Gambling On Development

In the last thirty years, the developing world has undergone tremendous changes. Overall, poverty has fallen, people live longer and healthier lives, and economies have been transformed. And yet many countries have simply missed the boat. Why have some countries prospered, while others have failed? Stefan Dercon argues that the answer lies not in a specific set of policies, but rather in a key development bargain, whereby a country's elites shift from protecting their own positions to gambling on a growth-based future. Despite the imperfections of such bargains, China is among the most striking recent success stories, along with Indonesia and more unlikely places, such as Bangladesh, Ghana and Ethiopia. Gambling on Development is about these winning efforts, in contrast to countries stuck in elite bargains leading nowhere. Building on three decades' experience across forty-odd countries, Dercon winds his narrative through Ebola in Sierra Leone, scandals in Malawi, beer factories in the DRC, mobile phone licences in Mozambique, and relief programs behind enemy lines in South Sudan. Weaving together conversations with prime ministers, civil servants and ordinary people, this is a probing look at how development has been achieved across the world, and how to assist such successes.

This book approaches the tourism and hospitality industry from a regional science perspective. By analyzing the spatial context of tourist travels, the hospitality sector, and the regional impacts of tourist activities, it demonstrates the value of the regional science paradigm for understanding the dynamics and effects of tourism and hospitality-related phenomena. Written by leading regional science scholars from various countries as well as professionals from organizations such as OECD and AirBnB, the contributions address topics such as migration, new types of accommodation, segmentation of tourism demand, and the potential use of tracking technologies in tourism research. The content is divided into five parts, the first of which analyzes spatial effects on the development of firms in the tourism industry, while the second approaches temporal and spatial variability in tourism through analytical regional science tools. The broader economic and social impacts of tourism are addressed in part three. Part four assesses specific tourism segments and tourist behaviors, while part five discusses environmental aspects and tourism destination policies. The book will appeal to scholars of regional and spatial science and tourism, as well as tourism specialists and policymakers interested in developing science and evidence-based tourism policies.

Many First Nations in Canada run casinos and other gambling enterprises, which have become a visible part of the Canadian landscape and foster economic development. Although early legislation was designed to control gambling, events in the US stimulated First Nations leaders to persevere and eventually capitalize on the gradual relaxation of the rules permitting lotteries, off-track betting, and the numerous forms of gambling that are legally available today. Yet, there are also future challenges First Nations gambling institutions face, especially the extent to which such institutions are an important engine for economic development of First Nations communities or if they are detrimental. Examining the role gambling and gaming played in pre-contact Aboriginal society, Belanger traces the history of First Nations gaming institutions nationally, and the political and legal battles fought provincially.

A comparitive history of gambling in Britain and the USA

As governments increasingly legalize and expand the availability of casinos, hoping to offset the impacts of manufacturing decline through the advancement of gambling commerce, this book examines what casinos do—and do not do—for host communities in terms of economic growth. Examining the case generally made by those seeking to establish casino developments—that they offer benefits for the "public good"—the author draws on a case study of Canada’s automotive capital (Windsor, Ontario), which was a pilot site for potential further casino development in the region. The author asks whether casinos do, in fact, offer good jobs, revenue generation, and economic diversification. A study of the benefits of casino developments that considers the question of whether they constitute a ready answer to the problems of industrial and economic decline, this volume will appeal to scholars of sociology and urban studies, with interests in the gambling industry, economic sociology, the sociology of work, and urban regeneration.

Casino gambling has spread throughout the world, and continues to spread. As governments try to cope with fiscal pressures, legalized casinos offer a possible source of additional tax revenue. But casino gambling is often controversial, as some people have moral objections to gambling. In addition, a small percentage of the population may become pathological gamblers who may create significant social costs. The Economics of Casino Gambling is a comprehensive discussion of the social and economic costs and benefits of legalized gambling. It is the first comprehensive discussion of these issues available on the market.

Examines the dramatic growth of legal gambling in the United States--and the shifting and often contentious politics accompanying its spread.

The cards are turned, the chips are raked. In casinos all over the country, Native Americans are making money and reclaiming power. But the games are by no means confined to the tables, as the Mashantucket Pequots can attest. Although Anglo-Americans have attempted to undermine Pequot sovereignty for centuries, these Native Americans have developed a strategy of survival in order to maintain their sense of peoplehood—a resiliency that has vexed outsiders, from English settlers to Donald Trump. The Pequots have found success at their southeastern Connecticut casino in spite of the odds. But in considering their story, Paul Pasquaretta shifts the focus from casinos to the political struggles that have marked the long history of indigenous-colonial relations. Viewing the survival of Native communities in the face of genocide and forced assimilation as a high-stakes game of chance, he examines gambling metaphors in historical and literary contexts to reveal strategies employed by several tribes as they participate in various "games" with white society--whether land re-acquisition, political positioning, or resistance to outside dominance. Through a comparative analysis of texts spanning four centuries—colonial war narratives, nineteenth-century romance fiction, tribal memorials, Native American novels—Pasquaretta provides a framework for understanding Indian-white relations and the role of "chance" in the realm of colonialism. He explores two intertwining themes: the survival of indigenous peoples in the face of the European invasion of North America and the ongoing contest of Natives and newcomers that has transpired in the marketplace, on the battlefield, and in the courts. In so doing, he considers the impact of reservation gambling on the development of contemporary tribal communities and the role of traditional Indian gambling practices and stories in the survival of indigenous cultural traditions. Gambling and Survival in Native North America is a wide-ranging book that shows how Native Americans have become active participants in their own survival despite the popular belief that Indian tribes, as "conquered peoples," have been rendered helpless for over a century. Working within a system devised to confine and even destroy them, they have found ways to remain in the game—and, against all odds, have learned to play it well.