp assessment of Indias current challenges and a comprehensive outlook on the future. With contributions from senior leaders in the business and government sectors, media and civil society, the book captures the progress made by India to become one of the worlds engines for growth. Bringing together a wide array of expert scenarios, the book provides a rich and textured analysis of the diverse factors that are shaping Indias future. The book delves into the 10 pillars for sustainable growth: Economic Reforms Financial Reforms Geopolitics Manufacturing Trade and Foreign Investment Energy Information Technology Agriculture Infrastructure Social Issues

Book Description

In this book, you will gain extensive hands-on experience installing and configuring a firewall. You will also learn how to allow access to key Web services while maintaining your organization's security, as well as how to implement firewall-to-firewall virtual private networks (VPNs). You will learn how to build a firewall to protect your network; provide access to HTTP and FTP services on the Internet, and implement publicly accessible servers without compromising security. Furthermore, throughout the book, extensive hands-on examples provide you with practical experience in establishing security with firewalls. Examples include, but are not limited to: Installing and configuring Check Point FireWall-1; scanning to validate configuration using ISS Internet Scanner; configuring the firewall to support simple and complex Web services; setting up a packet filtering router; enhancing firewall configurations to support split-DNS; authenticating remote users; and protecting browsers and servers with a proxy-based firewall.

· Install and configure proxy-based and stateful-filtering firewalls
· Protect internal IP addresses with NAT and deploy a secure DNS architecture
· Develop an Internet/intranet security policy to protect your organization's systems and data
· Reduce your susceptibility to an attack by deploying firewalls, data encryption and decryption and other countermeasures

Customer Reviews:

Firewalls : Jumpstart for Network and Systems Administrators.......2005-10-08

I have witnessed the proliferation of data networks over last fifteen years during which time
network security has grown to multi-million dollar business. I have taught and consulted on
design and implementation of network security.In today's corporate and SOHO network, secuirty
is extremely critical to protect and safeguard data. Firewall technology provides a defense
mechanism against unautorized access to data networks. This textbook provides a comprehensive
treatment of firewall from introduction to management and advanced configuration. The appendix
has a list of current firewall vendors that should be of extreme helpful to any reader. I would
highly recommend this text to anyone before they decide to purchase firewall to secure their network.

Start and end your firewall installation with this book !!.......2005-10-04

This book covers firewall implementation, configuration and maintenance with excellent references and examples. John Vacca starts with installation and setup and then moves into implementing and maintance. Along the way many real life experiences are used as examples. Before you start or before you do any updateing on your firewall be sure to read this book.

Excellent intro and more!!!.......2005-09-26

Having worked in the computer network/security field for the last 16 years, I found this book to contain most everything you need to have a working knowledge of firewalls. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that needs to come up to speed quickly and/or needs a refresher course. I find myself now to be in the later category but I wished this book had been written when I was first starting out as it would have saved me a ton of time.

Just what I needed.......2005-09-13

I fell into the category of "I know what a router is but I hope I never have to set one up." Our routers were handled by another talented memeber of our team. When she left, I gave it shot using some manuals we had from cisco and some other informatin passed down from project to project. Completely lost, I decided to start from the beginning. This text was just the ticket to get me started!

A Highly Recommended Reference.......2005-09-03

I highly recommend "Firewalls" by John Vacca. I found the book to be extremely helpfully in understanding the configuration and maintenance of firewalls as well as a great reference for the different types of security infrastructures that can be implemented using the technologies available today. "Firewalls" is an excellent knowledge base that I would recommend as a must read for anyone in the computer security and system administration fields.

Book Description

Special topics covered in this edition: Privatisation, Pension Reform, and the Labour Market.

The survey finds that Poland's overall economic performance in 1996-1997 has been commendable, even better than expected by outside observers or hoped for by authorities. The enviable results achieved for growth, disinflation, and unemployment reward the continuing adherence to prudent, if gradualist macroeconomic and structural policies.

Bolder fiscal action, however, is required to put public finances on a sustainable footing, to contain and subsequently reverse the widening of the current accounts deficit, and to support monetry policy in furthering disinflation. In this context, close prudential supervision of the financial sector is also important, as is improved corporate governance at large.

On the structural front, the new coalition government's programme involves deeper and faster efforts in some areas, consistent on most scores with the general direction of the market-oriented reforms carried out since late 1989. The favorable outlook in Europe should facilitate pursuit of these reforms.

As well, Poland's ambition to be among the first transition countries to join the European Union will be a powerful incentive to push ahead with the more difficult changes still in store. These changes, however, are indispensable in their own right if the momentum of the catch-up process is to be maintained.

Book Description

Without meaning to be irreverent, it is fair to say that in the Middle Ages, at the height of its political and economic power, the Roman Catholic Church functioned in part as a powerful and sophisticated corporation. The Church dealt in a "product" many consumers felt they had to have: the salvation of their immortal souls. The Pope served as its CEO, the College of Cardinals as its board of directors, bishoprics and monasteries as its franchises. And while the Church certainly had moral and social goals, this early antecedent to ATandT and General Motors had economic motives and methods as well, seeking to maximize profits by eliminating competitors and extending its markets. In Sacred Trust: The Medieval Church as an Economic Firm, five highly respected economists advance the controversial argument that the story of the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages is in large part a story of supply and demand. Without denying the centrality--or sincerity--of religious motives, the authors employ the tools of modern economics to analyze how the Church's objectives went well beyond the realm of the spiritual. They explore the myriad sources of the Church's wealth, including tithes and land rents, donations and bequests, judicial services and monastic agricultural production. And they present an in-depth look at the ways in which Church principles on marriage, usury, and crusade were revised as necessary to meet--and in many ways to create--the needs of a vast body of consumers. Along the way, the book raises and answers many intriguing questions. The authors explore the reasons behind the great crusades against the Moslems, probing beyond motives of pure idealism to highlight the Church's concern with revenues from tourism and the sale of relics threatened by Moslem encroachment in the holy lands. They examine the Church's involvement in the marriage market, revealing how the clergy filled their coffers by extracting fees for blessing or dissolving marital unions, for hearing marital disputes, and even for granting permission for blood relatives to wed. And they shed light on the concept of purgatory, showing how this "product innovation" developed by the Church in the twelfth century--a form of "deferred payment"--opened the floodgates for a fresh market in post-mortem atonement through payments on behalf of the deceased. Finally, the authors show how the cumulative costs that the faithful were asked to bear eventually priced the Roman Catholic church out of the market, paving the way for Protestant reformers like Martin Luther. A ground-breaking look at the growth and decline of the medieval Church, Sacred Trust demonstrates how economic reasoning can be used to cast light on the behavior of any complex historical institution. It offers rare insight into one of the great historical powers of Western civilization, in a analysis that will intrigue anyone interested in life in the Middle Ages, in church history, or in the influence of economic motives on historical events.

Customer Reviews:

Pure Perfection.......2006-10-27

I hate to break out the hyperbole, but this book is greatness. These guys are economical wizards. It is a shame that mainstream books, such as "Freakonomics" get all the glory, while this gem sets on the shelves.

The pope was both a temporal and spiritual leader-obvious!.......2004-09-08

There is nothing new and/or novel in this "economic" analysis of the Medieval Catholic Church and the Popes who led it.Once the Church leaders accepted Constantine the First's gift of the Papal States(20%of the land area of modern Italy)around 370 A.D.,the Pope had a dual role to serve as both a spiritual and a temporal leader.This dual role is,to anyone except the Austrian-Libertarian-Anarchist economists who wrote this book,directly contradictory to one of the basic maxims of Christianity.This maxim is one of service and help to one's neighbor's in a communitarian setting without the expectation of some type of pecuniary return.The purpose of the church leader(Pope) was to lever the use of the church's resources and organizational structure to maximize the provision of both the spiritual and human resources needed by the community in order to help its members to live a life according to the Ten Commandments and the Two Great Commandments-Love GOD and love your neighbor.That the church leadership was gradually beginning to sink deeper and deeper into corrupt money making activities that was in no way aimed at fulfilling the above specified fundamental purpose and mission of the organized church was noticed by Francis of Assisi some 300 years before Luther.It is well known that the church authorities rejected the call of Francis for returning the Church to its original mission of service to the community.The wide selling of indulgences,noticed by Luther ,was just the latest Enron style method of a corrupt church bureaucracy setting pecuniary temporal goals above the spiritual and basic human needs of the community.This has been known for some 500 years.The five authors of this book merely substitute a model of a corrupt,Enron style corporate monopoly ,emphasizing microeconomic analysis,instead of the usual macroscopic analysis of a corrupt Papal state attempting to manipulate the spiritual needs of the citizens of Catholic Europe so as to rip them off financially.This book suffers from a number of other basic flaws as well. For example, the authors fail to recognize that the Church's usury laws were ,in fact, based on the church's Scholastic,Thomistic philosophy that differentiated between risk and uncertainty.The fact that the Middle Ages were periods of great uncertainty,as opposed to risk,explains the theoretical underpinnings of these laws.J.M.Keynes ,of course,had already reached this conclusion back in 1936.In summary,a reader of this book will reach conclusions already taught in Catholic grammer schools around the late 1950's in the United States.

silly book; interesting, but not serious.......2004-04-04

Although "Sacred Trust" is a fascinating idea, it is not carried through in a useful or meaningful way. Perhaps, it is an interesting example of how contemporary economic models might be used to investigate organizations with stated non-economic purposes, but it definitely does not come to any useful conclusions with regard to the Catholic Church in the medieval period.

The authors state, on page 6, that they intend to "model the Church as a corporation that marketed and 'sold' a set of indentifiable 'products' in a rational, cost-concious, 'profit'-maximizing manner. ...[on the theory that] it improves our understanding of many complex (and seemingly irrational) historical events."

In this model, the "product" sold is "salvation", which the authors define as a "credence good", which apparently is an economic term for a product which the buyer purchases without there being an objective confirmation of its value. The Church is a so-called "M-firm", which means that it is a franchising corporation, more or less.

All fine and good, although one might argue that there is considerable value to peace-of-mind, which purchasers might know they've received or not, and which, today, represents a considerable portion of our economy in the form of Psychoanalysis, and thus we can derive a cost-comparison. However, the silliness of the book is not revealed in this moment.

First of all, although the book defines the Church as an M-firm, it does not make a consistent discrimination between "downstream" franchise profits and "upstream" profits. Indeed, in one of the very few moments when the authors actually produce numbers, they assert that the income of the "Church" was 200,000 florins in the early 15th century, plus 100,000 from control of the alum monopoly.

This is nonsense. To begin with, if this were so, it would mean that the Church, as a whole, in possession of fully 1/3 the land of Europe, had an annual income equal to 1/5th that of the Venetian Republic, and 1/3rd of that for France and less than 1/2 of that for England for the same time-period. This strikes me as highly unlikely.

What, in all likelihood, is going on here is that the authors took note of the liquid-income stream to Rome itself per annum, which, of course, was quite a bit less than the annual receipts for the entire Church. For example, it was illegal in England in the 15th Century, for specie to be exported. Therefore, all funds collected by the Church in England would not be transferred to Rome except through bills of exchange and no merchant house would likely be able to meet all the Church revenues in England, nor, given the regulation, would they be likely to want to. Moreover, it does not include all those immoveable assets like buildings, land and the commodities one can derive from land that were accruing to the Church. Since these lands were not the property of the local ecclessiastical authorities--although the usufruct of them might temporarily be--but rather really that of the Papacy, it would seem that with some research, one might be able to come to an average income of the Papacy in order to make later economic deductions. The authors make no such attempt.

Beyond this, the authors make no attempt to determine the value of the Church brand, being so important to purveyors of credence goods, as opposed to their other income-producing efforts like the products of lands, court services such as contract disputes, broadcasting (in the medieval period with low literacy rates, the church was the most effective disseminator of information or disinformation), and banking.

The authors furthermore regard the Church as a monopoly organization, and speak to its conflicts with secular authorities in this vein. While it is absolutely true that the Church came into conflict with secular authorities, the authors decide to sidestep the two most important historical events in this regard: the investiture controversy and the establishment of the Hospitallers and Knights Templar. How they could decide to ignore the two most important examples of the conflict in their study, I have no idea.

An investigation into the investiture controversy, for example, might have helped the authors deal with the question of the Church's regulation of marriage. The authors state that the 6th century Church extended the prohibition of endogamy to "marriages between fifth cousins--at a time when secular law contained no prohibitions against marraige between first cousins." (p. 93) True, but then, in the 6th Century the Church was an arm of the State, and remained so well into the investiture controversy (and in certain instances arguably until well after it). The distinction implied, therefore, between secular and ecclesiastical, only really applied to those subjects or citizens who were not Catholic. Perhaps it served to benefit Church revenues, but absolutely not at the expense of the State, which the authors define as a competitor. Indeed, in all likelihood, the prohibition was imposed at the behest of the State.

There are too many examples of this type of unseriousness to mention here. I seriously doubt whether the authors submitted their manuscript for review by a serious scholar of the medieval period or, if they did, I imagine that they decided to publish without taking into consideration his observations. They explicitly state that the work is not exhaustive, but, if Henri Pirenne could put together a serious work about the economy of medieval Europe in under 200 pages, I imagine they could about the economy of the Catholic Church.

In short, should you have the time for a mildly entertaining short work which suggests a number of irreverant ways of looking at the Church's economy without providing convincing cases for any of them, this is the book for you. I wish that a serious economic historian, someone as astute as Carlo Cipolla for example, would take a look into the issues presented by Sacred Trust, because they are certainly worth serious investigation. The authors apparently did not feel it was worth the effort.

It does contain a fairly useful bibliography, on the other hand.

Ground-breaking and paradigm-shifting.......2003-01-22

Ekelund and his team of microeconomists have put together a convincing argument that the Catholic Church operated as an M-firm during the medieval period. Although the book comes in at just under two hundred pages, it contains several excellent examples of the Church making decisions and opperating in this capacity. Much recent economic scholarship has been aimed at using contemporary microeconomic models to analyze organizations that do not fit into the traditional boundaries of economics; Sacred Trust follows this trend, but takes it to a new level. Rather than look at modern institutions (e.g. the U.S. Army and the Soviet Union) Ekelund and his team have gone back over a millenium to examine an institution which most people (historians included) have virtually ceased to analyze. In doing this they have not only broken new academic ground, they have shifted one of the most rigid paradigms in academia. The authors state throughout Sacred Trust that their work is by no means comprehensive, but that they simply wanted to show what could be done with the latest economic models. Hopefully the work will be incouraging to other economists and historians, who can indeed take the work further. Sacred Trust is well worth your time and your money.

Note to historians: do not be discouraged -- it is possible to ignore the annoying MLA format.

An Excellent Exploration in Religion and Economics.......1998-03-24

A fantastic book that should not be missed by anyone interested in the study of religion or institutional economics. See also Anthony Gill's RENDERING UNTO CAESAR: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE STATE IN LATIN AMERICA, and Rod Stark's THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY.

Sacred Trust: The Medieval Church as an Economic Firm.: An article from: Journal of Church and State

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Sacred Trust: The Medieval Church as an Economic Firm.: An article from: Journal of Church and State
Davusm Derek H.
Manufacturer: J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Church and State, published by J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State on January 1, 1998. The length of the article is 637 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Sacred Trust: The Medieval Church as an Economic Firm.
Author: Davusm Derek H.
Publication: Journal of Church and State (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1998
Publisher: J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State
Volume: 40 Issue: n1 Page: 183-184

Article Type: Book Review

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The Sales Slump Doctor Is in: The First-Ever Scientifically Tested Method for Ending the Sales Slump
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One Of The Best Sales Improvements Books Ever!

Sales Slump Doctor

THE SALES SLUMP DOCTOR IS IN

The Sales Slump Doctor Is In

The Sales Slump Doctor Is in: The First-Ever Scientifically Tested Method for Ending the Sales Slump
Mickey M., Ph.D. Greenfield
Manufacturer: Lexington House Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Sales & Selling | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Techniques | Sales & Selling | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0910882037

Customer Reviews:

One Of The Best Sales Improvements Books Ever!.......2001-11-25

As a reviewer for the syndicated book review column, BEST-IN-BOOKS, I was glad to see somethng "new" and "different" appear in the crowed world of sales-help books. Dr. Greenfield's work is rather like a college course. THE SALES SLUMP DOCTOR is very serious, realistic, and useful for practical application. This is not an entertainment vehicle, not a "puff piece" to sell some sales-training service, and not "just another book on sales." Word of mouth will most likely eventually place this work on The New York Times top-ten best-seller list.

Jeff Miller, Reviewer
Best-In-Books

Sales Slump Doctor.......2001-05-10

In contrast to the many "Dare to be Great" books written for people in sales, Dr. Greenfield's book provides a practical handbook for assessing one's sales performance and how to make changes to improve your performance. I intend to make this book mandatory reading for my entire sales staff. I think that the techniques outlined in the book would be benefitial to everyone not just sales people frustrated by that slump. Thanks Dr. Greenfield, good job.

THE SALES SLUMP DOCTOR IS IN.......2001-04-28

THIS IS A WONDERFUL ROAD MAP FOR THE SALES PROFESSIONAL AND OTHERS DEALING WITH JOB AND PERSONAL RELATED SLUMPS. IT IS A CLEAR AND PRECISE IDENTIFICATION OF SALES CRISIS SYMPTOMS AND PLAINLY INTRODUCES SOLUTION SUGGESTIONS TO THESE "SLUMPS".

THE BOOK FOCUSES ON INAPPROPRIATE AND UNHEALTY REACTIONS TO SALES SLUMPS, AND PROVIDES INSIGHT TO GETTING OUT OF SLUMPS IN THE FIELD AND WORKPLACE. DR. GREENFIELD SHOWS HOW TO AVOID THE PITFALLS THAT CAN LEAD TO SLUMPS, HINDER PERFORMANCE, AND REDUCE SELF-CONFIDENCE.

THE BOOK IS STRAIGHT FORWARD FROM A GUY WHO HAS BEEN THERE AND DONE IT. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK NOT ONLY TO PEOPLE IN SALES BUT TO ANYONE WHO DEALS WITH INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS IN THEIR PROFESSIONAL LIVES. THE TOOLS SUGGESTED AND THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE BOOK CAN ONLY ENHANCE THE READER'S PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL LIFE, IF APPLIED.

I CAN'T WAIT FOR HIS NEXT WORK!

The Sales Slump Doctor Is In.......2001-04-28

This is a wonderful road map for the sales professional and others dealing with job and personal related slumps. It is a clear and precise identification of sales crisis symptoms, and clearly indentifies solutions to these "slumps".

The book is focused on the sales individual's unhealthy reactinary habits, and healthy ways of getting out of a sales slump. Dr. Greenfield shows how to avoid the pitfalls that can lead to slumps that can become hindering to job performance and self confidence.

The book is straight to the point from a guy who has been there and done that. I would recommend it to not only people in the sales profession but anyone who has to deal with internal and external customers in their professional lives. The tools presented in this book can only enhance the business and personal life of the reader who applies them to his or her life.

I can't wait for his next work!

Banking for People: Social Banking and New Poverty Consumer Debts and Unemployment in Europe-National Reports
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Banking for People: Social Banking and New Poverty Consumer Debts and Unemployment in Europe-National Reports

Manufacturer: Walter de Gruyter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Public Finance | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Banks & Banking | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Credit Ratings & Repair | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 3110126753

Consumers' credits and unemployment,
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Consumers' credits and unemployment,
J. E Meade
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, H. Milford
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Credit Ratings & Repair | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006DBDMA

Managing between jobs
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Managing between jobs
Linda Boelter
Manufacturer: University of Wisconsin--Extension
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Credit Ratings & Repair | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Unemployment | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006QMH6S

Talking with creditors (Families taking charge)
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Talking with creditors (Families taking charge)
Irene Leech
Manufacturer: Virginia Cooperative Extension, Extension Division, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Credit Ratings & Repair | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006OXAZC

Talking with your spouse (Families taking charge)
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Talking with your spouse (Families taking charge)
Michael J Sporakowski
Manufacturer: Virginia Cooperative Extension, Extension Division, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Credit Ratings & Repair | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006OXAZW

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