Will a one-child policy increase economic growth? Does globalization contribute to global warming? Are unequal societies less healthy than more egalitarian societies? 
To answer questions like these, social scientists turn to quantitative macro-comparative research (QMCR). Although many social scientists understand statistics conceptually, they struggle with the mathematical skills required to conduct QMCR. In Methods for Quantitative Macro-Comparative Research, author Salvatore J. Babones offers a means to bridge that gap, interpreting the advanced statistics used in QMCR in terms of verbal descriptions that any college graduate with a basic background in statistics can follow. He addresses both the philosophical foundations and day-to-day practice of QMCR in an effort to improve research outcomes and ensure policy relevance. 
A comprehensive guide to QMCR, the book presents an overview of the questions that can be answered using QMCR, details the steps of the research process, and concludes with important guidelines and best-practices for conducting QMCR. The book assumes that the reader has a sound grasp of the fundamentals of linear regression modeling, but no advanced mathematical knowledge is required in order for researchers and students to read, understand, and enjoy the book. A conversational discussion style supplemented by 75 tables and figures makes the book's methodological arguments accessible to both students and professionals. Extensive citations refer readers back to primary discussions in the literature, and a comprehensive index provides easy access to coverage of specific techniques.
“This should be required reading for World Bank, OECD and U.N. researchers and data collectors as well as applied and academic sociologists, economists, political scientists and others who conduct cross country comparisons using publicly available large datasets.
—Ernesto Castañeda, University of Texas at El Paso 
“I really don’t know how the author has managed it, but he covers complex material in an incredibly clear way…I think students who have a weaker background in statistics will learn a lot from the text and students with an advanced background in statistics will look at their analyses in a different way (from the point of planning analyses to actually interpreting results).”
—Lesley Williams Reid, Georgia State University

Methods for Quantitative Macro-Comparative Research

Politics & Social Sciences

Babones, Salvatore J.

Social Sciences

Sage Publications, Inc.

The Future of Development: A Radical Manifesto

In his 1949 inaugural address, President Harry S. Truman heralded the era of international development, a “worldwide effort for the achievement of peace, plenty, and freedom” that would aim to “greatly increase the industrial activity in other nations and. . . . raise substantially their standards of living.” At the time, more than half of the world’s population lived in areas defined as underdeveloped; today, that figure surprisingly remains the same. Arguing that such persistent stagnation resulted partly from poor comprehension of the terms “developed” and “underdeveloped,” this provocative book revises our understanding of these fraught concepts. Demystifying the statistics that international organizations use to measure development, the authors introduce the alternative concept of buen vivir: a state of living well. They contend that everyone on the planet can achieve this state, but only if we all begin living as communities rather than individuals and nurture our respective commons. With their unique take on a famously difficult issue, they offer new hope for the future of development—and of humankind.

Business & Money

Esteva, Gustavo

Babcicky, Philipp

Economics

Policy Press

The election of the next US president is upon us, and with established politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush poised to be key players, the campaigns seem destined to be as contentious, as ugly, and as seemingly removed from the reality of American lives as ever. In Sixteen for ’16, Salvatore Babones takes the politics out of policy, bringing the debate back to the issues that matter in a new, unified agenda for the 2016 elections. Decades of destructive social and economic policies have devastated poor, working, and middle-class American communities. It is now clear that harsh austerity does not bring prosperity, that the wealthy have no intention of seeing their wealth trickle down, and that each generation is no longer better off than the ones that came before. But what to do? In this progressive election field manual, Babones outlines sixteen core principles to combat these entrenched problems: America needs jobs, infrastructure, a rededication to public education, universal healthcare, higher taxes on higher incomes, a more secure Social Security, an end to the rule of the bankers, stronger unions, a living minimum wage, better working conditions, an end to the prison state, secure reproductive rights, voter equality, a more moral foreign policy, a more humane refugee policy, and action on global warming. A clear, concise manifesto supported by hard data, Sixteen for ’16 makes a compelling case for each of these ambitious positions. And as ambitious as Babones’s suggested policies are, they represent a beginning, not an end. The progressive movement is on the march in America, and this accessible book charts a realistic path toward a destination all can believe in: a better tomorrow.

Sixteen for '16: A Progressive Agenda for a Better America​

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