Book Description

The winner of the National Book Award and now considered a classic, The House of Morgan is the most ambitious history ever written about an American banking dynasty. Acclaimed by The Wall Street Journal as "brilliantly researched and written," the book tells the rich, panoramic story of four generations of Morgans and the powerful, secretive firms they spawned. It is the definitive account of the rise of the modern financial world. A gripping history of banking and the booms and busts that shaped the world on both sides of the Atlantic, The House of Morgan traces the trajectory of the J. P. Morgan empire from its obscure beginnings in Victorian London to the crash of 1987. Ron Chernow paints a fascinating portrait of the private saga of the Morgans and the rarefied world of the American and British elite in which they moved. Based on extensive interviews and access to the family and business archives, The House of Morgan is an investigative masterpiece, a compelling account of a remarkable institution and the men who ran it, and an essential book for understanding the money and power behind the major historical events of the last 150 years. ... Read more

Reviews (34)

The House of Morgan
Chernow vividly portrays the influence that the Morgan banks have had on the history of the Western economy since the late 18th century. The epic story of the development of the American industrial experience is inextricably related to the history of the Morgan banks. Though this fascinating story is virtually the same as that told by Kathleen Bunk in Morgan Grenfell 1838-1988 ( LJ 12/89), Chernow adds color and personality with an emphasis on the 20th-century development of the bank. Working with recently discovered Morgan archives, he reveals institutional details long hidden by the protective secrecy of the family. This superb history will be an important book. BOMC, Fortune, and History Book Club featured alternates.

Chernow's best work
The House of Morgan is a book that must be read by any and all people who have a significant interest in the early stages of American capitalism and its place in modern global economic history. Chernow demonstrates assiduous research and presents a wonderful review of the nascent stages of a economic and financial clearinghouse at Morgan. He writes quite cogently on the Morgan family and it's inner circle of elite and well groomed senior management's ability to harness this power to the benefit of both the firms parners and the U.S. economy at large. Further, Chernow does a admirable job discussing the more evolved stages of captial formation in the early to mid 20th Century that greatly increased competition and radically diminished the power at Morgan.

Where I believe he fell short, as was the case in his Titan tome as well, was in the integration of his specific thesis into a more general historical and socio-economic context. While some may agrue that this would be too much to conquer in one book, I would argue that improved editing of certain repitions would make room for this improvement and make this work a true treasure.

Consistently fascinating
A consistently fascinating account of the rise of modern finance and its relationship to the development of large scale and multinationalindustry and modern government. The portraits of the Morgan family and associates are sharp and illuminating, both in their public and private dimensions. Two reservations. It would have been helpful to have a chart/timeline of the leading figures of the related Morgan banks to supplement the chart of the organizational changes in the House of Morgan. Second,too often the author relies on a rather shorthand explanation of the financial techniques and stratagems involved in his accounts of the Morgan banking and investment empire. A little more explanation would have added to the appreciation and understanding of readers without a serious background in finance.

Stick With it, You'll Be Pleased
"The House of Morgan" is one of the best business biography books I've ever read. It is an unbelievably comprehensive piece of research work on an important banking history in the United States. The stories of the people behind JP Morgan & Co give readers so much hopes and belief that anything is possible in your life. Mr. Chernow covers the company's historical and current background in great detail. He also presents a more technical view on what happen in the cycles of US economy that spans over many decades. What I like most about the book is the coverage of individuals involved in building and leading the firms (JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley). These groups of talented individuals are amazing leaders whose stories are worth reading.

I thought that the first 40 pages were pretty slow, but the actions did pick up real soon. By the 700th page, I was hoping there would be a second book written on the House of Morgan. I was especially impressed with Mr. Thomas Lamont that I proceeded to read a separate biography on him. I loved the book so much that I went on to buy some other books related to it - (RJR Nabisco story on Leverage Buyout and The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst). It's a thick book but it's really worth the time to read. You'll be pleased with yourself!

A remarkable achievement
Ron Chernow is arguably the best business historian writing today. His ambitious attempt to tell the story of the famed banking dynasty of J.P Morgan could not have succeeded more brilliantly. Here is a story not of just a bank. It is even more than simply the story of the financial services industry. It is, in fact, the story of the modern era, where everyone from Teddy Roosevelt and Benito Mussolini to Paul Volker and Ivan Boesky figure prominently.

At the heart of this epic is a great paradox: the rise of modern global finance ushered in the demise of the banker. In J.P. Morgan's day, a small group of bankers held sway over giant corporations and the governments of global powers, serving as intimate advisors and self-regulating their industry with a strict but unwritten gentleman banker's code of conduct. The institutions that banks like Morgan created ultimately grew too powerful to control. Whereas once governments and companies were at the mercy of their bankers, today the reverse is true. Chernow tells the story of this transformation in exquisite detail and with admirable clarity.

As interesting and well written as this book is, some may still find it to be a challenge to finish. For those who like to read a few pages before bed every night, you should expect the "House of Morgan" to be on the nightstand for several months. However, if you have the time and commitment, you'll likely find the experience of reading this book to be a worthwhile and fulfilling one. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

nah don't buy it
Please do yourself another favour this year by not buying this textbook. The writter had a difficult time explain the meaning of money and frequency confuse what he was wrtiing in chappeters.

Well written survey
Having taken only a few basic econ courses in college I was looking for a book that would explain the workings of the fed in detail. My main interest is in trading. I found this book to be perfect. It was neither too simple nor too complex. Everything was cogently written and accessible to a layman. I found answers to all my questions and it's organized in a manner that chapters can be read independently of one another. It will serve as an excellent reference manual.

Money, the Financail System, and the Economy
As a resource for undergraduate work, I found this text invaluable. If I had known of this work earlier in my academic career, it would have appeared in more of my research as a source. A must have for almost any general or specific economic study. ... Read more

Book Description

This autobiography of the world-renowned, visionary economist who came up with a simple but revolutionary solution to end world poverty--micro-credit--has become the classic text for a growing movement.

In 1983 Muhammad Yunus established Grameen, a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with miniscule loans. He aimed to help the poor by supporting the spark of personal initiative and enterprise by which they could lift themselves out of poverty forever. It was an idea born on a day in 1976 when he loaned $27 from his own pocket to forty-two people living in a tiny village. They were stool makers who only needed enough credit to purchase the raw materials for their trade. Yunus's loan helped them break the cycle of poverty and changed their lives forever. His solution to world poverty, founded on the belief that credit is a fundamental human right, is brilliantly simple: loan poor people money on terms that are suitable to them, teach them a few sound financial principles, and they will help themselves.

Yunus's theories work. Grameen Bank has provided 3.8 billion dollars to 2.4 million families in rural Bangladesh. Today, more than 250 institutions in nearly 100 countries operate micro-credit programs based on the Grameen methodology, placing Grameen at the forefront of a burgeoning world movement toward eradicating poverty through micro-lending. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Deeply Moving & Motivating!
If you know the story of Grameen Bank, and wanted to know more about the founder - I don't need to say anymore.

If you haven't heard of Grameen, prepare yourself to learn about a bank which has overturned the conventional wisdom about helping people who live in poverty.

Yunus' big idea can be put very simply: people who live on less than $1 per day (3 billion people) don't need to be tought how to feed themselves and survive - the very fact that they are alive is testament to their abilities.

His approach rests upon that faith in people's ability to help themselves, if given access to the very small amounts of loan capital they need to start a profitable venture - whether that is weaving cloth or repairing bicycles.

The road to reaching more than 2 million people in Bangladesh, and many other millions worldwide, wasn't smooth. What you get from reading this book is a sense that sometimes the 'homegrown' solution beats the 'imposed' ideas from the developed world.

A challenging book for liberals and conservatives alike!

One of the best books I read
Mohammad Yunus story is truly inspiring.
Makes you question the rules of capitalism.

Writing style makes it very interesting to read.
I am glad I read ths book.

The pioneer of microlending...
The story of the Grameen bank is an excellent example of how social change initiatives can be combined with government and private industry support to acheive a greater outcome than the organization could acheive by itself. Yunus provides an excellent chronicle of his bank's formation as well as explaining its principles. Highly recommended for anyone interested in social entrepreneurship or social change. The only shortcomings are: 1) as a finance person, I would like to have read more about the operational side of the banks relative to their commercial competitors - what specific factors enabled them to be so successful (other than the broad social factors he identifies)? 2) Need more information about how these types of programs can be applied to industrialized nations such as the US.

Small loan impacts on the lives of third world peoples
In 1983 Yunus established a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with small loans, aiming to help the poor by supporting them with his own enterprise. Yunus' small loans paid off big time, and this provides a review of his theories of small loan impacts on the lives of third world peoples. An intriguing, important guide packed with ramifications for all.

Practical help
I can only agree with the other reviews of this book, but I would like to add that anyone who appreciates what Yunus has done might also read 'The Mystery of Capitalism' by Hernando de Soto. Both de Soto and Yunus underline the importance of using market-based mechanisms to alleviate poverty at the grass-roots level (de Soto suggests giving squatters and illegal workers legal title to the land they occupy and the goods they have so they can use them as collateral to raise capital and receive infrastructure). P.J. O'Rourke makes the same point in several places, but he is writing from a quasi-comedic point of view.

If the past 25 years of history has been about anything, it is about the bankruptcy of the command economy. Warts and all, market-based solutions are the only way forward. The ideas of Yunus and de Soto are, above all, practical - which is probably why policymakers will overlook them in favour of big-money projects, grand pronouncements, and other things that don't work. ... Read more

Book Description

Originally developed to reduce drug trafficking, national and international efforts to reduce money laundering have broadened over the years to address other crimes, and most recently, terrorism. These efforts now constitute a formidable regime applied to financial institutions and transactions throughout much of the world. Yet few assessments of either the achievements or consequences of this regime have been made. Reuter and Truman (1) explore what is know about the scale and characteristics of money laundering, (2) describe the current anti–money laundering regime, (3) develop a framework for assessing the effectiveness of the regime, and (4) use that framework to assess how well the current system works and make proposals for its improvement. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A discussion of methodologies used to hide revenues
Written by a senior economist and criminology professor along with a former director of the Division of International Finance of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Chasing Dirty Money: The Fight Against Money Laundering is a no-nonsense discussion of methodologies used to hide revenues gained from a wide variety of crimes and how to block such assets from being transferred and perpetuated. Chapters clarify laundering mechanisms, from simiply smuggling cash out of the country to using casinos, lotteries, and horse races to lose a little betting but receive clean payoff in issued checks, to taking out single premium insurance policies for which the premium is paid in an upfront lump sum rather than annual installments - then later redeeming these policies at a discount. Further chapters discuss protecting the integrity of financial systems, combating predicate crimes connected to money laundering, confronting such global evils as terrorism and kleptocracy or corruption that rely heavily on money laundering, and much more. A sober, serious-minded resource, an absolute must-read for all economic students and professionals, and an eye-opening revelation for lay readers.
... Read more

Reviews (1)

Easy reading
This book was great because it read like a novel. It contained a wealth of knowledge while being easily accessable. Two mistakes in the first couple of pages caused some hesitation in granting 5 stars.
P.29 refers to the "Norin Chunkin Bank" however there is no 'n' in the word "Chukin".
P. 40 refers to the "Sumitomo Mitsubishi Banking Corporation" however the bank resulting from the merger of Sumitomo and Sakura is "Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation" ... Read more

Book Description

Today's most complete, up-to-date reference for controlling credit risk exposure of all types, in every environment

Measuring and Managing Credit Risk takes you far beyond the Basel guidelines to detail a powerful, proven program for understanding and controlling your firm’s credit risk. Providing hands-on answers on practical topics from capital management to correlations, and supporting its theories with up-to-the-minute data and insights, this authoritative book examines every key aspect of credit risk, including:

• Determinants of credit risk and pricing/spread implications
• Quantitative models for moving beyond Altman’s Z score to separate “good” borrowers from “bad”
• Key determinants of loss given default, and potential links between recovery rates and probabilities of default
• Measures of dependency including linear correlation, and the impact of correlation on portfolio losses
• A detailed review of five of today’s most popular portfolio models—CreditMetrics, CreditPortfolioView, Portfolio Risk Tracker, CreditRisk+, and Portfolio Manager
• How credit risk is reflected in the prices and yields of individual securities
• How derivatives and securitization instruments can be used to transfer and repackage credit risk

Today’s credit risk measurement and management tools and techniques provide organizations with dramatically improved strength and flexibility, not only in mitigating risk but also in improving overall financial performance. Measuring and Managing Credit Risk introduces and explores each of these tools, along with the rapidly evolving global credit environment, to provide bankers and other financial decision-makers with the know-how to avoid excessive credit risk where possible—and mitigate it when necessary.

Reviews (1)

a complete, robust and comprehensive valuable resource!
In Measuring and Managing Credit Risk, the authors provided a robust, complete and comprehensive treatment of several aspects of modern credit risk measurement and management. Written by two high talented practitioners, this book will become certainly a reference both for academics and practitioners thanks to its careful treatment of several not so known empirical issues which practitioners have to face everyday. At the same time, do not consider the book as a new recipes book for managing credit risk. Both authors already proved their deep knowledges of financial theory and establish once again, through this book, how advanced knowledges of theory combined with significant practical experience make leading researches. As a PhD candidate in Finance, actually writing on credit risk, I definitively adopted this book and higly recommend it for anyone dealing with credit risk issues either through a practical experience or through a theoritical work. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Bob Woodward called his biography of Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan Maestro for two reasons. First, Greenspan is a musician. He started out as a Julliard-trained jazz sax man. "He wasn't a good improviser," Woodward reports. And while the other guys got stoned all night, Greenspan "read economics and business books and eventually became the band's bookkeeper." He also cultivated powerful pals, like Ayn Rand, whose coterie dubbed the dour young man "The Undertaker."

More profoundly, Greenspan is a maestro, a conductor, exquisitely attuned to every instrument in the political and economic orchestra. He rules by consensus, but with a firm hand and notoriously inscrutable words. Marvelously, Woodward relates that Greenspan had to propose twice to his wife, the violinist-turned-TV news star Andrea Mitchell, before she understood: "His verbal obscurity and caution were so ingrained that Mitchell didn't even know that he had asked her to marry him." Woodward gives us the inside story of what Greenspan really thinks and how he outmaneuvered the most ruthless politicians on earth in some of the hairiest times imaginable, from the 1987 stock market crash to the 1994-95 Mexican crisis to the stomach-churning turn of the century. It turns out that for all his awesome knowledge of monetary minutiae, the Fed chief literally relies on "a pain in the pit of my stomach" to make decisions. "At times, he found his body sensed danger before his head," writes Woodward. The Fed chief also adapts Einstein's technique to economics, hunting for discrepancies as keys to deeper theories. Einstein made breakthroughs out of bent light; Greenspan deduced productivity gains that government statisticians had overlooked for years. (The gains appeared when Greenspan made the statisticians calculate productivity by business sector, the way it's done in the real world.)

Woodward's prose is cool and rational, not exuberant. But if you're into economics and politics, you'll find a rich gossip trove here. Who knew Reagan had a draft of a presidential order to shut down Wall Street trading at hand in 1987? Scary! Reading Maestro is better than sitting with Greenspan in his famous tub as he charts your future--it's like being right there inside his head. --Tim Appelo ... Read more

Reviews (71)

Star Struck
Bob Woodward doesn't know much economics and worships Alan Greenspan. These are the two main things that readers will learn from this book. If it wasn't apparent from the title, this book is essential a tribute to the wisdom of Alan Greenspan. Woodward presents an account where Greenspan's judgement is shown correct at every turn, and the doubters are all proven wrong. The result is the best economy in thirty years.

Unfortunately, the history (and economics) is a bit more complex than Woodward would have us believe. To take the most obvious example, it is not clear that the U.S. economy is presently the bright shining star that Woodward assumes. The low unemployment, rapid economic growth, and low inflation are all good news, but there are serious clouds on the horizon. Specifically, the over-valued stock market and the over-valued dollar threaten the economy with a double whammy which could leave the economy reeling for years to come.

Even with the recent decline in the stock market, price to earnings ratios are still close to double their historic average. The Congressional Budget Office (the agency that makes all the projections for the budget that everyone uses in political debates) projects that real corporate profits will actually shrink by about 10 percent over the next decade. This implies that the market is over-valued by 100 percent, or more. A decline of this magnitude would destroy approximately $10 trillion in wealth, or $70,000 for an average family.

Similarly, the United States is running a huge trade deficit which is leading it to borrow $450 billion a year from abroad. A trade deficit of this magnitude is no more sustainable than a budget deficit of $450 billion, as Alan Greenspan and every other economist knows. Reversing this deficit will inevitably require a large drop in the value of the dollar, perhaps by as much as 30 percent. A decline in the dollar of this magnitude will crimp living standards in the United States, as the price of imported goods rise, and also lead to more inflation.

While the fault for the over-valuation of the stock market and the dollar may not lie entirely at Greenspan's feet, he does bear a large share of the responsibility. Back at the end of 1996 (when the market was about half its recent highs), Greenspan did warn about the possibility that irrational exuberance had overtaken the stock market. But most of his subsequent comments were more oblique, leaving open the possibility that stock prices could make sense. Given the seriousness of the problem, it would have been entirely appropriate for Greenspan to use his bully pulpit at the Fed to warn of the consequences of a seriously over-valued stock market. He could have presented lectures on this topic in his Congressional testimony, in the same way that he has lectured about the dangers of budget deficits on numerous occasions. Given Mr. Greenspan's standing in financial circles, it is hard to believe that such lectures would not have had an effect. The same applies to the over-valuation of the dollar.

Woodward is almost completely oblivious to this set of issues. While the possibility of a stock bubble is mentioned at several points, it is never treated as though it were a serious problem. The history of the Great Depression and the current example of a Japanese economy left to stagnate for a decade after the collapse of its bubble in 1989 should have been sufficient to get Woodward's attention.

Similarly, Greenspan gets the final, and often only, word on the disputes of the past. For example, we get the account of his decision to raise interest rates in 1994-5 to head off inflation. Woodward tells us about the objections raised within the Clinton Administration to a policy which slowed the economy and cost jobs. However, at the end of the day, Woodward tells us that inflation remained under control, and the unemployment rate eventually fell to its current levels of close to 4.0 percent.

Woodward seems to feel that this history vindicated Greenspan's rate hikes, when the reality is the opposite. Greenspan raised interest rates because he accepted the prevailing view within the economics profession at the time, that unemployment rates below 6.0 percent would lead to higher inflation. The subsequent history showed that there was no necessary link between the unemployment rate and inflation, and that the unemployment rate could fall far below 6.0 percent without triggering inflation. Had Greenspan not raised interest rates in 1994 and 1995, the economy would have grown faster in these years and the unemployment rate would have dropped more quickly. Millions of people needlessly went unemployed in these years, and the economy lost more than $100 billion in output. History has shown that Alan Greenspan was wrong.

There are many other places where Woodward's naive hero worship and ignorance of economics lead him to go astray. The Greenspan story is certainly an interesting one which deserves to be told. It is unfortunate that this book could not have been written by someone with more understanding of the subject matter and a more open mind on the subject.

Greenspan's Firm Hand on the Wheel
Have you ever wondered who exactly the "Fed" is, and how they control the unseen levers of the American economy? Quick...what's the difference between the "Fed Funds rate" and the "discount rate?" What influence does partisan politics have on this whole process? Who exactly is Alan Greenspan, and why did we never hear about any Fed Chairman prior his tenure? Bob Woodward addresses these questions, and many more, in this compact, entertaining, and informative volume.

Maestro starts off with Alan Greenspan assuming the Fed Chairman levers of power from Paul Volcker in 1987, shortly before the "Black Monday" meltdown, and takes us through his unprecedented appointment to a fourth term in early 2000 by a most unlikely soul mate, President Bill Clinton. With Maestro, author Bob Woodward continues to fill the literary niche that he has for his past several books: writing about subjects and events that are too topical and recent to be seen in a fully objective historical context, yet producing a volume that has much more depth and substance than day-to-day journalistic coverage. Woodward's access to the Washington elite is unrivaled, and this book, as many of his previous ones, relies heavily on the journalistic tradition of the unnamed source.

Maestro takes us into the meetings of both the FOMC, and the Fed Board of Governors. Woodward lets us be a "fly on the wall" in those meetings, and allows us to hear the discussion, interchange, and debate about the national and international economy that precedes a change in the Fed funds rate or discount rate. We see the Board of Governors, and Greenspan himself, as brilliant but fallible human beings who, like the rest of us, see their jobs and obligations through the prism of their own political viewpoints. Additionally, though, Woodward takes us into minds of the individual members, through what certainly were many off-the-record interviews, to see how the Governors feel about the process, and about Chairman Greenspan himself. Viewpoints range from admiration and deference to jealousy and envy, and Woodward lays it all down for us. In one scene, Woodward shares with us a somewhat frustrated President Clinton venting his emotions through an impersonation of the Fed Chairman, right in the Oval Office, to the side-splitting laughter of the President's advisors. Granted, this doesn't have the national importance of "seventeen minutes of missing tape," but it does make for good reading.

Woodward, as usual, maintains a laser focus on his subject, refusing to be diverted for more than a minute by the Clinton-Lewinsky fiasco, or even by areas of Greenspan's life that he doesn't deem as relevant. At first, I found myself hungry for more details about Greenspan as a person: what does he like to do in his spare time? What kind of a neighbor would he be? It doesn't take long to realize, however, that with Greenspan, the professional is the personal. He has no children that we know of, just married his longtime sweetheart (NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell) in 1997, takes only one brief vacation a year, and has been absorbed in studying economic data since 1948. Greenspan truly exhibits the meaning of the old saying, "Do what you love and you'll never work another day in your life."

You don't need an MBA or a PhD in Economics to understand and appreciate this book. Woodward includes a helpful glossary in the back that I, even as the possessor of one of the two above-noted degrees, found myself referring to with some frequency. Not only does one not need vast empirical economic knowledge to appreciate this book, the reader may even get more out of this book without it. The most significant drawback of this book is the lack of a sense of completion. Greenspan's story is a work in progress, and this book with undoubtedly be regarded in the future as perhaps an interim analysis of his accomplishments. The book ends just when the tech stock slide is beginning. The most relevant questions are yet to be answered: how have perceptions of Greenspan been altered by the slowing economy? Will President Bush reappoint Greenspan to a fifth term in 2004? If not, how will the President replace the man that has become synonymous with the Chairmanship itself? Is any succession planning underway? One can only hope that Woodward stays in contact with his spiderweb of sources, and shares that information with us in a future work.

Far too superficial for its topic
Bob Woodward will probably go down in history as one of America's most influential journalists. In collaboration with Carl Bernstein, Woodward publicized the Watergate scandal and helped to bring down the Nixon presidency. His efforts to reveal the truth may have single-handedly changed the relationship between the media and politics.

Woodward has already been blessed with his 15 minutes of fame. His latest work, "Maestro: Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom," represents neither earth-shattering importance nor an erudite treatment of his subject, Alan Greenspan and his reign over the Federal Reserve.

To its merit, "Maestro" does shed a surprising amount of light on a once mysterious and self-consciously secretive organization. The inner-workings of the Fed and its policy-making are depicted with excellent detail, as Woodward takes the reader through the bumpy rides of setting interest rates from 1987-2000. And for non-economic types, Woodward does a pretty decent job explaining how monetary policy works and what the implications are for increasing interest rates or expanding the money supply.

Yet it is a shame Woodward is not an economist himself because his book suffers from a lack of depth on certain issues. The work's treatment of developments over the last decade, including the savings and loan scandals of the late '80s and the Asian financial crises of the '90s, is rather superficial.

What is most bothersome about Woodward's work is its failure to point out many of the negative conclusions the details of the work might necessitate. The author's editorial on his subject is one of pure praise, as he attempts to elevate the status of Greenspan to that of a modern hero. The truth is far more complicated than the rose-colored picture Woodward would like to paint.

One of the scariest points Woodward's book fails to make is that the position of chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee is perhaps the most powerful seat of economic policymaking in the United States. Many students of the Fed's operations grow up believing that interest rates are set by the democratic vote of a committee of economists. In reality, the monetary power of the last 13 years has rested in the judgement of one man.

Greenspan's career epitomized the struggle to push the envelope on limitations to power. The chairman was the master of the FOMC, and before each meeting, he polled and called every member to figure out each one's stance on whether to raise or lower interest rates. Since the chairman always speaks last at an FOMC meeting, Greenspan often could plea for the universal support of his decisions, and his careful rhetoric frequently was enough to achieve the policy outcomes he desired. There were even times from 1988-1999, when the committee voted to allow Greenspan to make minor adjustments in the Fed Funds rate between meetings, giving him complete monetary control.

We are all lucky that Greenspan has handled the responsibility of his power with such sobriety. What if Greenspan had not been so judicious? An America where the sovereign economic policymaker was a bumbling idiot would resemble the despair of 1929, when interest rates were raised even after the stock markets crashed. The very idea that determining the Fed Funds rate could rest in the hands of a moron is a scary thought.

Another frightening notion Woodward doesn't elucidate is the number of problems with the way our system allocates its human capital. Many of those on the FOMC were there simply because they had political ties and connections. If Greenspan were to resign tomorrow, party friendships and political allies could influence the new appointment.

Often when economic policymaking is submerged in politics, short-run prosperity is prioritized, and little thought is given to where things will head five or 10 years down the road. If we had a Fed chairman who - because he was a pawn of politics - strove for break-neck growth without regard to price stability, disaster could occur. Woodward strives to make the point that Greenspan always has tried to put his job above factionalism, but Woodward fails to recognize that future Fed chairmen may not behave the same way.

Overall, Woodward's "Maestro" gives a decent overview of the history of economic developments and monetary policy in the last decade. The book's flaws lie not in the display of facts but rather in its pure, unquestioning praise of its central figure, Alan Greenspan. I would not disagree with statements that Greenspan has done his job especially well. He, however, has been fortunate, as circumstances beyond his control contributed to the record expansion of our economy and our subsequent prosperity. Greenspan's ability as Fed chairman surely will be tested as our economy slows, and whether we continue to prosper will determine if he really has, as Woodward says, a "mastery of process."

Engaging, Surprising, and Informative
I read this book wanting to be better informed about how The Fed and Greenspan operate, and wound up being thoroughly educated and entertained understanding how banks, the White House and Washington DC political appointments work. I never thought I would ever use the phrase "hard-to-put-down" in connection with an economics/banking book but this one did it. It was a real page turner and definitely one of Bob Woodward's most underrated and under-discussed books. (No caller mentioned this work during his 3-hour C-Span interview a few months back.) Get your hands on a copy of this book and prepare for an interesting and enjoyable ride. My one complaint: I wish it were longer. Although this book answered all my "Fed" questions, I wished its time track would continue to the present, or perhaps delve a little deeper into the past. But this complaint notwithstanding, the book was still an excellent and engaging read.

Maestro, Greenspan's "Biography"
This book was basically a miniature biography on the life of Alan Greenspan. Except this book does not really go into Greenspan's personal life, the only feature of this book that is not included about Alan Greenspan is his personal life. Although once or twice Greenspan's girlfriend, Andrea Mitchel was mentioned. For the most part this entire book solely focusses on Greenspan's work as an economist for the United States government. In my personal opinion Bob Woodward basically just stated facts and had no criticism whatsoever throughout this entire book this is the only part that bugged me. Woodward basically just wrote straight facts and tried a little too hard to make Greenspan look incredibly good in the end. ... Read more

Book Description

Investment banking interviews are highly competitive. Beat the Street offers tips to acing interviews in corporate finance, research, sales, and trading. We talked to recruiters, new hires, and senior bankers at the leading investment banking firms to answer all of your questions about interviews--from information sessions to the final interview to the offer. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Beating the competition
That's what it's all about especially now that the i-banking field has contracted so much. Still, getting the grades, the right recommendations, landing the right internships, going out for a bunch of different extracurricular activities and then finally preparing as much as possible for the interviews are all key to getting the job you want. At least that's what i've found. I used this guide as part of the preparation process, having been recommended it by a college counselor. Best advice I ever got. Good stuff. Very thorough. I've received exactly the offer I wanted. All my work and research has paid off.

Extremely thorough preparation
This guide provided excellent preparation material. It covered everything from the pre-interview cocktail session to the follow-up after the interview. The information provided in the guide was clear and easy to follow, so that flipping through for review of specific information was a breeze. My copy is all dog-eared from nervously flipping throught it again and again during my plane ride to perform my interviews. But my nervousness proved unfounded. When I felt stuck during the interviews, I just thought back to what I had read in the guide, and everything went smoothly. I even got to choose among a few of the firms I was really interested in. I recommend this to anyone who wants to be an analyst on Wall Street, but feels like they need a little help getting through the interviews.

Concise and helpful.
This guide is so compact that you can quickly get up to speed on I-Banking interviews in one night, if you had to. It truly covers only the essentials, without the clutter and filler that clogs other similar guides. If you can only afford one and you need a crash course, this is the one to go for.

disappointing
This report was disappointing. A more useful report on IBanking interviews is the Vault.com 2002 Guide to Finance Interviews or the Harvard guide to finance careers.

INVESTAGATETOR
IWANT TO SEE YOUR BOOK ... Read more

Book Description

Managing Bank Capital explains proven techniques available in the management of bank capital that will help maximize shareholder value. This second edition has been fully updated to incorporate significant developments, such as the modeling of credit risk, and includes new sections with more technical information and advanced analysis. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Helpful Concepts, Lacking Implementatin Steps
With all the attention paid to bank capital management, this book is helpful in describing the concepts.However, it is not quantitative enough.The step-by-step of capital allocation for a given asset class of varying risk levels is lacking.For example, how should the bank treat the sub-prime portion of its credit card or auto loans in the capital allocation?I wish it were more specific.Could Providian or Capital One have directed the capital away from high risk loans, had they followed the advice of the book?

A Must-Read Book for Shareholder Value Management
Chris Matten provides a comprehensive guide to applications of RAROC and shareholder value for managing bank capital and compensating bank executives and traders. The author provides particularly good sections onhow EVA, shareholder value, and other earnings based measures can bemanipulated and abused. This is not the sort of book which the corporatefinance shareholder value crowd would likely read, but is one which theyneed to read.

Excellent only book on the economic allocation of capital.
Mr. Matten's insightful work highlights how rigid appliction of the Basle Accords can lead to capital misallocation. He then provides insightful suggestions, with good examples, on how to better allocate bank capital by discriminating between borrowers on the basis of risk, all the while remaining within the basle guidelines. Mr. Matten points to the need for sophisticated mathematical-statistical analysis but does not dwell on the technicalities, making the book accessible to non-rocket scientists. All in all, a highly recommended book.

Great book,but watch out for typos
For a comprehensive approach that brings the reader from Cooke through RAROC,this book is very good and has no competition .What basicexplanations of statistics theoryyou need in orderto follow the main'story' is included discreetly,so advanced readers shouldn't be bothered by them.This being said, beware the errors -- they exist throughout:for the pricethat Wiley Press is able to get in light of the lack of competition from another good RAROC capital allocation book ($69 last year, $95 now),ithopefully has caught and corrected them.Caveat emptor. ... Read more

Book Description

Designed for both employees of mortgage lenders and individuals studying real estate finance, Residential Mortgage Lending: Principles and Practices provides an overview of mortgage banking and outlines strategies that mortgage bankers can utilize to compete successfully in todays competitive business environment. While clearly explaining the fundamentals in an easy-to-understand manner, this edition has a new emphasis on the practical applications of residential mortgage lending making it an excellent resource for learning mortgage banking operations.No prior knowledge of finance or any part of mortgage lending is required. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Thorough review of mortgage lending development and practice
This is a must read and good reference book for mortgage professionals, including lenders and practitioners in secondary mortgage business. The book gives excellent review of the development of residential lending in US, of government regulations, major market players, and important product types. Then the book gets to the details of mortgage lending processes and also touches the secondary markets. Readers can definitely gain valuable and practical knowledge on residential lending business after walk through the book. ... Read more

Book Description

The first historian with access to the long-lost Rothschild archive, bestselling author Niall Ferguson offers a myth-breaking in-depth portrait fo one of the most fascinating and powerful families in Europe. Hidden for nearly fifty yers in the KGB's special archive, the uncovered records cast new light on the banking family's rise to preeminence. With the help of Hebrew scholar Mordecai Zucker, The House of Rothschild also reflects the first major translation of important and revealing intra-family correspondence in the Judendeutch dialect.In a vast undertaking, Ferguson has synthesized material from over 20 different archives and 20,000 letters, as well as other historical sources, and produced an exceptional--and readable history. Ferguson follows the founders' five sons in their rise to power as pioneers of modern business communication, creators of the international bond market, and the financial force behind many political events of the time. A family saga as well, Ferguson reveals the true nature of the family's relations with one another and with most of the important politicians and monarchs of the time, as well as their profound connection to the Jewish community. A major book, The House of Rothschild is the definitive account of one of the most important firms--and one of the most exceptional families--in modern history. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

An excellent and comprehensive analysis
Niall Ferguson has done a commendable job of describing the developement of a captivating family saga. What I found most appealing about the book is its comprehensive nature -- it weaves the family story in the context of the political and economic developments,with which it is closely intertwined. What is even more fascinating is the level of financial details about the bank than Ferguson provides. Perhaps it is his access to the recently open archive in Moscow that allows the author to deisclose finanacial history that it fascinating and detailed.

I would highly recommend this book to any serious student of history, as well as to people interested in banking and economics. Perhaps it may appear too detailed for the casual reader.

A first-rate history, if a bit thin on the finance
Ferguson has written a rare work: a family chronicle which is both a compelling read, and is good history. The text is richly detailed, while the very complete footnotes provide the reader with a clear sense of the broad scholarship that has gone into the book. One caveat: while Ferguson points out in his introduction that the work is not a financial history, he unfortunately doesn't paint as rich a picture of the financial markets of the early 19th century as the book requires. While the house's trading history makes for a fascinating read, it takes place without any contextual comparison of how other market makers behaved and traded (other than an occasional comparison of profits and losses). Still, though, it's a minor criticism of a great book. Highly recommended.

Engaging and enlightening
The House of Rothschild 1798-1848 covers a pivotal time in history. The Napoleonic Wars, rise of capitalism, the rise of multinational businesses, development of the railroad and the French Revolution. The Rothschild's had a front row seat to all of this and were the focus of some of it. From humble beginnings in the Frankfurt Jewish Ghetto, the rise of this family is chronicled through three generations. Many myths about the Rothschilds are laid to rest by Ferguson's groundbreaking research, much of it original scholarship. One of the main threads running through the book is that finance had a profound role in the ability of the rulers of Europe to do what they wanted. By 1825 the Rothschild had a significant role in sovereign finance. Many things were wished for by the various despots that ruled Europe at that time, but if the Rothschilds did not perceive that those wishes would lead to stabilization and peace it typically was not supported thereby making it difficult to realize. They did not support the despots with out reserve, but they knew that peace protected their interests. That perspective makes this book unique.
The Rothschild family business was a partnership that was constructed as the 2nd generation left Frankfurt for London, Paris, Vienna, and Naples. That the partnership should survive was the 1st generation's greatest desire and was respected (most of the time) by his descendants. The exchanges between the 5 houses make for fascinating reading and are reference extensively in the book.
The book details how the Rothschilds pushed for Jewish emancipation and equality and were resisted at every turn. That did not prevent them from receiving commendations from the various governments that the worked with. It did not prevent them from gaining entry to the most prestigious universities for their children. It did not prevent Lionel from gaining entry into the British Parliament without having to swear a Christian Oath. The Rothschilds achieved a great deal for themselves and for Judaism.
Intrigue, betrayal, revolution, and vignettes of famous people make this a very entertaining book, not merely a historic rendering of dates and places. From the beginning of the Rothschild climb to prominence with the Elector of Hesse-Kassel to the French Revolution in 1848, this book will engage the reader.

The House of Rothschild
Ferguson (Oxford) presents a fascinating picture of the first two generations of the Rothschild family (Mayer Amschel and his five sons Amschel, Solomon, Nathan, Carl, and James), who laid the foundation for the family's banking fortune in the early 19th century. Ferguson attacks the myths surrounding the family and focuses on the nature of the partnership and the secret of its success. Intricately weaving together strands of familial, financial, and political history into a highly readable but complex narrative, the author presents a vivid picture of this Jewish family, which emerged from the Frankfurt ghetto to dominate European finance, particularly the international bond market, and which, despite its rise to unparalleled wealth and influence, never deserted Judaism. This massive, lucid, and captivating study rests largely on previously unexamined manuscript sources in Paris, London, Frankfurt, and Moscow, many written in German with Hebrew characters. These sources are meticulously documented in 140 pages of footnotes/bibliography within the 600-page text. It will remain the definitive account of the early history of the family. Highly recommended for scholars and general readers alike.

BORING
This book is about the rise of the House of Rothschild but it is not written for the casual reader of history. This is written for the scholar whose subject matter is economic history. As that is not my field of study, I found the book boring in the extreme (it took me two months to wade through it). However, for the student of Jewish history, it does have some interesting ideas as to the origins of some of the Nazi propaganda. ... Read more

Book Description

Featuring new credit engineering tools, Managing Bank Risk combines innovative analytic methods with traditional credit management processes. Professor Glantz provides print and electronic risk-measuring tools that ensure credits are made in accordance with bank policy and regulatory requirements, giving bankers with the data necessary for judging asset quality and value. The book's two sections, "New Approaches to Fundamental Analysis" and "Credit Administration," show readers ways to assimilate new tools, such as credit derivatives, cash flow computer modeling, distress prediction and workout, interactive risk rating models, and probabilistic default screening, with well-known controls. By following the guidelines of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Managing Bank Risk offers useful models, programs, and documents essential for creating a sound credit risk environment, credit granting processes, and appropriate administrative and monitoring controls.

Key Features
* Book includes features such as:
* Chapter-concluding questions
* Case studies illustrating all major tools
* EDFT Credit Measure provided by KMV, the world's leading provide of market-based quantitative credit risk products
* Library of internet links directs readers to information on evolving credit disciplines, such as portfolio management, credit derivatives, risk rating, and financial analysis
* CD-ROM containing interactive models and a useful document collection
* Credit engineering tools covered include:
* Statistics and simulation driven forecasting
* Risk adjusted pricing
* Credit derivatives
* Ratios
* Cash flow computer modeling
* Distress prediction and workouts
* Capital allocation
* Credit exposure systems
* Computerized loan pricing
* Sustainable growth
* Interactive risk rating models
* Probabilistc default screening
* Accompanying CD includes:
* Interactive 10-point risk rating model
* Comprehensive cash flow model
* Trial version of CB Pro, a time-series forecasting program
* Stochastic net borrowed funds pricing model
* Asset based lending models, courtesy Federal Reserve Bank
* The Uniform Financial Institutions Rationg System (CAMELS)
* Two portfolio optimization software models
* a library of documents from the International Swap Dealers Association, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and others ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Best book on the topic
This book trully deserves 5 stars. It is literally stuffed with very specific steps, processes and case studies. Moreover the book is easy to understand. It is very worth the money. I highly recommend this book to credit risk managers, financial analysts or to those readers who are involved in development of credit policies or procedures.

Extraordinary
Managing Bank Risk, An Introduction to Broad-Base Credit Engineering, takes on a Herculean task of capturing an extraordinarily extensive array of risk management subjects. Having spent several years in my prior career as a Corporate Banker to Fortune 500 Companies, I was familiar with some of the material within the book. However, I found that the most critical tools that I accumulated and have come to rely on have by and large been aggregated and explained clearly through both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Going beyond definitions and methodology, Managing Bank Risk lends focused perspective and context through the use of case studies. Having built various articulating sensitivity models over the course of my career, I appreciated the book's foundation of credit metrics, financial statement analysis with focus on cash flow analysis, proper asset-based lending approaches and detailed explanations of several forecasting techniques. From a pure banking perspective, Mr. Glantz commits significant time to portfolio management, hedging techniques, and understanding derivatives. Having seen only a small fraction of the statistical forecasting tools from business school that Mr. Glantz covers in the book, I found both the theory and practical software-based tools fascinating. Managing Bank Risk also evaluates and lucidly explains many corporate finance concepts and valuation tools such as Real Options and Pricing Models, which I have found important to have a controlling knowledge of in my career as an Investment Banker. Finally, but certainly not in summation, Managing Bank Risk reviews and identifies important Accounting and Corporate Structure insights and lessons that can be taken from recent corporate scandals. Given the sheer volume and quality of topics covered from the most fundamental to some of the most sophisticated, cutting-edge models available today, I would suggest this well-written and comprehensive book as a must-read for business school students or as a reference guide for finance professionals.

Incredible! Leading Resource to Understand Bank Risk
Glantz provides an astonishing and comprehensive overview of current banking practices. The book provides the necessary approaches for managing risk and uncovering discrepancies in today's environment of corporate shenanigans. The chapters on credit derivatives and pricing models are the most impressive of all writings on these subjects and are presented in a very clear and concise manner. Finally, the resources and risk rating system included on the CD is worth the price of the book alone.

BEST IN CLASS
This book is simply brilliant! Not only did I learn about new techniques for managing bank risk but found it similar to a novel that I never wanted to put down. I never take the time to write critiques but this book definitely warranted it.

Bank Risks
Managing Bank Risks is the definitive handbook on how bank risks should be managed. It presents new, leading edge techniques of risk management in a practical, user-friendly way. The accompanying CD provides underpinning for the risk manager to hone his skills. Morton Glantz has done a superb job, providing the reader with the latest risk management techniques under öne roof" ... Read more

Book Description

The fourth edition of Managing Financial Institutions: An Asset/Liability Approach provides comprehensive coverage of asset and liability management techniques for depository institutions, finance companies, insurance companies, pension funds, mutual funds, securities firms, and diversified financial services firms, all of which operate in an increasingly competitive environment. The text is suitable for use in courses on financial institutions and commercial bank management. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Gardner et.al. review
I have not read this edition but I have several earlier editions and will soon have this one. Their books are always state of the art and a must read for institutional risk managers. The text provides numerous comprehensible detailed examples of managing risk at modern financial institutions. Market coverage is also excellent. This one is for anyone who actually has to manage risk. It is not however an intro book for the novice who is looking only for general information. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Goldman Sachs brings you inside the rarefied boardrooms of one of the most secretive Wall Street banking giants. Begun by a German immigrant in the late 1800s as a small family-run business, Goldman Sachs rose to become the world's top investment bank in the 1990s, even without selling stock to the public. It attracted some of the best talent in the business and cultivated an image of superiority and exclusivity. "The Goldman Sachs mystique was born of secrecy and success. Nothing like it exists on Wall Street," writes the author, Lisa Endlich, a former vice president at the firm. But behind that mystique lie tales of being swindled by British media tycoon Robert Maxwell, multimillion-dollar losses on bad trades, and the on-again, off-again attempts to go public. The book begins and ends with the firm's efforts to go public and get greater access to capital. Most other brokerages are already publicly traded, but internecine conflict and financial turmoil always seem to prevent Goldman from joining the action. In September 1998, for instance, Goldman stunned investors when it dropped plans for a stock offering amid a plunge in the market. A management shakeup soon followed. Goldman Sachs is an intriguing history of the company that invented such financial tools as block trading, commercial paper, and risk arbitrage. The book can sometimes be critical, but is largely a favorable portrait by a former employee. --Dan Ring ... Read more

Reviews (37)

factual throughout but too much emphasis on the 1990's.
I spent 30 years at Goldman Sachs as a senior risk arbitrage trader in the equities division. I retired in 1995. The information contained in the volume has been carefully and thoughtfully researched and the result is a wonderful historical analysis of Goldman Sachs. The book is eminantly readable and easily understandable, even for those uninitiated in the banking business. My only negative criticism refers to the excessive space given to the recent history of the firm. There was a clear change in the firms' culture after the greedy portion of the 1980's. The author is right on the mark when she tells how important the people (not only the partners) were to the creation of the special atmosphere that pervaded the firm and how very special it was to be a part of it. Although profitability was always a clear motive, it surely was not the sole purpose for which the firm existed. To profile a few bond traders and enumerate their spectacular successes (and failures) in the 1990s clearly indicates how things have changed from previous decades. I worked with Gus Levy for 10 years and Bob Rubin for 20 years and from a trader's point of view these were the spectacular people at least in the Equities Division. I doubt that the client interest is foremost in the culture of Goldman Sachs today as it was for the first 125 years. Although the importance of the client remains high today, it is profitability and risk taking that are the motivating forces.

Interesting, Readable, But Lacking Focus
I enjoyed Lisa Endlich's book about Goldman Sachs but I felt like there was alot left to be desired.

As for the good points, the writing is very clear and the coverage of the 1990s is outstanding. It did give me a bare bones understanding of the history of the firm up until the 1990s, especially about the times of Sidney Weinberg, Gus Levy, and John Weinberg and John Whitehead. But, on the negative side, what this really is is a HISTORY OF GOLDMAN SACHS IN THE 1990S. 155 of 274 pages are devoted entirely to the 1990s and only 88 pages cover 1869-1990 (29 are about the discussion about going public in 1986; and the book starts on page 3). If there is a theme to the book it is Goldman Sach's existing as a partnership and the increasingly intense consideration of going public from 1986 until it finally did in May 1999. There are interesting anectdotes about IPOs (such as Ford) and more about huge trading gains and losses made by the firm. But it didn't read like a book to me but more like a series of articles. She just kind of recaps the highlights from various times, focusing mainly on the 1990s.

It was not a bad book but I have read many business books that I consider to me much better such as "Barbarians at the Gate" and "Monkey Business". This one is more comparable to solid but less outstanding efforts such as "Liar's Poker" and "Eboys", in my opinion.

....

Great Historical Review
Although it is clear from Ms. Endlich's tone that she nearly workships everything about Goldman Sachs, this is a well researched and competently written book. It covers in detail the history of the bank, paints portraits of some of the key players in some detail and presents a compelling overall picture of the bank's history.

Where the book falls short is in its financial and overall business details (compare to "The House of Rothschild" by Niall Ferguson). Overall, and interesting and insightful read.

Another Great Book
This is a great book too, just like the one on Sandy Weill's ascent. The book shows why Goldman is great... and bad. Sometimes it glorifies GS too much (yawn at the richest and most powerful people in America allusions) but is certainly an interesting read.

I give it two thumbs up!

GOOD PICTURE, CHANGING SINCE IPO
I read this book right before joining Goldman Sachs and was tremendously excited about it. I joined in 1999, right after the IPO (yes, I missed out). Despite the apparent glorification of the company, I did feel like its culture of teamwork and "long term greed" was present in everything my teams did, which the book does a good job of portraying.

It is clear the author appreciates the company very much and that this is a somewhat endorsed biography of the firm, yet I enjoyed reading it nonetheless. It is refreshing to see a former employee write a positive book after so many recent cases of employees leaving only to criticize their former employers. ... Read more

Book Description

Credit risk is today one of the most intensely studied topics in quantitative finance. This book provides an introduction and overview for readers who seek an up-to-date reference to the central problems of the field and to the tools currently used to analyze them. The book is aimed at researchers and students in finance, at quantitative analysts in banks and other financial institutions, and at regulators interested in the modeling aspects of credit risk.

David Lando considers the two broad approaches to credit risk analysis: that based on classical option pricing models on the one hand, and on a direct modeling of the default probability of issuers on the other. He offers insights that can be drawn from each approach and demonstrates that the distinction between the two approaches is not at all clear-cut. The book strikes a fruitful balance between quickly presenting the basic ideas of the models and offering enough detail so readers can derive and implement the models themselves. The discussion of the models and their limitations and five technical appendixes help readers expand and generalize the models themselves or to understand existing generalizations. The book emphasizes models for pricing as well as statistical techniques for estimating their parameters. Applications include rating-based modeling, modeling of dependent defaults, swap- and corporate-yield curve dynamics, credit default swaps, and collateralized debt obligations.

... Read more

Reviews (2)

A casual collection of models without sound understanding
The author briefly touched many models without quite understanding them himself (or checking their validity). Most of the text were collected (and rewritten) from reading the abstract or conclusion of the original papers. There is not enough insight or new info. It is absolutely not a book for someone who wants to learn because it is like a undergraduate's study report. If a book reviews many models, it should provide some insights, pros and cons of them, and at least some framework for other researchers to follow. It loses value if it merely rephrases some obvious and straghtforward assumptions of the original models.

I admire the author and the editor (Duffie) as researchers. However, the author is not ready yet to write a book of this kind and the editor has been a super star in finance, hence should not lower himself to this level for the sake of publication. This book does not provide useful info at all. Not good for a researcher or a practitioner (at all). Why not read the original papers' abstracts? That would be more informative.

A book for those who think Robert Jarrow is a lightweight!
Robert Jarrow praises this book! I think that tells you the level of this text. It's Ivy League Ph.D.-school material with inadequate background provided. I guess if you are already a director of research in an investment bank, this book provides a lucid and compact survey of the current state-of-the-art techniques of credit risk modeling. In short, this is a book written for people who already are comfortable with the subject at a very high level.

If you are a regular Schmoe like myself (someone comfortable at the Hull or Cuthbertson and Nitzche level) much of this book may zoom over your head. But if you regulary snicker at folks like me as derivatives dilatants and poseurs, I'd say check it out.

The book may be great. But for me it was a waste of money.

Did I mention that Robert Jarrow likes it? ... Read more