Critics protest loudly against restrictions imposed by politicians during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: Mandatory masks, lockdowns, school and business closures. This paper examines (1) the extent to which these policies have indirectly contributed to limiting the number of COVID-19 cases...

Recent turbulence in the financial markets has highlighted the need for diversified portfolios with lower correlations between the different investments. Life settlements meet this need, offering investors the prospect of high, stable returns, uncorrelated with the broader financial markets....

Though it has often been passionately criticized--as fraudulent, exploitative, even pagan--the American funeral home has become nearly as inevitable as death itself, an institution firmly embedded in our culture. But how did the funeral home come to hold such a position? What is its history? And...

This study of the rise and decline of industrialization in the Bas-Languedoc region of France uses a 200-year time-frame to examine the process of how and why a successful industrial region manufacturing woollens transformed itself into an agricultural, wine-growing area

This book discusses sustainable housing issues in urban areas throughout the Global South, revealing their complexity in terms of urban dynamics, housing markets and human interactions with the environment. Its main focus is on the location of graves within private residences, cemeteries in the...

Calculations of quality adjusted life years (QALYs) in cost-utility analyses (CUA) are often based on health state valuations from members of the general public. Results from existing studies indicate that valuations generated by different respondent groups are not equivalent. Objectives: One...