Global Investing: The Professional's Guide to the World Capital Markets

Book Description

Global Investing is based on the authors' award-winning research on investment returns. It gives extensive treatment to the returns on all major asset categories--many found nowhere else--and relates these returns to risk, marketability, taxation, and information costs. Supplementing this wealth of information is sound financial advice on building and maintaining diversified portfolios, based on field-tested economic analysis and historical evidence of capital markets throughout the world--including the boom of 1986-1987 and the subsequent crash, as well as recent developments in Europe and on the Pacific Rim. To expand investment choices and help readers get the greatest return in investment markets, Global Investing pinpoints where money has been made in stocks, bonds, cash and cash equivalents, real estate, gold and silver, tangible assets, options, and futures. What's more, it covers the introduction of new financial instruments and opportunities, including asset allocation and derivative securities. Incisive, intelligent, and packed with charts, tables, and graphs, Global Investing helps investors and financial professionals track broad global trends, identify the risks associated with investments in various assets, and select the right investment opportunities.

Analysing and Interpreting the Yield Curve (Wiley Finance)

Average customer rating:

Excellent Synopsis for an Important and Much Ignored Topic
Excellent all-in coverage
Get this without a doubt!!
Finally, an excellent book about the Yield Curve
Mediocre

Analysing and Interpreting the Yield Curve (Wiley Finance)
Moorad Choudhry
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Treasury Bond Basis (Mcgraw-Hill Library of Investment and Finance)
The Eurodollar Futures and Options Handbook (Irwin Library of Investment & Finance.)
Bond and Money Markets: Strategy, Trading, Analysis
Fixed Income Strategy: A Practitioner's Guide to Riding the Curve (The Wiley Finance Series)
Swaps and Other Derivatives (With CD-ROM) (The Wiley Finance Series)

ASIN: 0470821256

Book Description

The yield curve is the defining indicator of the global debt capital markets, and an understanding of it is vital to the smooth running of the economy as a whole. All participants in the market, be they issuers of capital, investors or banking intermediaries, will have a need to estimate, interpret and understand the yield curve. Fund managers that accurately predict the shape and direction of the curve will consistently outperform those that do not.

This groundbreaking new book offers:

An intuitive account of a very important technical subject, cutting through the mathematics to reveal key concepts
Market approaches to enable fund managers to evaluate the current and expected shape of the yield curve
An opportunity for market professionals to have an understanding of the latest analytical techniques.

Written by an experienced market practitioner, this book is a clear and accessible account of an important financial topic.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Synopsis for an Important and Much Ignored Topic.......2007-01-06

If you ever tried to research yield curves, then you will most likely find yourself reading a paragraph or a chapter in at least two books and / or articles. The author's capacity to summarize different bits of information to allow the reader to digest more efficiently this specfic topic is impressive. The book is primarily for an intremediate or expert fixed income person, but he does a good job in the beginning chapters to teach entry level fixed income people. The fixed income universe is divergent in products from bonds, derivative contracts and structured vehicles and it is people like Moorad Choudhry and his talent to amalgamate subject matter that any financial market person should read. All readers will ascertain a top down view of yield curves and if they need to go down to a granular level (i.e. find another book or article), then Choudhry has prepared the reader not to be lost between two trees in a forest.

Excellent all-in coverage.......2006-01-11

This book brings together all related points and saves the practitioner from having to buy 2 or 3 books. It covers bond yield, yield curve estimation and modelling, and then brings it all together in a chapter on relative value trading and yield curve spread trading. An excellent, well-written book that I think all government bond and Eurobond traders and portfolio managers will want to check out.

Get this without a doubt!!.......2006-01-11

It is so rare to find an author whose work is aimed at the rank and file of the finance world. Choudhry has excelled himself once again and clearly knows his work. His writing style is quite the most concise yet detailed and also quite convivial. i am quite sure he is an extremely successful person both personally and professionally.

Finally, an excellent book about the Yield Curve.......2004-04-21

There have been so many books about the yield curve, and all of them so mediocre. It is good to finally have one that describes and analyses the curve for everyone - money managers, bankers, investment analysts. Written in the author's trademark accessible style, this book is like nothing out there, highly recommended.

Mediocre.......2004-04-03

There have been so many good books written about the yield curve that it is hard to imagine why this one was written. It is actually very similar, if not remarkably the same, to a couple of other books previously published. If you have the better written books on this subject, there is no need to buy this. If you don't have them, buy them instead.

Climate Trading: Development of Greenhouse Gas Markets (Finance and Capital Markets)

Average customer rating:

Climate Trading: Development of Greenhouse Gas Markets (Finance and Capital Markets)
Debbie Stowell
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

A Guide to Emissions Trading
Voluntary Carbon Markets: An International Business Guide to What They Are and How They Work (Environmental Markets Insight Series)
Emissions Trading: Principles and Practice (RFF Press)
The Finance of Climate Change: A Guide for Governments, Corporations and Investors
Carbon Finance: The Financial Implications of Climate Change (Wiley Finance)

ASIN: 1403916160
Release Date: 2005-02-10

Book Description

Climate Trading covers issues related to greenhouse gas emissions trading markets, including the events that lead up to the adoption of the Kyoto protocol, the development of the market-based mechanisms under the Protocol, and the emerging domestic and international emissions trading and carbon credits markets. The book provides a comprehensive and detailed overview of the complex and evolving issues surrounding these markets. As governments begin the process of implementation of domestic regulation in order to meet international requirements, it will be crucial for capital markets practitioners to understand the implications and options associated with emissions trading.

The Markets Never Sleep: Global Insights for More Consistent Trading (Wiley Trading)

Average customer rating:

Excellent book
He has done it again!

The Markets Never Sleep: Global Insights for More Consistent Trading (Wiley Trading)
Thomas L. Busby , and Patsy Busby Dow
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Winning the Day Trading Game: Lessons and Techniques from a Lifetime of Trading (Wiley Trading)
Way of the Turtle: The Secret Methods that Turned Ordinary People into Legendary Traders
Enhancing Trader Performance: Proven Strategies From the Cutting Edge of Trading Psychology (Wiley Trading)
Trade With Passion and Purpose: Spiritual, Psychological and Philosophical Keys to Becoming a Top Trader (Wiley Trading)
Markets in Profile: Profiting from the Auction Process (Wiley Trading)

ASIN: 0470049464

Book Description

Praise for The Markets Never Sleep

"An excellent primer for futures and the global financial market, a clear voice of their importance for all traders. Tom also gives an easy-to-understand professional approach to discipline, money management, and the 'numbers' to watch that indicate market direction. Help for all traders to earn bigger, more consistent profits."
--Ned W. Bennett, CEO, optionsXpress, Inc.

"Well . . . they've done it again! Tom and Patsy have written another insightful and entertaining book on understanding and trading the world's markets. The Markets Never Sleep shows how to analyze all the global markets and use timing and money management to control losses and reap significant rewards without using up all of one's emotional energy. In other words, everything needed to make trading fun and profitable!"
--Russ Mothershed, former corporate executive and current DTI student

"Trading follows the sun, as Busby points out, and with a click of one's mouse, traders today have the full advantage of global trading. Busby makes a compelling case for opportunistic trading. In an easy-to-follow outline, he shares trading strategies to ensure a high probability of profit. The Markets Never Sleep is a must-read for traders and investors who seek insight navigating the global markets."
--Chuck Dukas, President, TRENDadvisor.com

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book.......2007-06-13

Few books give insight into the global markets like Tom has done in this book. Our society is constantly becoming more global, and understanding the global market is a key to being a successful investor. I will definitely recommend it to other people.

He has done it again!.......2007-06-08

I have read quite a few global investing books and few have come close to being as insightful as The Markets Never Sleep. This book, just like his last one, offers an education that can only come from a lifetime of making a living from the markets.

Average customer rating:

classic book
The most thorough exposition of Marxist political economy in print
A great book to get started on understanding Marx's Captial

The Limits to Capital, New Edition
David Harvey
Manufacturer: Verso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Spaces of Global Capitalism: A Theory of Uneven Geographical Development
A Brief History of Neoliberalism
The New Imperialism (Clarendon Lectures in Geography and Environmental Studies)
The Economics of Global Turbulence
Planet of Slums

ASIN: 1844670953

Book Description

Widely praised as an exciting, insightful exposition and development of Marx's critique of political economy, Harvey updates his classic text with a discussion of the turmoil in world markets today.

Customer Reviews:

classic book.......2007-06-08

In my opinion, Limits to Capital is the best path to Marx's political economy, and in a sense it's an update of Capital. Harvey explains Marx, and introduces some new concepts such as 'spatial fix', 'socially necessary turnover time of capital' etc. Together with Mandel's Late Capitalism, Limits to Capital is the most significant contribution to Marx by a contemporary writer. (The radical geography journal Antipode had a special issue for the 20th year of Limits to Capital.)

However, Harvey revisioned some of his thought later, with 'The New Imperialism'. He introduced the notion of 'accumulation by dispossession', I don't know why, limiting the 'reproduction on an enlarged scale', and thereby limiting the validity of class conflict. This imperialism issue blurs all the contemporary accounts of capital accumulation. He is now an Arendtian. Good luck with that, but we miss the Harvey of Limits to Capital.

The most thorough exposition of Marxist political economy in print.......2006-07-23

David Harvey is actually a geographer, but from reading this book, one would think him one of the great political economists. Based on this work alone, he should be in the popular range of Stiglitz, Schumpeter, Milton Friedman etc., but it is not likely that such 'honor' will ever befall a Marxist theorist. Nevertheless everyone interested in Marxist economics, for whatever reasons, simply must read this book.

Harvey's discussion of capitalism from a Marxist perspective is extraordinary clear, sharp and thorough. So much in fact that it is probably the most consistently in-depth exposition of capitalism from every aspect since "Capital" itself. This also makes it hard to review it, since one hardly knows where to begin.

Fortunately for political economy newbies (and this book is definitely the best kind of "introductory overview" you could give to an intellectual person), Harvey starts at the same point "Capital" starts, then works his way through. First he gives a clear exposition of the general framework of Marxist theory: the law of value, the differences between value, use value and exchange value, the mode of production etc. All this is done quite well, though there are of course many many such general descriptions available in print. Harvey does seem to skip over the "transformation problem" somewhat, which may annoy those who consider it a major hurdle. Harvey, in my view with good reason, does not.

The next two chapters discuss production, distribution, surplus value and its realization and the relation to supply and demand. Particularly useful here are his explanations of the importance of the concept of value composition of capital, and the reduction of skilled to simple labour, where he addresses one of Von Böhm-Bawerk's better critiques of Marxism.

The next part of the book is perhaps the core of the book. Here, Harvey delves into the organization of capital, the various forms which it can take and how these interrelate, and the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. He shows how the various manifestations of capital can interfere with each other's functioning and how this creates the tendency towards crises. He then posits the problem of overaccumulation (rather than underdevelopment) as the first 'layer' or 'cut' of crisis theory.

After the reader has grasped all this, the second crucial part of the book follows in a rapid manner, introducing first the problematic of fixed capital and its relation to the law of value, and then the role of credit in capitalism. The first is not very satisfactorily resolved and is in my view probably the weakest part of his theory. Alan Freeman has since given a quite different solution to the same issue, but that does not seem to really solve the problem either. Perhaps this is one of the things Marxist political economy has yet to fully solve.

Harvey's demonstration of the role of credit is however masterful and extremely enlightening for the many who are confused by the vast array of forms in which credit appears in modern society. His emphasis on the importance of understanding the so-called "fictitious capital", that is advanced capital not yet backed by actual value through production, allows him to show the second major appearance of crises in capitalism as well as explaining the theory of rent in Marxism, which forms the subject of the chapter thereafter. He corrects Marx' somewhat excessively anti-distributive theory of rent and explains the role of agricultural technology. Harvey is in many parts of this chapter rather confusing in his terminology, but a careful reader can certainly grasp the issue.

At the end of the book Harvey can finally follow up on his own area of expertise. By explaining the role of spatial and temporal relations in the flow of capital and the necessity of 'exporting' the internal contradictions of capitalist social relations, he is able to form a theory of imperialism that is largely in accordance with that of Lenin, but without the theory of underdevelopment. It also puts a good perspective on Marx & Engels' many journalistic articles about India and colonialism. Finally he combines this with the earlier two aspects to form the third 'cut' of capitalist crisis theory, which takes every aspect of capitalism in its modern appearance into account.

On the whole, Harvey has done an unparallelled and magisterial work in creating an exposition of capitalism that is at once as in-depth as "Capital" and much clearer (and shorter!) than that, although of course without Marx no such thing could ever have been made.
There are a few things nevertheless not covered (fully) in the book. Harvey pays surprisingly little attention to urban geography and (sub)urbanization as a factor in capitalism. Furthermore his theory of the state is a hodgepodge of different roles, which he never unites into one whole. Finally, people experienced in handling Marxist theory might have problems with Harvey's generally structuralist approach, which leaves relatively very little room for the autonomous significance of class struggle. Harvey mostly relegates that to the fields of production processes and labour mobility. Because of this, Lebowitz' "Beyond Capital" should probably be read alongside it as a complementary contribution, analyzing the same from the side of wage-labour.

A great book to get started on understanding Marx's Captial.......2000-08-24

I was attracted to this work becaues i'm interested in Marx and have read another of Harvey's books "The Condition of Postmodernity." Harvey is an erudite scholar who's formal education is in georgraphy, but his research has produced accessable and powerful studies beyond his origins. "Limits to Captial" is a complete and balanced account of Marx's economic work centering upon his major text "Das Kaptial." Harvey has does a intense study of Marx and Marxist scholarship (Lenin, Rose Luxingberg, and others) to produce a systematic and dialetical account of Marx's critique of Captialism. Even though harevy pays attention to the importance of Hegelian dialetics this book is accessable to to readers who do not have strong philosophic of economic backgrounds. If your are interested in Marx and/or captialism this is an excelent inroad to begin your studies. A detaled biblography of cited sources is a gem for continuted research. His book on postmodernity is also excelent.

Average customer rating:

Outsourcing, in a broader context

Global Networks, Linked Cities

Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo.
Cities in a World Economy (Sociology for a New Century Series)
Global City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy
Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages
Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions

ASIN: 0415931622

Amazon.com

Reimagining cities as nodes of an immense network of commercial and political transactions, sociologist Saskia Sassen has transformed Information Age geography. Global Networks, Linked Cities collects research, theory, and case studies examining cities in this context by Sassen and 19 other social scientists, focusing particularly on the recent explosive growth in areas formerly--now inaccurately--called the Third World.

The jargon in Global Networks, Linked Cities can be fairly dense and the style arid, but the essays reward patient readers with insight into the interlinked worlds of finance, geography, communications, and geopolitics. Most of the pieces look closely at individual urban regions: Shanghai, Buenos Aires, and, interestingly, Beirut. All have much to tell us about the organic urban development coevolving with globalized commerce and communications, says editor Sassen. As barriers to free information flow erode, we see mergers between political, business, and academic entities.Global Networks, Linked Cities shows us how this is happening and how to think about what's coming next. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

In her pioneering book The Global City, Saskia Sassen argued that certain cities in the postindustrial world have become central nodes in the new service economy, strategic sites for the acceleration of capital and information flows as well as spaces of increasing socio-economic polarization. One effect has been that such cities have gained in importance and power relative to nation-states.
In this new collection of essays, Sassen and a distinguished group of contributors expand on the author's earlier work in a number of important ways, focusing on two key issues. First, they look at how information flows have bound global cities together in networks, creating a global city web whose constituent cities become "global" through the networks they participate in. Second, they investigate emerging global cities in the developing world-Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Beirut, the Dubai-Iran corridor, and Buenos Aires. They show how these globalizing zones are not only replicating many features of the top tier of global cities, but are also generating new socio-economic patterns as well. These new patterns of development promise to lead to significant changes in the structure of the global economy, as more and more cities worldwide are integrated into globalization's circuitry.
Includes contributions from:Linda Garcia, Patrice Riemens, Geert Lovink, Peter Taylor, David Smith, Michael Timberlake, Stephen Graham, Sueli Schiffer Ramos, Christoff Parnreiter, Felicity Gu, David Meyer, Pablo Ciccolella, Iliana Mignaqui, Eric Huybrechts, Ali Parsa

Customer Reviews:

Outsourcing, in a broader context.......2004-05-10

With the ever decreasing fall in the cost of communication, both digital and analog, this book speculates that a new global phenomenon may be emerging. A few years ago, during the height of the dot com boom, others suggested that the Web might give rise to the disaggregation of cities or cultural hubs, because cheap communications might let creative individuals work from virtually anywhere with a fast bandwidth connection to the Internet.

But as many major cities in developing countries achieve this thick connection, another possibility emerges, as suggested by this book. It is now possible for some of these cities to parlay this connection and a well educated workforce into a globally prominent role. In part by assuming some of the functionality hitherto almost exclusively taken by first world cities. Think for example on how Silicon Valley is outsourcing some of its work to Mumbai or Bangalore.

The book's suggestions of future global cities is intriguing. Though when they suggest this of Hong Kong, one might argue that it is already a global city by any reasonable measure of how plugged in it is into the global economy.

MiFID: Convergence towards a unified European capital markets industry
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MiFID - Many issues For Industry Diehards

MiFID: Convergence towards a unified European capital markets industry
Jean-Rene Giraud , and Catherine D'Hondt
Manufacturer: Risk Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Future of Investing in Europe's Markets after MiFID (The Wiley Finance Series)

Achieving Market Integration: Best Execution, Fragmentation and the Free Flow of Capital (Securities Institute Global Capital Markets)

Equity Markets in Action: The Fundamentals of Liquidity, Market Structure & Trading + CD

The Equity Trader Course (Wiley Trading)

ASIN: 1904339417

Product Description

With many organisations mis-understanding the implications of MiFID on the capital markets industry as a whole and more specifically on their own firm, developing a better understanding of this significant piece of regulation has become vitally important.

Focusing on the three major elements embedded into the directive you will gain important insights into how the key aspects of this compulsory regulatory change affect you, these are:

* Multilateral trading facilities,
* Internalisation, and
* Best execution.

Providing you with a single source of information on the newly issued regulation, this book includes its practicalities and a review of the potential impact on the industry. You will be given a practical understanding of the directives impact on investment firms and develop a vision of the broader changes the directive will generate amongst industry players.

Bringing together the viewpoints of both academics and practitioners, possible ways forward are suggested and your understanding of how the industry will evolve over time will be increased. You are provided an exclusive insight into the tools and techniques that you can use to support these new regulatory requirements.

This invaluable reference and guide will serve as essential reading material for you and should be recommended reading for investment firms representing the entire capital markets value chain, from exchanges and new alternative trading systems, intermediaries, money managers and end investors

Customer Reviews:

MiFID - Many issues For Industry Diehards.......2006-11-07

This book looks at MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive), a regulatory directive issued by the EU (European Union) in April 2004. Originating from the Internal Markets and Services Directorate-General headed by Charlie McCreevy, this legislation is the latest in a series of initiatives to reform the financial markets within the EU.
This timely publication arrives with exactly a year before the November 2007 deadline for implementation of the directive, and on the twentieth anniversary of Big Bang in the City of London.
The authors provide a good introduction to the creation of European Union regulation and the drive to better integrate European capital markets. This allows the reader to place MiFID in context and provides insight into the political drivers behind the directive.
An analysis of the characteristics of market structures allows a comparison between Europe and the US before addressing the impact of technology. The execution of financial instrument trades is then examined, followed by an assessment of the impact of MiFID on market structures.
The Best Execution obligation, possibly the most contentious element of MiFID, is then reviewed followed by the topic of Transaction Cost Analysis, at both a fundamental and advanced level.

The book is clearly and concisely written, and the tables and diagrams give additional insight into an area that is both complex and complicated.

An excellent introduction to MiFID for those not familiar with the Directive, and even experienced readers will find much of value in this book.

Project Financing and the International Financial Markets

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Project Financing and the International Financial Markets
Esteban C. Buljevich , and Yoon S. Park
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792385241

Book Description

Since the 1970s, the practice of financing major private and public sector capital-intensive projects has shifted to an ever-greater reliance on private funding sources, as opposed to direct financing through the issuance of corporate or government bonds. In the 1990s, these financing practices have undergone further changes with the increasing globalization of capital markets, the growth of derivative instruments, and the rapid increase in information technology that enhances cash-management practices. Today's project financing market is increasingly using sophisticated capital market, bank and agency financing mechanisms as well as using derivative instruments for asset and liability management. Thus, financial market innovations are bringing the once separate fields of project financing and international finance more closely together. This is the first book to treat both topics as an interrelated whole, for contemporary project financing cannot be fully understood without a good working knowledge of the international financial markets that have developed the various financing techniques and funding sources being used. The book provides an in-depth description of cross-border project financing as a technique for financing capital-intensive projects, as well as an overview of certain financing and derivative instruments currently available in the global financial markets.
The first part of the book provides an overview of certain funding and derivative instruments currently used in the international financial markets, including a general overview of financial innovations that have occurred in recent decades. Topics covered include an introduction to the syndicated Euro-credit market; an overview of various marketable debt securities actively used in the international financial markets; an introduction to depositary receipt as an innovative way of raising cross-border equity capital; an elaboration of the derivative instruments most commonly used in the project financing arena, including interest rate, currency and commodity swaps; and finally an overview of banks' off-balance sheet activities as a critical driving force for the participation of banks in the international financial and derivative markets.
The second part of the book provides an in-depth analysis of project financing that concentrates on the financier's perspective. Topics covered include a general overview of the project financing industry; a step-by-step description of a typical cross-border project finance transaction; a description of the main characteristics and advantages of project financing as opposed to more traditional corporate lending practices; an overview of appraisal techniques for assessing project financing; a comprehensive analysis of the different risk management techniques used in project financing for reducing, distributing and hedging risks; and a brief overview of certain limited-resource financing schemes. The book includes a special focus on the various stages of the risk management process for project financing, elaborating on the different stages of risk identification, risk assessment, risk reduction, risk distribution and hedging and insurance. The authors also provide a comprehensive glossary of terms relating to international finance and project financing. This book will fulfill the need for an essential text on project financing as well as a professional reference guide.

The New Finance: The Case Against Efficient Markets (2nd Edition)

Average customer rating:

Obvious and yet not
Read Without Prejudice
Poorly Written and Thoughtless
The Emperor has no clothes!!!
Great book that really makes you think about finance !

The New Finance: The Case Against Efficient Markets (2nd Edition)
Robert A. Haugen
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Contrarian Investment Strategies in the Next Generation
Global Investing: The Professional's Guide to the World Capital Markets
The Inefficient Stock Market
Beast on Wall Street
You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits

ASIN: 0130102288

Book Description

The Second Edition makes the case for the inefficient market, positioning the efficient market paradigm at the extreme end of a spectrum of possible states. It presents a comprehensive and organized collection of the evidence and the arguments which constitute a strong and persuasive case for over-reactive markets. Updates the expected 30-year future returns to growth and value stocks. Adds a much more comprehensive study of the international evidence on the relative returns to growth and value stocks. Includes a critique of the FAMA—the French three-factor model. Presents new evidence exploring how expensive stocks tend to have rapid trailing earnings growth but not rapid future growth. Offers new evidence demonstrating the nature of subsequent earnings revisions for cheap and expensive stocks. An excellent book for professionals in the financial market field.

Customer Reviews:

Obvious and yet not.......2007-06-15

It is nice to have someone spell out exactly why the market can be inefficient. In this regard, Robert Haugen makes a valient and concise attempt to tackle the subject. A quick and easy read that will help articulate that which is intuitive.

Read Without Prejudice.......2005-02-19

This book is controversial.
It defends the opposite of what almost all mainstream financial academics belive : Markets are inneficient and somehow forecastable by a money manager with proper analysis tools. Thats exactly why this book is important for a serious finance thinker. It forces one to rethink key assumptions - yes, Haugen's arguments, reasoning and numbers are convincing - for a better understanding.
An open minded reader with adequate finance knowledge (beginners wont benefit much) will truly benefit from this challenging book, be it changing his mind/view on finance (accepting some of haugen's ideas), or simply reassuring his own previous belifs/approach.

Poorly Written and Thoughtless.......2000-03-29

"The New Finance" has basically everything going against it.

First, Haugen's writing style is annoying and childish. An engaging use of humor and metaphor are apparently beyond his skill.

Second, Haugen's story is unconvincing. The case against the efficient market hypothesis has been made much more rigorously and interestingly by other authors (e.g. Andrei Shleifer, Hersh Shefrin, and Richard Thaler, among others). Haugen in some case makes mountains out of statistical molehills and misses vital information in others. In short, Haugen is neither convincing nor complete in his critique. The field of economics covered here has a name, by the way, which Haugen never once cites: behavioral finance.

Third, in many cases Haugen is just plain wrong in his assertions. The cases are too numerous to count, but I'll give two examples from page 12. First, Haugen asserts that if no one uses the CAPM to construct their portfolios then markets cannot be efficient. This is not true. The efficient market hypothesis can hold, as Milton Friedman pointed out, if people act AS IF they use the CAPM, even if they don't really use it. Second, of evidence that markets generally react to new information quickly and without bias, Haugen says "Not true." Which is overstating the case, if not outright misrepresenting it. While there is some evidence of investor overreaction and/or underreaction, the case is far from closed. Moreover, anecdotal evidence of occasional over- and under-reaction does not prove the efficient market hypothesis to be a "Fantasy," as Haugen claims.

Fourth, and this point is somewhat related to the third, Haugen is far too full of himself. Assertions of his own intellectual superiority cloud his arguments and reasoning. This can be dangerous when dueling with men like Eugene Fama, Harry Markowitz, Bill Sharpe, and Milton Friedman. More importantly, it leaves Haugen apparently very comfortable making blanket, absolute statements about financial economics that no self-respecting, respected, or respectful economist has any business making. And I say that not only because Haugen is very frequently wrong. It also isn't very becoming. And since the material in this book is reviewed in far superior books, there is little reason to pay much attention to Haugen and his rantings.

The Emperor has no clothes!!!.......1999-09-25

Only a courageous professor willing to really find truth would write this insightful book. The fact that he also has a great sense of humor is to be greatly commended. This man deserves a Nobel Prize. It APPEARS THAT HE WILL BE ABLE TO FUND IIT!

Great book that really makes you think about finance !.......1999-09-02

The author's humor is not always funny and is mostly used to fill up the pages, but the contents are interesting and enlightening. It gave me courage to continue what I was already doing in the stock market, buying "losers". A must read for everybody interested in investing or finance !!

Financial Statecraft: The Role of Financial Markets in American Foreign Policy

Average customer rating:

TERRIBLE
Too little on actual financial statecraft
Capital Markets Sanctions: A Very Stupid Idea Whose Time Has Come

Financial Statecraft: The Role of Financial Markets in American Foreign Policy
Benn Steil , and Robert E. Litan
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 030010975X

Book Description

As trade flows expanded and trade agreements proliferated after World War II, governments—most notably the United States—came increasingly to use their power over imports and exports to influence the behavior of other countries. But trade is not the only way in which nations interact economically. Over the past two decades, another form of economic exchange has risen to a level of vastly greater significance and political concern: the purchase and sale of financial assets across borders. Nearly $2 trillion worth of currency now moves cross-border every day, roughly 90 percent of which is accounted for by financial flows unrelated to trade in goods and services—a stunning inversion of the figures in 1970. The time is ripe to ask fundamental questions about what Benn Steil and Robert Litan have coined as “financial statecraft,” or those aspects of economic statecraft directed at influencing international capital flows. How precisely has the American government practiced financial statecraft? How effective have these efforts been? And how can they be made more effective? The authors provide penetrating and incisive answers in this timely and stimulating book.

Customer Reviews:

TERRIBLE.......2007-01-21

Very naive - these guys need to work harder before publising. Some terrible naive comments - reads like a bad essay at university and perhaps even high school. waste of money... Terrible stuff a shame that anyone published this.

Too little on actual financial statecraft.......2006-05-07

I must respectfully disagree with the esteemed reviewers of this book listed above. I expected so much more from a book with such a fine pedigree (Brookings and the US Council on Foreign Relations).

The topic of how states use financial instruments towards their foreign policy goals is an area which certainly requires more understanding. As such, I expected this book to be an in-depth study of the various ways states have used such tools, and how the authors expect such tools to be used in the future. I thus expected analyses of topics such as how states respond to currency crises of allies and enemies and how states use counterfeiting of enemies' currencies as foreign policy (i.e. as Iran is alleged to do with the US dollar). I also expected a study of how states manipulate access to important currencies (as when the US cut Panama off from receiving dollars as part of an effort to topple Noreiga) and how they have sought to manipulate the foreign financial press (as is alleged to have happened during the classical Gold Standard era).

Some of these topics did receive mention. The issue of how the US should respond to allies' crises received good coverage, especially regarding South Korea. There was also one paragraph acknowledging that countries have counterfeited others' currencies, and a brief discussion of petro-dollar recycling. Moreover, I found the chapter on how interest groups have attempted to restrict access to US capital markets to further other goals very illuminating, and there was a nice summary of anti-terrorism finance legislation. Overall, I found the first half of the book very enlightening.

Unfortunately, the other half of the book dealt predominantly with the authors' assertions that dollarization should be the way forward for developing countries to prevent currency crises, and in particular, that the US should encourage this and absorb some of the costs. The issues of whether countries should use floating, dirty float, pegged or dollarized exchange rates is an important one. However, I did not pick up this book to read about the authors' assertions about dollarization--I picked it up to read about financial statecraft.

Financial statecraft will only grow in importance, and as the authors note, it is critical that policymakers understand how it functions and what tools are at their disposal. This book only discusses financial statecraft primarily in its first 80 pages (and scattered in some places in the latter part of the book as well). I feel eighty pages was just too little to adequately examine financial statecraft. Instead, the reader is unfortunately left with a quick gloss-over of only a few aspects of such an important and under-analyzed topic.

Capital Markets Sanctions: A Very Stupid Idea Whose Time Has Come.......2006-03-09

Steil and Litan define economic statecraft as applying economic means to influence other actors in the international system, and financial statecraft as those aspects of economic statecraft that are directed at influencing capital flows. They cover a wide range of issues, starting from the recycling of petrodollars in the 1970s to the fight against the financing of terrorism after 9/11, with special highlights on financial sanctions against non-state actors and on the foreign policy dimension on financial crises.

Capital market sanctions, the idea of restricting access to the US capital markets in the service of foreign policy aims, are increasingly popular in some quarters, reflecting the growing importance of capital transactions over trade flows. The authors demonstrate that it is also an incredibly stupid idea: money is fungible, and the capital that is not raised in New York can be easily raised elsewhere at the same cost. Even if all major stock markets cooperated to bar access to targeted companies that operate in certain rogue states or participate in arms dealings, the small rise in the cost of capital that these firms would incur would be vastly offset by the gains accrued from these operations.
The authors raise the example of PetroChina, which Congress tried to ban from listing on the New York Stock Exchange because of its involvement in the Sudanese energy sector. The public campaign against the Chinese company assembled a motley crew of activists, ranging from organizations associated with the Christian Right to the AFL-CIO and human rights advocates. In the end, the IPO was scaled down and the campaigners claimed victory, as the AFL-CIO convinced some pension funds not to invest in the Chinese company.

Meanwhile, the share price of PetroChina quadrupled in four years, and Sudan now exports 85% of its oil to China. Interestingly, the main foreign investor in the company is the US mogul Warren Buffet, known for his investment acumen and who acquired 14% of the company through the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where most of its shares are listed. The idea that foreign firms can raise capital only on Wall Street and that US investors wait at home for them to come is simply wrong.

This book is a reminder that "policymakers frequently apply financial statecraft with a poor understanding of how financial markets actually work, leading to policy actions which are inadequate or which exacerbate the problems they are trying to remedy."

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