This book combines an introduction to speech-act theory as developed by J.L.Austin with a survey of critical essays that have adapted Austin's thought for literary analysis. Speech-act theory emphasizes the social reality created when speakers agree that their language is performative - Austin's term for utterances like: "we hereby declare" or "I promise", that produce rather than describe what they name. In contrast to formal linguistics, speech-act theory insists on language's active prominence in the organization of collective life.
The materials presented in Russian Translation: Theory and Practice provide a good overview of general techniques of translation, illustrated by appropriate examples and useful exercises. The book is well-structured and the notes for the tutors teaching the course are very useful.
Economic Growth: Theory and Numerical Solution Methods
This is a book on deterministic and stochastic Growth Theory and the computational methods needed to produce numerical solutions. Exogenous and endogenous growth models are thoroughly reviewed. Special attention is paid to the use of these models for fiscal and monetary policy analysis. Modern Business Cycle Theory, the New Keynesian Macroeconomics, the class of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium models, can be all considered as special cases of models of economic growth, and they can be analyzed by the theoretical and numerical procedures provided in the textbook.
Over the last thirty years, a new paradigm in banking theory has overturned economists' traditional vision of the banking sector. The asymmetric information model, extremely powerful in many areas of economic theory, has proven useful in banking theory both for explaining the role of banks in the economy and for pointing out structural weaknesses in the banking sector that may justify government intervention.
An update of a classic book in the field, Modern Portfolio Theory examines the characteristics and analysis of individual securities as well as the theory and practice of optimally combining securities into portfolios. It stresses the economic intuition behind the subject matter while presenting advanced concepts of investment analysis and portfolio management. Readers will also discover the strengths and weaknesses of modern portfolio theory as well as the latest breakthroughs.
