Continuing his groundbreaking analysis of economic structures, Douglass North develops an analytical framework for explaining the ways in which institutions and institutional change affect the performance of economies, both at a given time and over time. Institutions exist, he argues, due to the uncertainties involved in human interaction; they are the constraints devised to structure that interaction. Yet, institutions vary widely in their consequences for economic performance; some economies develop institutions that produce growth and development, while others develop institutions that produce stagnation. North first explores the nature of institutions and explains the role of transaction and production costs in their development. The second part of the book deals with institutional change. Institutions create the incentive structure in an economy, and organisations will be created to take advantage of the opportunities provided within a given institutional framework. North argues that the kinds of skills and knowledge fostered by the structure of an economy will shape the direction of change and gradually alter the institutional framework. He then explains how institutional development may lead to a path-dependent pattern of development. In the final part of the book, North explains the implications of this analysis for economic theory and economic history. He indicates how institutional analysis must be incorporated into neo-classical theory and explores the potential for the construction of a dynamic theory of long-term economic change.

PDF version of this book from the author's homepage: http://elsa.berkeley.edu/books/choice2.html

Substantially revised and updated for this new edition, this is the most comprehensive guide to the history and current practice of worldwide theatre available today: * Covers all major playwrights, works, traditions, theories, companies, venues and events * Details the origins of popular theatre tradition * Discusses the work of actors, directors and designers * Explains theatre architecture and design * Written by over 100 expert contributors * Illustrated throughout Providing information, assessment and entertainment, The Guide will prove an indispensable reference tool both for students of theatre, and the general theatregoer alike.

In this innovative book, Professor Robert Harper offers a fresh perspective on the fundamentals of programming languages through the use of type theory. Whereas most textbooks on this subject emphasize taxonomy, Harper instead emphasizes genetics, examining the building blocks from which all programming languages are constructed. The result is an introduction to programming theory that is both accessible and practical.

Cambridge IELTS 4 provides students with an excellent opportunity to familiarise themselves with IELTS and to practise examination techniques using authentic test material from Cambridge ESOL. An introduction to these different modules is included in each book, together with an explanation of the scoring system used by Cambridge ESOL. A comprehensive section of answers and tapescripts makes the material ideal for students working partly or entirely on their own. A self-study pack (Student's Book with answers and Audio CD) is also available.

《新东方 剑桥雅思官方真题集12：学术类》由以下内容构成：
●4套完整的学术类雅思全真试题
●各种题型的全面介绍以及剑桥大学考试委员会采用的评分系统解析
●习题答案和听力录音文本
●可供下载的听力录音材料

Provides students with an excellent opportunity to familiarise themselves with IELTS and to practise examination techniques using authentic test material prepared by Cambridge ESOL. Each collection contains 4 complete tests for Academic candidates, plus extra Reading and Writing modules for General Training candidates. An introduction to these different modules is included in each book, together with an explanation of the scoring system used by Cambridge ESOL. A comprehensive section of answers and tapescripts makes the material ideal for self-study.

An updated edition of the best-selling vocabulary practice book. Whether you're studying on your own or in class, English Vocabulary in Use Elementary covers all the words and phrases you need at this level to understand and be understood in English. This new edition is fully updated to make the book even more relevant and accessible. This 'with answers' edition of this best-selling vocabulary book is ideal for self-study. Also available with an interactive CD-ROM for extra practice of the vocabulary presented in the book.

This reference and practice book contains 70 attractive two-page units featuring approximately 1,000 phrasal verbs. English Phrasal Verbs in Use is a comprehensive reference and practice book suitable for students from good intermediate level onwards. Over 1000 of the most useful and frequent phrasal verbs are clearly explained and practised in typical contexts. The material is designed for self-study, as well as classroom use, and has a student-friendly answer key.

This book presents and practises over 1000 of the most useful and frequent idioms in typical contexts. This reference and practice book looks at the most colourful and fun area of vocabulary - idioms. This book will appeal to students from intermediate level upwards who want to understand the English really used by native speakers. Over 1,000 of the most useful and frequent idioms which learners are likely to encounter are presented and practised in typical contexts, so that learners using this book will have hundreds of idioms 'at their fingertips'.

The first in the family of best-selling vocabulary reference and practice books from elementary to advanced level. Vocabulary is clearly presented and contextualized on left-hand pages with practice activities on facing right-hand pages. This book is primarily designed as a self-study reference and practice text but it can also be used for classroom work. It is beautifully illustrated in full colour and contains 60 units. Vocabulary is presented in context and there are plenty of follow-up exercises. This edition is without answers.

Australia is the last continent to be settled by Europeans, but it also sustains a people and a culture tens of thousands of years old. For much of the past 200 years the newcomers have sought to replace the old with the new. This book tells ow they imposed themselves on the land, and describes how they brought technology, institutions and ideas to make it their own. It relates the advance from penal colony to a prosperous free nation and illustrates how, in a nation created by waves of newcomers, the search for binding traditions has long been frustrated by the feeling of rootlessness. Now, with the realisation that colonisation began with invasion, present-day Australians are - more than ever before - coming to terms with their past and recognising the need to redefine and reposition Australia in a changing world. This is the most up-to-date single-volume Australian history available.

Fate and Fortune in Rural China is a major contribution to the study of both the social and population history of late traditional China, and that of historical demography in general. Lee and Campbell demonstrate the interaction between demographic and other social pressures, and illustrate graphically the nature of social mobility and social organization in rural China during the century from 1774SH1873. Their conclusion--that social norms, rooted in ideology, determined demographic performance--is supported by a mass of hitherto inaccessible primary data.

Review
"This work is more of what we have come to expect from Cambridge: a rock-solid summary of scholarship in the field by distinguished senior historians." Bob Tadashi
"This volume will remain the standard reference in English for nineteenth century Japanese history for decades to come." Journal of Asian and African Studies
"...provide both the non-specialist and specialist with a coherent survey of major events of the nineteenth century....Volume 5 of the Cambridge History may be read both as a summation of existing English-language historiography on nineteenth-century Japan and as implicitly setting an agenda for the next stage of research." Kate Wildman Nakai, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
Product Description
This volume in The Cambridge History of Japan provides the most comprehensive account available in any Western language of Japan's transformation from a feudal society to a modern nation state. Volume 5 traces the roots and the course of political, social, and institutional change that took place in Japan from late Tokugawa times to the early twentieth century. The interrelated collection of authoritative and analytical essays by specialists in the history of nineteenth century Japan discuss the fissures in late feudal society, the impact of and response to the Western world, the overthrow of the shogunal government, and the revolutionary changes that were instituted as defensive measures to strengthen the country against what seemed a dangerous competition with the Western world.

Review
"...the book contains much valuable information..." Journal of Japanese Studies
"The editor is to be congratulated on having made available in English essays on a wide spectrum of important aspects of Japan's ancient past. Students of Japanese history and culture will find much to learn from these most informative essays, which represent the latest western and Japanese scholarship." Canadian Journal of History
"This is an important and useful contribution to the generalizing literature on early Japan...a solid, well-executed reference volume on Japanese history from earliest times to the late eighth century. Specialists in Japanese history or scholars of any field of study who focus on the ancient period will certainly want to add it to their shelves, but I warmly recommend it as a high-level introduction to the period for non-Japan specialists, as well." Karl F. Friday, JESHO
"In the final analysis, Ancient Japan has opened up the early history of the archipelago in unprecedented fashion, and we now have a stable base from which to launch further research. For that, the editor, the contributors, the translators, and the staff of the Cambridge University Press who worked to make this book plausible deserve our hearty thanks." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
Product Description
Japan's ancient age was a period of radical and political change during which a Chinese-style empire emerged. This volume of The Cambridge History of Japan spans the beginnings of human existence to the end of the eighth century, focusing on the thousand years between 300 B.C. and 784, the end of the fabulous Nara period. The volume explores this period in four stages: (1) The Yayoi period (to about 250 A.D.) when small kingdoms and kingdom federations accumulated enough power to dispatch diplomatic missions to Korea and China; (2) the Yamato period (to 587) when priestly rulers, having gained economic and military power, conquered most of Japan; (3) the Century of Reform (to 710) when Japanese leaders, pressed by China's expanding T'ang empire, set out to build a strong Chinese-style empire of their own; (4) the Nara period (to 784) when spectacular literary, artistic, architectural, and religious advances were made.

Few historical issues have occasioned such discussion since at least the time of Marx as the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Western Europe. The Brenner Debate, which reprints from Past and Present various article in 1976, is a scholarly presentation of a variety of points of view, covering a very wide range in time, place and type of approach. Weighty theoretical responses to Brenner's first formulation followed from the late Sir Michael Postan, John Hatcher, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie and Guy Bois; more particular contributions came from Patricia Croot, David Parker, Arnost Klima and Heide Wunder on England, France, Bohemia and Germany; and reflective pieces from R. H. Hilton and the late J. P. Cooper. Completing the volume, and giving it an overall coherence, are Brenner's own comprehensive response to those who had taken part in the debate, and also R. H. Hilton's introduction that aims to bring together the major themes in the collection of essays. The debate has already aroused widespread interest among historians and scholars in allied fields as well as among ordinary readers, and may reasonably be regarded as one of the most important historical debates of prevailing years.

In 1871 Japan sent a high-ranking delegation to the USA and Europe, to negotiate treaties and trading agreements and to investigate how it might modernise its political and economic institutions. Led by the Foreign Minister Prince Tomomi Iwakura, the 'embassy' of politicians, courtiers and officials travelled extensively around the USA for eight months, before spending a further year examining the British manufacturing industry, German armaments and French culture. The Iwakura Embassy helped change the course of Japanese history, for the official report of this journey, compiled by Prince Iwakura's personal secretary, the Confucian scholar Kunitake Kume, was to play a key role in Japan's transformation into a modern industrial nation. The report was translated into English in five large volumes in 2002. This carefully prepared abridgement makes it accessible to a wider range of scholars and students, and to all who are interested in the remarkable rise of modern Japan.

Until the late nineteenth century, the Chinese-Korean Tumen River border was one of the oldest, and perhaps most stable, state boundaries in the world. Spurred by severe food scarcity following a succession of natural disasters, from the 1860s, countless Korean refugees crossed the Tumen River border into Qing-China's Manchuria, triggering a decades-long territorial dispute between China, Korea, and Japan. This major new study of a multilateral and multiethnic frontier highlights the competing state- and nation-building projects in the fraught period that witnessed the Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and the First World War. The power-plays over land and people simultaneously promoted China's frontier-building endeavours, motivated Korea's nationalist imagination, and stimulated Japan's colonialist enterprise, setting East Asia on an intricate trajectory from the late-imperial to a situation that, Song argues, we call modern.

The concept of the case is a basic feature of social science research and yet many questions about how a case should be defined, selected, and judged are far from settled. The contributors to this volume probe the nature of the case and the ways in which different understandings of the concept affect the conduct and the results of research. The contributions demonstrate that the work of any given researcher is often characterised by some hybrid of these basic approaches, and it is important to understand that most research involves multiple definitions and uses of cases, as both specific empirical phenomena and as general theoretical categories.