Real Estate Finance & Investments: Risks and Opportunities

Real Estate Finance & Investments: Risks and Opportunities
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Linneman Real Estate Finance Textbook--Thumbs Up!

Real Estate Finance & Investments: Risks and Opportunities

Manufacturer: Peter Linneman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0974451835

Product Description

This book is an exploration of the key concepts of real eestate finance and investment strategy. It is not a mere formulaic analysis of numbers designed to give you "the answer" to any and all real estate investment decisions. Instead, this book is designed to help you understand that ther is no singular or judgment and experience, with an eye to the numbers. The goal is to help you evaluate the risks and opportunities of real estate assets and investments, and will hopefully help you embark upon the long and unending road of stregthening your judgment.

Customer Reviews:

Linneman Real Estate Finance Textbook--Thumbs Up!.......2007-05-28

As a University of Chicago economics PhD and Professor of Real Estate Finance at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the few business schools that teaches the real estate business in a thoroughgoing way, Peter Linneman is the top real estate finance academic in the country. I recently heard him speak at a conference on real estate mergers in NYC, and he was one of the best professional speakers of any kind that I have ever heard in 20 years of real estate law practice. His splendid textbook, Real Estate Finance & Investments, reads almost exactly like he speaks. It's like a superb, clear, and witty set of lectures, all encapsulated in a textbook. Linneman is not only a topflight academic, but has substantial direct involvement in the real estate business. This very much shows in the book, which takes the most abstract scholarly knowledge and makes it easy to understand through examples of crystalline clarity. It is a godsend to those who work in the real estate sector that someone as smart as Linneman would take the time to write this awesome textbook, which not only must be the best textbook on real estate finance, but is one of the best textbooks of any kind I have ever read.

There are only opportunitities, and no risks in buying and reading this super textbook.

Collateralized Debt Obligations and Structured Finance : New Developments in Cash and Synthetic Securitization

Average customer rating:

Intriguing Expose of CDOs
Hedgers Manual
Creates More Questions than it Answers
Straight Steering in Structured Finance
Where was the editor?

Collateralized Debt Obligations and Structured Finance : New Developments in Cash and Synthetic Securitization
Janet M. Tavakoli
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Credit Derivatives & Synthetic Structures: A Guide to Instruments and Applications, 2nd Edition
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ASIN: 0471462209

Book Description

The most cutting-edge read on CDO and credit market structures
Collateralized Debt Obligations and Structured Finance provides a state-of-the-art look at the exploding CDO and structured credit products market. Financial expert Janet Tavakoli examines securitization topics never before seen in print, including the huge increase in the CDO arbitrage created by synthetics; the tranches most at risk from this new technology; dumping securitizations on bank balance sheets; the abuse of offshore vehicles by companies such as Enron; and securitizations made possible by new securitization techniques and the introduction of the Euro. This valuable guide comprehensively covers one of the fastest growing markets on Wall Street, predicting where new bank regulations and other developments may lead to product growth or product extinction. While providing an overview of the market and its dynamic growth, Collateralized Debt Obligations and Structured Finance explores the types of products offered, hedging techniques, and valuation and risk/return issues associated with investment in CDOs and synthetic CDOs.
Janet M. Tavakoli, MBA (Chicago, IL), has over eighteen years of experience trading, structuring, and marketing derivatives and structured products with major financial institutions in New York and London. She is also the author of Credit Derivatives and Synthetic Structures, now in its Second Edition (0-471-41266-X).

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Customer Reviews:

Intriguing Expose of CDOs .......2006-01-05

The volume of collateralized debt obligations has ramped up so rapidly in recent years that the level of expertise needed to transact business in these products competently is very uneven. Experts often disagree on the basic terminology. Both of these related problems are linked to a third problem - opportunities for fraud. Tavakoli addresses this market's growing pains in this book.

Tavakoli tackles terminology at the very beginning and objects to the lazy practice of using the term "arbitrage" to refer to any hedged position that has made money such as referring to a long bond position being "arbitraged" by a short sale. A true arbitrage is a risk-free profit opportunity. Arbitrage language in the CDO context helps parties hide from themselves the fluctuating nature of the profit (and loss) conditions that they actually face. This is also true of "delta" hedging.

This is a recurring theme in this book: Participants first need to get the words right in order to get the concepts right, and they have to do both in order to get the numbers right. Another example is the "dual currency swap." A borrower receives one currency, pays coupons in another currency and has a final exchange of principal in a third currency. "Borrowers often perform this swap when they want to lower their all-in borrowing costs by taking on more currency risk," Ms. Tavakoli explains.

But the term "dual currency swap" also is used quite broadly for transactions in which fixed-rate bonds denominated in one currency simply are swapped for floating-rate bonds denominated in another. Ms. Tavakoli suggests that her readers should not assume that market professionals know the correct terminology. "Ask for the cash flow structure in writing, so you can determine the cash flows to see if they are consistent with the terminology as you understand it."

Tavakoli introduces a valuable distinction between timing and frequency, both terms important to the clear understanding of the cash flow that a contemplated transaction will produce. "It is not sufficient to state that I will get all of my cash back within the year," Ms. Tavakoli writes, explaining the distinction. "This is merely the timing of my ultimate receipt of cash flows. I want to know the frequency. Will I receive the cash flow in one lump sum toward the year-end, in equal monthly payments, or in a varied stream of payments over the course of the year? I'm not indifferent. This is why I emphasize timing and frequency."

This is an intriguing book. The market in collateralized debt obligations is complicated, subject to a miasma of human frailties. Hedge funds have entered this market in droves, particularly the synthetic market, and banks curry their favor as customers and competitors. As Tavakoli points out "find ways to become comfortable with alternative investors ... because this customer base is a key consumer of leveraged risk. They do not have the same regulatory capital constraints as banks."

Hedgers Manual.......2006-01-04

This book gives the best explanation I've ever read of the cash and synthetic collateralized debt obligations markets. Especially clear is the extra cash injection due to the large synthetic super senior tranche, which does not exist in the cash market. Tavakoli's book is the only one that discusses the language arbitrage and rating ambiguity. As a quant and delta hedger, I would have liked more on correlation trading and delta hedging, since this book pre-dates this, but the overview of how the cash flows work is excellent.

Creates More Questions than it Answers.......2006-01-03

Poorly written - poorly edited
This book needs a complete rewrite
Its more a collection of disjointed notes and facts than a book
If you don't understand CDOs before you read it - you won't after you read it

Straight Steering in Structured Finance.......2005-02-20

Even the experts have trouble understanding the various complex structures in the collateralized debt obligation market. In this book, Tavakoli does for CDOs what she did for Credit Derivatives. She makes sense of the confusing terminology, shines a bright light on the key issues, and discusses how to avoid the potential for fraud.

She clarifies what the rating agencies miss. For instance, in a dispute between a German bank and a British bank that was recently settled in London, the British bank was alleged to have misled the buyer and then taken advantage of the buyer by substituting fallen angels into the CDO portfolio. Rating agencies don't capture this type of risk. Tavakoli explains how ratings won't save investors, but paying careful attention to the portfolio trading constraints in the deal documentation will. She recommends rewriting any "standard" document that doesn't adequately protect an investor's interest by adding trading rules and restrictions (if it is allowed at all), reserve accounts, and other structural protections.

She also debunks the term CDO "arbitrage." This "arbitrage" is not risk-free for the investment banks who arrange these deals, but using this term gives comfort to bank managers who may be unaware of the hidden volatility in their trading portfolios. Very inconvenient when one can't transfer the risk to an unwary investor's portfolio. Tavakoli points out that single tranche CDOs in which one is long the super senior and equity and short the mezzanine tranche can turn the trading book into a delta hedging parking lot. She also points out that CDOs squared put you at risk for having some of the least advantageous structures stuffed as collateral into a portfolio. If it requires diligence and rewriting the documents to get a fair deal in a CDO, why would you accept tranches from deals that you didn't have a chance to rework? Put in this context, buyers of those types of deals should demand a huge premium. These deals are beyond the scope of meaningful ratings, and nearly impossible to properly model in the secondary market.

The language is precise, and as she points out it can even be more important than understanding the numbers, since overwhelming risk can come from inadequate documentation. If you are an investor, don't venture into the world of collateralized debt obligations without reading this book. If you are trading these tranches, this book will give you details about these products you won't find anywhere else.

Where was the editor?.......2004-09-02

As a novice to securitizations, I can't speak about the merits of this book in comparison to its peers. However, I will say that it is neither a reference book nor a novel. The overall structure and organization of the book was horrendous with stories leading nowhere and technical examples blurted out onto the page without thought to a fundamental theme or why they were offered. An example is not a good teaching lesson if it doesn't relate to a fundamental point.

I don't blame the author because she is obviously skilled and well informed. I do blame the editor for not reviewing the book more carefully. Wiley shame on you!

Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture

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Nice Guide for Beginners
A Must-Have for Entrepreneurs
Exellent Book
Brief and to the point
Invaluable advice for the budding entrepreneur

Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture
Steven K. Gold
Manufacturer: Learning Ventures Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Start Your Own Business (4th Ed.) (Start Your Own)

ASIN: 0976279045

Book Description

Entrepreneur's Notebook propels you on a whirlwind tour of the start-up process. It is an invaluable reference for new and experienced entrepreneurs that includes chapters on a wide range of topics, from entrepreneurial team building to business plans to financing. This excellent book provides an incredible amount of practical information that will help you make smarter decisions and avoid costly mistakes. The author, Steven K. Gold, is an accomplished entrepreneur who has co-founded and led five early-stage ventures. As an investor and mentor, he also advises many entrepreneurs and young companies. He earned his B.S.E. in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and his M.D. from Brown University Medical School.

Customer Reviews:

Nice Guide for Beginners.......2007-06-16

The author writes a nice overview of the entrepreneurial process. It's basically for novices but it does a good job for this audience. The only problem I have with this book is that it is too basic and is therefore non-unique because it is so low-level. Regardless, I must say that for the right audience, it does a fine job over giving the big picture.

If you are advanced or aspire to become advanced, I would recommend "The Startup Company Bible for Entrepreneurs" but only for high-tech entrepreneurs. Even this author has recommended it.

A Must-Have for Entrepreneurs.......2007-05-14

Steven gives great illustrations to drive home his insightful advice for entrepreneurs. As he's "been there, done that," we can take his advice to heart in the hopes of becoming a success like him!

Exellent Book.......2007-05-11

Great book for getting ready to open a new business. Would refer to anyone thinking about opening a business.

Brief and to the point.......2007-04-27

This is a delightful little book that contains a wealth of useful and helpful information and ideas on starting a small business and ensuring that it is viable and succesful. The book is well written and easy to follow and interesting to read.

This is a must read for entrepreneurs, particularly budding ones as the information the book provides is very practical and can help you avoid making costly errors. The book covers a wide range of topics including the start-up process, marketing the business on a small budget, cash-flow forecasting, among other things.

The book is an excellent companion for the entrepreneur that is well worth having.

Invaluable advice for the budding entrepreneur.......2007-03-04

This book does a terrific job of presenting some of the most important issues entrepreneurs face when embarking on new ventures, touching on topics such as the business plan, funding, team building, and cash flows. Using simple, yet stunningly accurate models of the entrepreneurial process, Steven Gold distills complex subjects into simple, practical, take-away messages. The classification of entrepreneurial personalities (professionals, pragmatists, and inventors) is something I think we can all relate to. I find the metaphor which compares building a new company to making "stone soup" equally compelling. There are countless books out there for budding entrepreneurs, but this one is no fluff. It gets right down to the nuts and bolts so you can concentrate on your business.

The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank, And Their Borrowers (Cornell Studies in Money)

Average customer rating:

Hard to read but incisive, 200 pages of tightly packed information

The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank, And Their Borrowers (Cornell Studies in Money)
Ngaire Woods
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Rules For The World: International Organizations In Global Politics
The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good
International Organizations: The Politics and Processes of Global Governance
Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics
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ASIN: 0801444241

Book Description

"The IMF and the World Bank have integrated a large number of countries into the world economy by requiring governments to open up to global trade, investment, and capital. They have not done this out of pure economic zeal. Politics and their own rules and habits explain much of why they have presented globalization as a solution to challenges they have faced in the world economy."--from the Introduction

The greatest success of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank has been as globalizers. But at whose cost? Would borrowing countries be better off without the IMF and World Bank? This book takes readers inside these institutions and the governments they work with. Ngaire Woods brilliantly decodes what they do and why they do it, using original research, extensive interviews carried out across many countries and institutions, and scholarship from the fields of economics, law, and politics.

The Globalizers focuses on both the political context of IMF and World Bank actions and their impact on the countries in which they intervene. After describing the important debates between U.S. planners and the Allies in the 1944 foundation at Bretton Woods, she analyzes understandings of their missions over the last quarter century. She traces the impact of the Bank and the Fund in the recent economic history of Mexico, of post-Soviet Russia, and in the independent states of Africa. Woods concludes by proposing a range of reforms that would make the World Bank and the IMF more effective, equitable, and just.

Customer Reviews:

Hard to read but incisive, 200 pages of tightly packed information.......2007-02-21

This book is definitely not in any way pop-nonfiction -- it is written more like a scientifical publification -- so it is tough to comprehend it at times (especially for a non-native with only average English skills). The book is highly rewarding nontheless -- the most balanced and insighting introduction of these two institutions I have read.

It studies the IMF/World Bank effect in Mexico, Russia and Africa, gives a bit of a background of the globalizers and finally comes up with actual ways in how they could be reformed.

If you don't want to be radically pro- or anti-globalization -- only know about it -- this might be the book you should get. It helps if you have some kind of a previous idea about IMF and World Bank.

Asia's Debt Capital Markets: Prospects and Strategies for Development (The Milken Institute Series on Financial Innovation and Economic Growth)

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Asia's Debt Capital Markets: Prospects and Strategies for Development (The Milken Institute Series on Financial Innovation and Economic Growth)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0387250891

Book Description

This volume comprises studies by leading research scholars in the United States and Asia on Asia’s debt capital markets. They assess the risks and opportunities, and strategies for developing these markets. The authors adopt a multidisciplinary approach, encompassing economics, finance and law, in the context of market practices for promoting well-functioning securities markets.

The motivation for the articles is the fact that eight years of post-crisis discussion has not yet resulted in sufficient actions to broaden and deepen debt capital markets. Yet the role and value of such markets for economic growth and development is undisputed. The articles in this book make an important contribution in identifying obstacles to reform as well as in proposing ways to develop debt capital markets.

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"Modern Political Economy" in Latin America

Debt, Development, and Democracy
Jeffrey A. Frieden
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691003998

Book Description

In the 1970s and 1980s the countries of Latin America dealt with their similar debt problems in very different ways -- ranging from militantly market-oriented approaches to massive state intervention in their economies -- while their political systems headed toward either democracy or authoritarianism. Applying the tools of modern political economy to a developing-country context, Jeffry Frieden analyzes the different patterns of national economic and political behavior that arose in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Venezuela. He argues that variations in official borrowing policies and responses to lending cut-offs imposed by foreign creditors are best explained not by international but by domestic factors, particularly lobbying by powerful interest groups. This book will be useful to those interested in comparative politics, international studies, development studies, and political economy more generally.

Customer Reviews:

"Modern Political Economy" in Latin America.......2001-06-05

Frieden's "Debt, Development and Democracy" is a rational-choice analysis of economic group interests (the "demand side" of political economy) in Latin America that seeks to explain widely differing political and economic outcomes in five countries who faced nearly identical external economic conditions. By holding the external financial environment (foreign lending) constant across the five cases, Frieden can explain two kinds of divergent outcomes (economic policy and political change) through his independent variable: the political interaction of economic interest groups acting rationally vis-a-vis the state to maximize their interests.

Frieden's argument rests on the assumption that foreign loans were liked a pie to be divided. When the pie was large, during the lending spree of 1965-1982, economic interest groups in each of the five countries determined the distribution of the pie based on their political competition for capital. Since these groups were acting to maximize their economic interests, Frieden analyzes these interests in order to explain their impact on the first dependent variable: economic policy during the borrowing period. He finds that the most significant factor determining interests was the nature of national labor-capital relations. In the three cases where labor-capital relations were calm (Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil) various "sectors" of the economy squabbled over the pie, resulting in interventionist economic policy and political cleavages that cut across the labor-capital divide. The winners in this battle for government largesse were the economic sectors that were strongest in two key areas: asset specificity and concentrated organization. But in the two cases where labor-capital relations were contentious, (Argentina and Chile) Frieden shows that capitalists across all sectors recognized their common interest and refrained from sectoral squabbling by forcing the state to eschew interventionism and protect the business climate by liberalizing markets.

After 1982, when the pie began to shrink, it was the nature of these established interest group/state relationships that determined Frieden's second dependent variable: each country's political response to the financial crisis. In the 3 sectoral countries, plus Argentina (where class conflict had subsided and sectoral cleavages therefore rose to prominence), the politically powerful sectors realized their common interest by joining forces to overthrow the regime or government (or the "policy orientation" in the case of one-party Mexico) that could no longer protect their economic interests. But in Chile, where class conflict still seethed, Frieden argues that the entire business community made a rational choice to maintain its pro-regime stance, feeling that they had more to fear from a resurgence of the left than they did from the government's inability to meet their economic demands. This explains the fact that Chile is the book's only case where authoritarianism survived the debt crisis.

Frieden offers two kinds of evidence to test his theory: quantitative and qualitative. The qualitative evidence, showing the behavior of interest groups vis-a-vis the state, is made up of interviews with key players in each of the five countries, plus numerous citations from other studies, both historical and contemporary, that ostensibly use qualitative data. The quantitative data is primarily made up of statistics on Frieden's key antecedent condition, foreign lending (to illustrate the similar nature of debt conditions across the five cases) and also his economic dependent variable: well-organized and asset-specific sectors pushing for state intervention in the economy (to illustrate the fact that sectoral economies spent their foreign loans in statist ways, while the two other cases spent their money in more "liberal" ways). Fewer statistics are needed for Frieden's political dependent variable, political change after the debt crisis, since most observers would agree that Chile changed much less than the other cases (although some would say that Frieden's "policy orientation" variable in Mexico is meaningless, since the PRI never lost its grip on power. But if Frieden were to admit that Mexico did not experience political change after the debt crisis, then his argument would be falsified).

Frieden makes it easy to assess the logical completeness of his rational choice argument by himself bringing up possible alternative theoretical interpretations of his data. While this is an admirable attempt at fair and open social science, it also gives us easy access to the deficiencies of his approach. Frieden himself admits that the behavior of interest groups cannot account for all changes in political economy, but then goes on to assert that "trends toward or away from democracy are largely a function of political actors' evaluation of which institutional arrangement will best serve their interests, not of structural characteristics of developing societies" (137). While this is a bold statement, it robs all other variables (international economic conditions, institutions, the state, ideology, strategic interaction, etc.) of too much of their explanatory power. To argue that economic interest groups alone can determine the nature of economic policy and the extent of political change is an overstatement of their individual capabilities, and Frieden probably knows it. Rational choice assumes too much omnipotence on the part of particular groups and individuals, and too much power to act in their collective interests. Nonetheless, Frieden's explanation is parsimonious, and sheds much light on heretofore ignored factors in the development/democracy relationship.

Africa's Stalled Development: International Causes and Cures
Average customer rating:

It was NOT ancient tribal hatreds

Scott Straus is PHENOMENAL

An Enlightening Outlook

Africa's Stalled Development: International Causes and Cures
David K. Leonard , and Scott Straus
Manufacturer: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1588261166

Customer Reviews:

It was NOT ancient tribal hatreds.......2004-05-18

Scott Straus is a certifiable genius when it comes to genocide. His class was the most informative and life-changing course in the history of the University of Oregon. The University of Wisconsin is extremely lucky to be gaining him as a faculty member. Everyone should buy this book and support this amazing man. Not only is Straus brilliant, but he is "much sexier in person", to quote a UN official.

Before meeting Straus, everyone should know: Rwanda was NOT ancient tribal hatreds.

Scott Straus is PHENOMENAL.......2004-02-27

Let us say one thing...Scott Straus is a brilliant man. How do we know this? Scott Straus is our Professor and although we haven't read the book we have complete faith that his brilliance radiates from the work. Once we finish the monstrous amount of reading he assigned in his class we will be sure to read this book and we have no doubt we will enjoy it...and you will too.

An Enlightening Outlook.......2003-06-10

Scott Strauss and David K. Leonard marvelously delinate the African quagmire with a sense of optomism and honesty. The book boldy breaks down a myriad of preconcieved misconceptions and offers a scholarly aproach that shows the potential for a rebirth of the African continent. Many thanks to these brilliant men.

The Debt Threat: How Debt Is Destroying the Developing World

Average customer rating:

Unmissable
You "Hertz"ed it here first
Should private and public creditor be paid for their loans to corrupt government?
Very sensible propositions
Honest, but .....

The Debt Threat: How Debt Is Destroying the Developing World
Noreena Hertz
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy
Radical Democracy
Globalization and the Postcolonial World: The New Political Economy of Development
Culture and Imperialism
IOU

ASIN: 0060560525
Release Date: 2005-01-04

Book Description

With grand announcements, recycled promises, and much hype about debt relief by the leaders of the world's rich creditor countries, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank since 1999, many of us can be forgiven for believing that the debt crisis of the world's poor countries is over. Far from it.

Customer Reviews:

Unmissable.......2006-05-17

The relief of debt for poorer countries is an issue which many support but few really understand. Noreena Hertz is someone who knows what she is talking about. She formerly worked at the World Bank and in now Professor of Economics at Cambridge. She is also a tireless campaigner for debt relief.

What I most appreciated was her ability to explain the economics in a way that was both understandable and convincing. She tells us how the debts came about - often during the cold war in an attempt by the West to gain and maintain areas of influence in the developing world. She also reminds us that many of these loans went to corrupt leaders of countries whose citizens now have to pay the price. As a result basic human needs - food, housing, and healthcare are sacrificed to service the debt payments.

We are left in no doubt that we carry a significant responsibility for this situation. This is why we should lobby our leaders to write of these debts. It is easy to say that fault lies on both sides. That may be so but if poor children have to pay then we who are in a position to do something should do all that we can.

She writes all of this in a very readable style. This book did far more than big events such as Live 8 to convince me of the need to do something. I would urge all readers to get hold of a copy and read it!

You "Hertz"ed it here first.......2006-03-14

Insightful, interesting and accessable. I read this book as part of my disseration research for a critical assessment of World Bank/IMF policy with regards to third world development. Prof. Hertzs' arguements are persuasive and compelling. They demand the attention of the policy-makers, finanical workers and the international community at large. Debt hangs from the neck of the developing world preventing it from standing upright. Prof. Hertz explains that this need not be the case.

Should private and public creditor be paid for their loans to corrupt government?.......2006-01-20

Debt cancellation for developing countries is a subject that has attracted much attention and little real action, despite in 2005 G8 countries and few others have taken some clear-cut commitment. This readable book provides:

a) a quick and simple description as to how developing countries got trapped into unsustainable debt levels. But among developing countries it fails to distinguish between middle-income emerging market economies and low-income economies. Therefore, the author jumps to the conclusion that Argentina (or Turkey) and Somalia (or Botswana) should be treated the same.

b) a simple theory, which suggests that developed countries often offered loans to corrupt governments (or full-fledged dictatorship) of developing countries and therefore, the peoples of those countries cannot bear the burden of servicing that debt, for which they did not benefit at all. Thus understood the problem, the full debt cancellation is a moral (and maybe legal) obligation. The author does not develop further that theory, but in practice she says that those countries that have violated human rights, or more specifically, at the time of borrowing were violating civil and political liberties, and/or economic, social and cultural rights should be provided full debt cancellation. Who and how the violation would be assessed is not clear, but this idea merits to be developed further and into operational detail.

I would recommend it for the general reader and those interested in development issues without prior knowledge.

Very sensible propositions.......2005-05-17

Noreena Hertz's basic principle is that the rights of creditors do not stand above fundamental human rights.
Debt repayments should not be imposed on governments when they could put in danger a minimum level of food, health care, clothing, water, education and housing for the entire population.

But as US president Calvin Coolidge said to the English delegation after WWI: 'We lent you money. Didn't we?'
The fact is that a lot of money was lent to corrupt and despotic regimes (Suharto, Marcos, Abacha, Ceaucescu, Mengistu, the South-African apartheid regime ...). More, after the end of the cold war, the US asked immediate debt repayment from States which were no longer strategically important.

Democratic governments should not be responsible for irresponsible lending by States or International Organizations.
She remarks that 60-70 % of all World bank projects under Mc Namara were failures and that only 10 % were ecologically and socially sound investments.

For her, debt should be forgiven if it was lent to undemocratic regimes, if the investments were against the interests of the majority of the population and when those who gave the money knew for what it was disbursed.
Ultimately, debt forgiveness will ot only favour the poor but also the rich countries, for it should not force nations to implement unsound policies and should improve security in the world.

By the way, she rightly lambastes massive arms investments (4 stealth bombers represent 1 schoolyear for 155 million children) and agricultural subsidies in the US and Europe (every cow receives 2,20 $ per day, or more that 1 billion human beings on our planet).

This book is a must read about a crucial problem for a massive part of the world population.

Honest, but ............2005-04-04

Just as her other great book , The Silent Takeover, this one is an honest effort, well documented and basically well intended.I think Ms. Hertz is brilliant and brave in her exposure of the facts. But...and there is always a but. I think that, her final proposals tend to be naive. Do not misunderstand me. Her proposals would be very good...if and only if, the people with the power to move ahead with the kind of actions that are needed were really interested in the fate of poor countries and in the people of their own countries ( as she very well explains). What they are interested in , I mean the elites everywhere,is in PROFITS and power..that is the reason and the blood of limitless capitalism. All other issues, including the welfare of the people or the environment are simply not considered.
Another point is that the role of the corrupt political elite in third world countries is in some way minimized. These guys are gangsters and must be treated as such. But instead they are very well treated by the political and corporative elites in the developed nations...and when they no longer represent PROFITS or geopolitical advantages they are simply discarded..Just remember Noriega or Saddam...The sad point is that the people of these countries can not discard these gangsters by their own means..Why?? Because of the support the corrupt Govts' receive from the rich countries..And they preach about moral and ethics....!!! Very good read....Worth your time.

Developments in Collateralized Debt Obligations: New Products and Insights (Frank J. Fabozzi Series)

Average customer rating:

too optimistic

Developments in Collateralized Debt Obligations: New Products and Insights (Frank J. Fabozzi Series)
Douglas J. Lucas , Laurie S. Goodman , Frank J. Fabozzi , and Rebecca Manning
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0470135549

Book Description

Developments In Collateralized Debt Obligations

The fastest growing sector of the fixed income market is the market for collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Fostered by the development of credit default swaps (CDS) on all types of indexes of corporate bonds, emerging market bonds, commercial loans, and structured products, new products are being introduced into this market with incredible speed.

In order to keep up with this dynamic market and its various instruments, you need a guide that provides you with the most up-to-date information available. That's why Douglas Lucas, Laurie Goodman, Frank Fabozzi, and Rebecca Manning have created Developments in Collateralized Debt Obligations.

Filled with in-depth insights regarding new products, like hybrid assets in ABS CDOs and trust preferred CDOs, and detailed discussions on important issues-such as the impact of CDOs on underlying collateral markets-this book will bring you completely up to speed on essential developments in this field.

Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Developments in Collateralized Debt Obligations will enhance your understanding of this ever-evolving market-and its numerous products.

Customer Reviews:

too optimistic.......2007-09-30

The aggregation of various types of debt (credit card, mortgage etc) and the subsequent creation of tranches of obligations is the subject of the book.

Here, the real estate origination of debt is not restricted to residential instances. One chapter describes how instruments can also be made out of commercial real estate. Intrinsically similar. Though of course the risk profiles can be expected to differ from a batch of homeowners.

Speaking of risk, the book has in several places extensive discussions of risk. As in the possibility of downgrades of CDOs, including the severity of these downgrades. An optimistic note is struck by "Market value CDOs really should never be downgraded." That particular section of the text goes on to explain why. In retrospect, though the book was written just a few months ago, it was far too optimistic. The downgraded examples were perhaps simply too early. As we go into 2008, there is every expectation that further deterioration will occur in many CDO fields.

Maybe one should not fault the authors (too much). When they wrote this book, the analysis was plausible based on the actual performances of CDOs to date. It is just that these performances were too skimpy in duration.

But there is a deeper problem with the book. In all the to do about how CDOs can spread risk, there is no deep questioning whether the process by which they were made created new risk in the first place. The companies (banks and mortgage firms) that made CDOs now had less incentive to scrutinise the borrowers' ability to repay. Because the typical case was that the CDOs were then sold to other parties, who then bore most or all of the risk. While the originators plucked lucrative fees for their roles. All the more so if some of the originators were not the firms that made the initial loans to borrowers, but financial firms that devised the CDO structures.

Sound Practice in Government Debt Management

Average customer rating:

Review for the Sound Practice in Governement Debt Management
really good book

Sound Practice in Government Debt Management
Graeme Wheeler , and Frederick Jensen
Manufacturer: World Bank Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0821350730

Book Description

Risk is a relative concept and is measured relative to a set of objectives. The authors argue that a government asset and liability management framework offers valuable conceptual insights for managing the risks associated with government debt portfolios and for considering their interface with a wide range of public policy issues. They also argue that prudent risk management requires clear objectives for debt managers, sound institutional and legal framework, appropriate quality assurance procedures and checks and balances, and efficient management information systems.

Sound Practice in Government Debt Management draws from the experiences of a group of countries that are leaders in the area of government debt management and on the knowledge that the authors have accumulated in advising many governments on their debt management policies and operations. It offers valuable insights to assist government policy-makers in understanding what is involved in implementing sound practice in government debt management.

Download Description

Government debt management has a long tradition, dating back more than two centuries in some European countries. Since the late 1980's, however, many OECD governments have invested heavily in improving the quality of their debt management practices. In recent years, the topic has received additional attention for its potential role in reducing the vulnerability of emerging economies to financial and economic shocks. Risk is a relative concept and is measured relative to a set of objectives. The authors argue that a government asset and liability management framework offers valuable conceptual insights for managing the risks associated with government debt portfolios and for considering their interface with a wide range of public policy issues. They also argue that prudent risk management requires clear objectives for debt managers, sound institutional and legal framework, appropriate quality assurance procedures and checks and balances, and efficient management information systems. Sound Practice in Government Debt Management draws from the experiences of a group of countries that are leaders in the area of government debt management and on the knowledge that the authors have accumulated in advising many governments on their debt management policies and operations. It offers valuable insights to assist government policy-makers in understanding what is involved in implementing sound practice in government debt management.

Customer Reviews:

Review for the Sound Practice in Governement Debt Management.......2006-05-08

Truly an excellent book, deserving in anyones library

really good book.......2004-07-26

This is a great book that is very insightful!! I recemend it to everyone who wants to become an expert in economics to read this. Mr. Wheeler has a lot of experience and taught be a lot about dept managment.

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