Book Description

Long recognized as the standard introduction text to the US bankingprofession, this book touches on nearly every aspect, from the fundamentals of negotiableinstruments to contemporary issues and developments with the industry.The 7th editionaddresses changes in the banking industry most notably in the areas of customer service,emerging technology, and expanded banking powers and markets. Contents include: Banking and You; The Evolution of Banking; The Federal Reserve and its RegulatoryPartners; The Deposit Function; Checks as Negotiable Instruments; Checks and thePayment Function; Deposit Operations and Loss Prevention issues; The LendingFunction; Fund Management and Bank Investments; Measuring and Reporting FinancialPerformance; Marketing and the Customer Service Function; Specialized Products andServices; Electronic Financial Services; Summary of Federal Reserve Regulations ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great fundamentals book
This book is a terrific resource for new bankers, or even experienced bankers who want to understand more about the teller and payment functions.

Excellent intro to banking
This is the text used by the American Bankers Assn. (ABA) to teach beginning bank personnel how banking works. My company, a large banking software company, also uses it to train new employees.

Only the 1st chapter is a sales pitch. The rest is easy to read, comprehensive presentations of teller functions, payments, credit, reporting, business banking, marketing, history and current trends. ... Read more

Book Description

This volume introduces a new direction for microenterprise finance. The editors and contributors argue that one can create sustainable and viable financial institutions that give the poor greater access to financial services. Covering Aisa, Africa, and Latin America, the cases outline successful programs such as: the Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI); BancoSol in Bolivia; the Association of Solidarity Groups in Colombia; and the Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

You Must Read This Book!
Otero and Rhyne have done an admirable job of documenting recent advances in the field of microfinance. They combine a succinct and accessible writing style with lively case studies to (a) challenge pre-existing economic notions regarding microfinance, (b) present a model for evaluating microfinance programs, (c) discuss the legal environment for microfinance programs, and, (d) elaborate on alternative program design and delivery mechanisms to effectively reach poor clients. I found the case studies very helpful. Both laymen and specialists will benefit from the balanced, informed and painstaking research that has gone into writing this book. A must-read for development enthusiasts in general and microfinance fanatics in particular! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Commercial Bank Financial Management
Commercial Bank Financial Management is considered as an informative and a comprehensive guide for both experts in the field and novice alike. Although it is a good read, I find the content of the book is a little bit out-of-date. There is not enough information on electronic banking persective as it is very important in today's banking world. ... Read more

Book Description

Niall Ferguson's House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848 was hailed as "definitive" by the New York Times, a "great biography" by Time magazine, and was named one of the Ten Best Books of 1998 by Business Week. Now, Ferguson concludes his myth--breaking portrait of one of the most powerful families of modern times at the zenith of its power. From Crimea to World War II, wars repeatedly threatened the stability of the Rothschild's worldwide empire. Despite these upheavals, theirs remained the biggest bank in the world up until the First World War. Yet the Rothschild's failure to establish themselves successfully in the United States proved fateful, and as financial power shifted from London to New York after 1914, their power waned. At once a classic family saga and major work of economic, social and political history, The House of Rothschild is the riveting story of an unparalleled dynasty. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Disappointed:
I agree with one of the critics that the book had many facts and details that broke up the pace of the book for me. Ferguson presumes that the reader knows a fair amount about bonds, consuls and other financial mechanisms. He would have done well to slow down a bit and explain a few of the terms and concepts. And I think that Ferguson tells an utterly superficial and innocuous history of the Family. Long awkward sentences make for labored reading. That having been said this was no doubt a delicate and perhaps overly ambitious undertaking. And there is a lot of scholarship in here.

The House of Rothschild
Ferguson insults the purchaser of the Penguin Paperback by omitting the bibliography and only providing sketchy footnotes. "Serious scholars" who desire these items are advised to buy the Harcover edition. Other than that, it is a good read

Not as good as the first; a worthy read still
The second volume of the family saga is not as compelling as the first. Perhaps that is due to the length of time covered, or perhaps due to the relative decline of the Rothschilds in the world of finance. Still, this is a compelling story, which is skillfully narrated by Mr.Ferguson

Nothing about the real family ....
This book is not about the members of this vast family. I wish to know what the writer knows of the real Rothschild family, the people, their lives, everyday living? Their pain and heartaches? What does he know? Why not print the truth's about the family behind all he has to say about this so called empire. There are real people here....

un-dumbed down
let me begin by saying that i am not in the habit of handing out five stars in my reviews, but this fine book certainly deserves it. i am not quite sure what to make of some of the criticisms leveled at this book in the reviews until now--too many facts, overly exhaustive, too much about continental finances or politics? can a definitive work of non-fiction have too many facts or be too exhaustive? what meaning do the rothschilds have if not in the context of continental politics. i loved every one of those three qualities about this book and, to boot, though it was appallingly well written as well. i found ferguson exhiliratingly (is this an adverb? it ought to be one) willing to assume that i could assimilate mass amounts of data, only sometimes arcane, and still want to follow a linear, only sometimes, social history--that's what definitive works are all about, i think. i applaud ferguson's not dumbing down history. and perhaps that is the difference between those who very much this book and those who didn't. i wanted to read history, and got it; others, perhaps, wanted to read a good yarn and didn't. ... Read more

Book Description

This brief book provides a comprehensive, practical introduction to bank management, emphasizing risk management. It examines current banking practices that control different kinds of risk. It explores the management of bank lending, securities, capital, liabilities, and liquidity; and discusses regulation, competition, policy, and internal bank management. This book is very current and covers the latest banking developments, including new product and service offerings and the changing role of banks in the financial system. ... Read more

Book Description

Are investment bankers the responsible guardians of free-market capitalism thattheywould have us believe? Or are they something more sinister altogether . . .necessary butdangerous players in our free-market economy?

"Greed," said Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, "is good." But how good is itforcapitalism if the major investment banks are basically an oligopoly, keepingtheir riskslow and their profits artificially high? How good is it for companies thatlisten to theirvalue-destroying advice? And how good is it for the average shareholder, whopays ahuge price through portfolios that underperform and have a raft of hiddencharges?

Philip Augar worked in investment banking for more than twenty years and hassincebecome a gadfly to the industry on both sides of the Atlantic. His new bookrevealsexactly how the investment banks make their money by acting simultaneously forbuyers,sellers, and themselves while carefully avoiding fee-based competition with oneanother.

Their cushy role in the financial world has finally been challenged by New YorkAttorney General Eliot Spitzer in the wake of the dot-com bubble. But only aformerinsider like Augar can go beyond the headlines to reveal how the system reallyworks andwhy it matters to anyone who owns stock. ... Read more

Book Description

As a governor of the Federal Reserve Board from 1996 to 2002, Laurence H. Meyer helped make the economic policies that steered the United States through some of the wildest and most tumultuous times in its recent history. Now, in A Term at the Fed, Governor Meyer provides an insider's view of the Fed, the decisions that affected both the U.S. and world economies, and the challenges inherent in using monetary policy to guide the economy.

When Governor Meyer was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in 1996, the United States was entering one of the most prosperous periods in its history. It was the time of "irrational exuberance" and the fabled New Economy. Soon, however, the economy was tested by the Asian financial crisis, the Russian default and devaluation, the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, the bursting of America's stock bubble, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

In what amounts to a definitive playbook of monetary policy, Meyer now relives the Fed's closed-door debates -- debates that questioned how monetary policy should adapt to the possibility of a New Economy, how the Fed should respond to soaring equity prices, and whether the Fed should broker the controversial private sector bailout of LTCM, among other issues. Meyer deftly weaves these issues with firsthand stories about the personalities involved, from Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan to the various staffers, governors, politicians, and reporters that populate the world of the Fed.

Since the end of his term, Meyer has continued to watch the Fed and the world economy. He believes that we are witnessing a repetition of some of the events of the remarkable 1990s -- including a further acceleration in productivity and perhaps another bull market. History does not repeat itself, yet Meyer shows us how the lessons learned yesterday may help the Fed shape policy today.

Reviews (5)

Excellent insider's account of the Fed
This is an excellent book that gives you a good insider's view on how monetary policy is crafted within the Fed. The author experienced one of the most interesting terms in the history of the Federal Reserve Bank. This is not only because of the frequent currency crisis, sovereign defaults, hedge fund bail out, stock market bubbles and crashes. These are the usual villains. But, it is the "New Economy" that became the paradigm shift in the Fed's monetary policy.

In essence, Alan Greenspan became convinced that the sustainable economic growth rate without causing undue inflation was substantially higher than it was in the past. As a result, Greenspan was comfortable lowering interest rates to record low levels, and keep them there for longer than any other Fed Chairman would have dared. Greenspan recognized that there were several factors that would keep inflation in check. These economic forces included a secular rise in U.S. labor productivity, and deflationary forces associated with globalization and the lower cost of production in China. It goes without saying that Greenspan was right one more time. Unless he undertakes a major screw up between now and then, Greenspan is likely to be remembered as the best Fed Chairman we had by the time he retires at 80 years old in 2006.

Alan Greenspan was sometimes intellectually dictatorial in his own thinking as depicted in the previous paragraph. This apparently frustrated the author somewhat who would have preferred a more collegiate, democratic, and open management style. These are good points, but they are unrealistic. The Fed Chairman has an extremely high profile. His persona is deemed to be responsible and accountable for the largest economy in the World. This economy is in turn the World's economic engine. The burden of responsibility on Greenspan is enormous and falls squarely on his shoulders alone. If he gets it wrong, he is toast. He can't in turn blame Laurence Meyer for a Fed's mistake. Alan Greenspan's successor will probably be as brilliant, and diplomatically dictatorial as Greenspan is. It is just the nature of the job.

Even though, you get that Meyer disagreed with Greenspan on their respective reading of economic indicators and policy implications, Meyer developed much intellectual and professional respect for Greenspan. The book is not at all the works of a disgruntled employee. Meyer fully recognizes he worked at the Fed during a historical transition. And, despite his occasional frustration with the job, including a lack of recognition, he most probably cherished the experience and opportunity.

Meyer comes across as having a high self-esteem, yet being egoless, with much humor. In other words, he must have been an ideal colleague to work with at the Fed. He certainly is a very good author, and has a gift for conveying complex technicalities of monetary policy in very readable and even entertaining prose.

If you enjoy books on economics and policy, I also strongly recommend "In an Uncertain World" by Robert E. Rubin, former Secretary of the Treasury under Clinton. Rubin is also probably the top candidate to replace Greenspan in 2006, if John Kerry wins the Presidential election.

Term at the Fed: Insightful & Informative
Given Meyer's background as an award-winning macroeconomic forecaster, well-credentialed academic and professor, and six-year member of the Board of Governors of the Fed, it is little surprise that this account of his term at the Fed is truly insightful in several dimensions.

Meyer does a skillful job of interpreting the flow of economic events from mid 1996 to early 2002 within the intellectual framework of mainstream economics, a "school" that includes Alan Greenspan and the influential Federal Reserve staff. That this was such an interesting period in U.S. economic history --- including the late 1990s productivity acceleration, the Asian and Russian Crises, the bursting of the equity bubble, and 9/11 --- means there are plenty of potentially confusing cross currents that must be made to fit into a single framework, and Meyer does this clearly and without resort to much jargon.

As a long-time professor of monetary economics, Meyer knew well the organization and mechanics of the Fed. What he learned from his time there and reveals in this book is the real functioning of the Fed under Greenspan, especially in its conduct of monetary policy. The chapter entitled "Come with Me to the FOMC" is an interesting and insightful blow-by-blow account of a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the policy-setting body of the Fed. For the advanced student of monetary policy, the book develops the 'playbook for monetary policy' in the Greenspan era, putting in context the Fed's "risk management" approach and penchant for "gradualism."

After serving closely with Alan Greenspan for nearly six years Meyer has little but praise for Greenspan's abilities as Fed Chairman. While Meyer clearly would adopt a more open and engaged style than Greenspan if he were chairman, he came to respect the Chairman's go-it-alone, no-nonsense, style. If there is a cautionary note it is that any successor to Greenspan would need to quickly establish themselves in the eyes of the other FOMC members and adopt Greenspan's technique of "leading from the middle." It makes finding a Greenspan replacement sound like a rather daunting challenge.

Finally it is refreshing to hear the candor and humility with which the tale is told. As a former leading member of what is arguably one of the world's most powerful institutions, he could have been excused for exaggerating his own importance and tooting his own horn. Rather we get an honest description of how he and his colleagues struggled to understand the remarkable performance of the economy in the second half of the 1990s and how it responded to a series of shocks starting in early 2000. A key lesson of that period made clear by this book is that the conduct of monetary policy is far too difficult and far too important to be left to amateurs and that we need more people like Meyer to sit at the big oval table at 20th and C streets.

Insiders View of Fed
This concise book is a must read for both the casual investor and the seasoned fed watcher. Former Fed Governor Larry Meyer provides the first book length account of the "Secrets of the Temple" as experienced by an actual member of the Open Market Committee. In a jargon-free style, Meyer chronicles the intellectual ferment at the Fed as Alan Greenspan and company struggled to come to terms with the implications of the "New Economy", debated the existence of a stock market bubble and dealt with the calamity of September 11th. Neither a tell-all memoir nor a self-congratulatory tome, Meyer is scrupulously honest in admitting his own mistakes while unstinting in his praise for the wisdom of Chairman Greenspan. Nevertheless, the picture he paints, of a nearly all-powerful Chairman and staff will likely be a cause of concern for those concerned about the performance of a post-Greenspan fed. An excellent book for anyone interested in the economy or the conduct of monetary policy, "A Term at the Fed" should be required reading in all introductory macroeconomics classes.

Educational and witty account of a spectacular Fed term
Years ago, I was intrigued with the idea of "The New Economy" and wanted to educate myself on the topic. I began with Woodward's Maestro, then picked up some textbooks on Macroeconomics, all the while keeping up with the business news. Dr. Laurence Meyer, known as a "hawk," popped up in the news frequently, and caused many Wall Street types to tremble ...which I found very amusing. I also enjoyed his sense of humor, transparency and trustworthy (if not always welcome) insights which turned up in the news as well. This set me up to grab his book when it came out.

When "The New Economy" fell apart, I, like everyone else, wondered what happened and where we would go from the wreckage. I've been waiting for this book.

Humorous asides that allow one to vicariously enjoy Meyer's trip into "DC land" while studying an account of the economic history taking place during his term, make the book hard to put down. The likable Meyer reveals an endearing humility and strength of character in drawing himself not only as person who is proud of his accomplishments, but one secure enough to share his foibles and fears for the amusement of the reader. Most importantly, Meyer's experience as a professor shines as he magically makes complex economics concepts easier to understand for non experts such as myself.

If you want another tome about Greenspan, this one is not going to tell you anything earthshaking or new. But if you are interested in a educational report written by an extremely knowledgeable, intelligent, forthright, and witty man, on the workings of the Fed during an intriguing time in US economics , Meyer's book is for you.

An informative, not juicy look inside the Federal Reserve
There is no question that the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) is the world's most powerful institution, even stronger than the United States military. The members of the board understand this power, and follow an effective code of secrecy concerning their plans. However, representatives of the board are regularly required to speak in public, even testify before Congress. Therefore, Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Fed, has raised the art of obfuscation to a level never seen before. I have watched tapes of him testifying before Congress and have never been exactly sure what he is saying. Apparently, this trait is so ingrained in him that when he proposed marriage, his wife wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about.
Laurence H. Meyer served a term at the Fed from 1996 until the end of January, 2002. Therefore, he was there during the incredible boom of the late nineties and the economic downturn of the early years of the twenty-first century. This enormous contrast in economic performance means that the debate within the Fed, as related by Meyer, covers the entire range of positions.
In the early years, the debate was always about whether to raise rates, in order to stave off the possibility of inflation. During most of that time, Meyer and Greenspan were on opposite sides of the discussion. Greenspan took the position that the incorporation of new technology was causing a dramatic increase in productivity that was not reflected in the economic data. Meyer did not believe this until the data forced the conclusion.
The core of the argument was the value of NAIRU (Non-accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment), an economic statistic that is not universally accepted to say nothing of having ever been accurately measured. It is the level of unemployment considered the bound, where if the rate drops below the NAIRU, then employers are forced to increase wages in order to attract and retain workers. The end result will then be a strong inflationary pressure. It was very illuminating to read Meyer's account of the discussions inside the Fed regarding whether this "mythical" value had indeed been reached. Those discussions reveal a great deal of what actually goes on inside the Fed and how so much of their work is on the order of reading the tea leaves. While the consequences of their actions are very practical and dynamic, it also shows that the governors are sometimes forced to rely on unproven economic theories to make their decisions.
The last years of Meyer's term were spent in cutting interest rates, as the economy began to enter a deep slide. In this case, the discussions were completely different, with the theory now being based on deflationary models. Deflation is what occurred in the depression of the thirties and in Japan in the nineties. Prices begin dropping, leading to purchasing being delayed, hoping for a better price. If a feedback loop begins, it can be disastrous, considered even worse than inflation. The governors of the Fed became concerned about that possibility, and the arguments were now over how much to cut interest rates and how fast to do it.
Those who are hoping for a juicy expose of dramatic arguments or revelations about personalities will be disappointed with this book. There is very little about Alan Greenspan that was not already known and the arguments between the Fed governors are described as being quite tame. In some ways the descriptions seem too tame. Human nature and the major consequences of their actions dictate that the discussions would be carried out more passionately than Meyer describes.
I commend Meyer for his approach in writing this book. So many of the books written by former government officials are "explanations" of why they were right and so many others were wrong. They are filled with as much dirty linen as possible, without really explaining how decisions were arrived at. Meyer describes how things were done at the Fed, how it is run under Greenspan and how decisions were made. While he does criticize Greenspan, it has none of that spiteful tone that so many others use. Therefore, if you really want to know how the Fed makes the decisions that drive the world economy up or down, then this is the book to read. ... Read more

Book Description

The business of credit ratings began in the United States in the early 1900s. Over time, credit ratings have gradually taken on an expanding role, both in the United States and abroad and in official financial market regulation as well as in private capital market decisions. However, in 1999 the Bank for International Settlements (through its Committee on Banking Supervision) proposed rule changes that would provide an explicit role for credit ratings in determining a bank's required regulatory risk capital. Once implemented, this BIS proposal (often referred to as Basel 2) would vastly elevate the importance of credit ratings by linking the required measure of bank capital to the credit rating of the bank's obligors. With these regulatory changes under active discussion, research into the role for ratings and rating agencies in the global financial system is particularly apropos. Ratings, Rating Agencies and the Global Financial System brings together the research of economists at New York University and the University of Maryland, along with those from the private sector, government bodies, and other universities. The first section of the volume focuses on the historical origins of the credit rating business and its present day industrial organization structure. The second section presents several empirical studies crafted largely around individual firm-level or bank-level data. These studies examine (a) the relationship between ratings and the default and recovery experience of corporate borrowers, (b) the comparability of credit ratings made by domestic and foreign rating agencies, and (c) the usefulness of financial market indicators for rating banks, among other topics. In the third section, the record of sovereign credit ratings in predicting financial crises and the reaction of financial markets to changes in credit ratings is examined. The final section of the volume emphasizes policy issues now facing regulators and credit rating agencies. ... Read more

Book Description

As VP of marketing at online retailer Half.com, Mark Hughes didn’t have a hugebudgetfor advertising. Yet he helped drive the number of Half.com users from zero toeightmillion in just three years. His secret? Making the company a magnet for mediaattentionand word-of-mouth, by any means necessary. Most notoriously, he persuaded thetown ofHalfway, Oregon, to rename itself Half.com—called "one of the greatest publicitycoups"in history by Time.

In this breakthrough book, Hughes offers a practical guide to the art ofsuccessful buzzmarketing—which many people talk about these days but few truly understand. Hedrawson real-world examples of companies that got people to talk about their stuff— fromMiller Lite during the "Tastes Great—Less Filling" era, to AmericanIdol’sstunning use of buzz to become a global phenomenon, to current companies thatfindcreative ways to break through the ad-glutted marketplace.

Buzzmarketing explores the six secrets of great word-of-mouth campaignsandshows how any company can thrive by pursuing a buzz-driven strategy rather thanjusthoping for a lucky break. Readers who have enjoyed books like The TippingPoint and Purple Cow will find Buzzmarketing to be the idealguideto applying buzz to their real-world business needs. ... Read more

Book Description

In the past few years, the financial industry has undergone dynamic structural changes that have deeply affected the sales process. Bruised by market volatility, today’s consumer is skeptical and demands more for less. You need fresh approaches to sell in today’s tough marketplace.

Here are the 22 Keys that can help any financial professional make more money, work less, and maximize their potential. Industry leaders James Benson and Paul Karasik combine their personal experience with the shared wisdom of the masters. Each key contains proven, actionable sales guidelines, including:

* The four primary fears that could destroy your sale—and how to help your prospects overcome them* The nine most effective strategic approaches to "target marketing" success* Five guidelines for qualifying prospects more effectively* Sixty-five ways to snap a sales slump* Ten ways to get your clients to say "Yes"* Four simple steps to generate new business with current clients* Five guidelines for overcoming objections* Six sample scripts to make your closing ratios soar

Whether you’ve been in business for years or are just beginning, each key will unlock a new door on your path to sales success. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Narrow Your Focus and Do More of What Works
Review Summary: 22 Keys to Sales Success has some very fine material in it. The book would have been much improved if it had focused on one type of sales professional in one type of organization looking for one type of client (a new life insurance salesperson in a small agency dealing with owners of small businesses, for example). That would have allowed the material to have been more focused and customized for immediate use. At the same time, some of the material just doesn't fit certain classes of sales professionals. If you are wise enough to ignore what doesn't fit, this book can greatly improve your success.

Review: The authors are clearly well read and have had a lot of experience going to seminars. The many references to the works of others are appropriate and add depth to this otherwise simple book. From that authority, they provide many helpful suggestions that will be essential to newcomers to financial sales and valuable to experienced people who aren't using the advice.

I thought that the advice to Create Your Compelling Vision, Position with Mission, Energize Your Success, Open the Johari Window, Market Yourself as the Expert, Focus on Clients (Not Compensation), Demand Objections, and Be Your Own Sales Manager were superb. I was skeptical about the strong emphasis on continuing efforts to close, scripts and the suggested ways to get referrals. The material in the book seemed inauthentic to me in these areas as a professional, and I graded the book down accordingly.

It seemed like the book was aimed more at those selling insurance products for life and retirement than anything else. So if that's what you sell, this book is probably good for you. If you are a financial planner who looks at all dimensions of planning, this book is probably too sales-oriented to meet your professional standards. If you are an attorney, you will probably find much of what the book says to be appalling in its commercial focus.

One of the ironies of this book is that the authors suggest that you focus in as narrow a niche of services and customers as possible. I wonder why they didn't follow their own advice in writing this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (8)

Engaging reading
Intended for an audience unfamiliar with micro-finance, this book offers an easily readable history of the Grameen Bank and the potential for loaning to poor women. Even though I have some background in the field, I still found it an interesting story. However, the author relied heavily on Grameen staff and translators and I felt that the level of analysis and criticism that would have been useful was lacking. It is more a journalistic story than an academic analysis of this institution.

5 Stars
This is the best book Ive ever read. I'm an international banker of Banladeshi origin working for one of the worlds biggest bank. After reading this book I feel I want to quit my day job and work for Grameen and actually make a difference to the world by helping to eradicate world poverty.

David Bornstein has written the book beautifully.

Dr Yunus is a legend.... Respect to you sir

omar_rahim@hotmail.com

Great things from small beginnings
This is a great book & I recommend it to anyone interested in development in third world countries. Ought to find its way onto a few economics course booklists I hope. It does not offer a step by step guide on how to set up a system in your own country, just a generalised working. Not a big criticism, as that would be a subject for a less accessible, more technical book. For starters, this is it!

Fighting Poverty in the Trenches, One Borrower at a Time
More than just a casual pass through Bangladesh to investigate Grameen Bank, the micro-credit phenomenon started a quarter century ago by Muhammad Yunus, The Price of a Dream fills in gaps left by other writings. It puts a human face on the poor of this impoverished Asian country, formerly known as East Pakistan. It brings poverty-stricken Bangladeshis into your livingroom as factual, not fictional, folks.

"Aren't all Bangladeshis poor?" you ask. No. There is wealth. But there are also tens of millions of families so impoverished that one cannot begin to understand the depth and breadth of their deprivation without actually visiting this tropical nation or coming to know some of these people through a book such as this.

Bornstein writes in a painterly way. His stories, both sad and glad, weave a mesmerizing pattern of the richness of Bangladeshi life amid trying circumstances. How people cope, how they react to successes and disasters, how they work to pull themselves up economically and socially: every thread is pulled through the loom in due course to render a true and clear representation of lives on the ragged edge. Thanks to loans from Grameen, millions of families have been able to hem that edge, one stitch at a time, to finish off their piece of cloth.

For his part, Yunus, speaking as the economics professor he once was, declares, "Credit is a powerful weapon, and anyone possessing this weapon is certainly better equipped to maneuver the forces around him to his advantage." (p. 228)

Micro-credit empowers the unempowered. No one describes that process better than David Bornstein. The Price of a Dream will open your eyes to the possibility of minimizing the indignity of poverty in our lifetime, if not eliminate it altogether. Every beautiful tapestry starts with a single thread. Even if that first thread is mere hope, it's a worthy place to begin.

A must read for microcredit enthusiasts
I've been reading a lot of books on microcredit/microfinance and this is very thorough; I would reccommend it for anyone interested in the industry and to those trying to duplicate Grameen's efforts in other areas. It gives you an indepth look at the Grameen Bank(it's successes, failures). It also gives you an opportunity to look at the bank from the perspective of the borrowers and the staff. All the stories aren't rosy and glamorous which makes this book a lot more balanced than what I've read in the past. The author gives you the room to create your own views on Grameen and microcredit(as a sustainable means to fight poverty). This was a great read!! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

only for students
You shall be interested in the book only if you are just beginning to learn about a bank analysis and management. Be careful!!!

Strictly for beginners
All potential readers be warned: this book is only suitable for very early beginners, people starting from absolute scratch on the topic. It is very clear and concise (I read it in a single afternoon) but you are not going to find in-depth discussion of anything. Also I'd like to make it clear that the book talks about ALM in banks only (no insurance companies, pension funds, endowments etc).

So, if you are very ignorant but curious, this book is for you (possibly buy it used, it's not cheap). If you already know the basics of ALM, my advice is to buy something else. ... Read more

Book Description

"This brief exposé of central banking and monetary policy. . . should be required reading for all those, specialists and nonspecialists alike, interested in those subjects." -- Manuel Guitián, Finance and Development

Alan S. Blinder offers the dual perspective of a leading academic macroeconomist who served a stint as Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board--one who practiced what he had long preached and then returned to academia to write about it. He tells central bankers how they might better incorporate academic knowledge and thinking into the conduct of monetary policy, and he tells scholars how they might reorient their research to be more attuned to reality and thus more useful to central bankers.

Based on the 1996 Lionel Robbins Lectures, this readable book deals succinctly, in a nontechnical manner, with a wide variety of issues in monetary policy. The book also includes the author's suggested solution to an age-old problem in monetary theory: what it means for monetary policy to be "neutral." ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Well Done
After having taken Macroeconomic Theory, Alan Blinder's book was extremely clear and understandable. His comments about Central Banking behavior make wonderful sense as he takes into account both academic and real world theaters. He was especially clairvoyant in his reasoning about why a Central Bank needs to establish credibility. A definite recommendation for those interested in the Federal Reserve and what they do.

Sensible
Nothing fancy, but a good testimony from a real central banker about how real central banking has been carried out in recent US history. It is much less glamorous than all the theories, models and arguments would have it. Logical, sensible and even-tempered, like a central banker. A small book easily read in an evening that brings a lot down to earth. Only four stars because nothing this reasonable deserves five. ... Read more

Book Description

Friedman makes clear once and for all that no one is immune from monetary economics-that is, from the effects of its theory and its practices. He demonstrates through historical events the mischief that can result from misunderstanding the monetary system. Index. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

The Power of Monetary Thinking
In his best selling study, Robert L. Heilbroner calls Economists 'The worldly philosophers'. That description certainly captures what Milton Friedman does in this book - he takes the seemingly simple concept of money, the unit of exchange we use daily and rarely reflect upon, and demonstrates how complicated the issues regarding it are.

(As an interesting aside, Heilbroner's original title for his book was 'the money philosophers' - a definition that fits Friedman in this book even better then his chosen title, even if it is too narrow to account for all of economics).

More then half of this collection of essays is about the so-called 'Crime of 1873' - America's decision, following the issuance of fiat money (that is, money irredeemable in specie) during the Civil War, to peg the dollar not to both silver and gold, but to gold alone. This seemingly arcane and academic topic was a major political issue in the 1880s and 90s, climaxing with the nomination of the silver Democrat, William Jennings Bryan to the presidency of the United States in 1896.

As the Unites States, along with most other 19th century nations such as Germany and France, followed Great Britain in adopting the gold standard, the price of gold rose in terms of other resources, so prices went down. Therefore there was a severe deflation causing much unrest and discontent.

The cure to the deflation came not through political or monetary means, however, but because of an invention of a method to extract gold from low grade ore. This increased the supply of gold, lowered its prices. Hence stopping the deflation, and killing the presidential ambitions of William Jennings Bryan.

The rest of the book describes various issues, from FDR's decision to 'help silver' which helped Communism in China instead (by increasing the cost of silver, overvaluing the Chinese currency and thus hurting Chinese exports and undermining the Chinese economy), to the policy of pegging a currency to the dollar (not a good idea as it subjects the country to the whims of the world economy. The policy was a grave failure to Chile and a great success to Israel, due entirely to external changes in the value of the dollar).

The theme of the later parts of the book is undoubtedly inflation. Friedman demonstrates his claim that inflation is "always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon" (p.104). Inflation is caused by government increasing the money supply, although one time price increases may be caused by unfortunate outside events (like Arabs reduction of the exportation of oil in the early 1979s).

Although Friedman is well known as an economic right winger, there is nothing in this account that should be displeasing to anyone from the left - Friedman's case is against mismanagement, not for small or big governments. Nor is there any argument about whether government spending should go to the military, to welfare, or to any other cause. Although Friedman's book is filled with stories of the political economy, its moral is politically neutral. Indeed, Friedman clearly discusses how inflation is often used by governments because direct taxation is unpopular (p.205) - can you say "read my lips, no new taxes"?

Furthermore, the economic analysis of some reviewers in Amazon is shaky. Friedman writes "all these adjustments [the negative effects of inflation] are set in motion by changes in the rates of monetary growth and inflation. If monetary growth was high but steady... the economy would adjust to it. ... Such an inflation would do no great harm " (p.222).

Although Friedman does not like inflation, he actually makes a case for it, at least at a low single digit level. Since people are usually sellers of few things and purchasers of many, they are more aware of the increase in the price of the commodity they sell then they are of the increase of general prices, especially when those changes are low. People like to see their income go up, as they feel it is a just reward for their efforts (p. 70).

'Money Mischief' is an interesting, challenging book. Its chapters vary from the extremely technical and difficult, (notably chapter 4, a counter-factual exercise estimating the effect of continuing bimetallism after 1873), to 'pop economics' chapters which are no less enlightening and easier to read.

The book ends with a discussion of the new experiment started in the 1970s - currency which is entirely unredeemable by any kind of good. Earlier economists thought that this was impossible, and would necessarily lead to high inflation, but Friedman is optimistic - he believes that aware and well informed public and decision makers can pressure the government against unduly increasing the money supply. Thus, widespread understanding of economics is the real cure for inflation.

A great introdcution to the importance of monetary policy
I must confess of my unbounded admiration for Milton Friedman. He has contributed so much to our understanding of the effects of monetary policy and has been such a tireless advocate for freedom that I must admit I am not impartial in any way, so readers beware.

This book examines 10 different episodes in world history in which seemingly trivial policy choices towards money had profound, unexpected, and unforeseen consequences (usually very bad). They make enjoyable reading and are most educational.

The discussions are not all that technical and, to me, sparkle with wit and insight. This book can serve as a great introduction to how gold and silver money was abused, the effect that minting rights can have, how technology changes in mining precious metals caused a crisis of devaluation, what the heck bimetallism is and what the issues around it were (are), and most important, the risks of the kind of money we have (fiat money - because it is not tied explicitly to some kind of commodity and is therefore at the risk of somebody running the printing press too much). This is all great stuff. Enjoy!

There are several useful graphs and tables. Also, a reference list in the back can act as a bibliography for further reading.

Friedman¿s Case Against the Government Is Crystal Clear
Imagine a grand winning case that is laid before the Supreme Court to change the course of modern life around the world. Friedman starts at the very beginnings of money and traces its evolution in copious detail. As proceedings finally reach the summation which is the final chapter: "Monetary Policy in a Fiat World." I see the court in a unanimous wonderment over the masterful job that has been done by Friedman. Well, the court required is public opinion--- a bit more cumbersome.

In any nation at any point in modern history, inflation comes from only one source the national government, not by some physical event, war or deficit spending. He details how the cause of inflation is growing the money supply faster than the output of goods and services. In his fabulous review of money he chronicles the centuries of price stability that came to an end with the creation of paper money. This fiat money is not backed by a precious metal and it has spread becoming the only remaining currency in the world. He does not argue for the return to a precious metal standard as some have misrepresented.

He provides details in country after country of how governments hallucinate that the citizens will not blame the government. Inflation directly benefits the government at the expense of the citizens. In addition to the impact on your liquid assets, the government debt is paid back or refinanced with far less valuable inflated dollars. He shows how tax cuts only giving back the tax increases that come from bracket creep in an inflationary environment. Finally. People and the financial markets quickly learn that interest rates have to compensate for inflation plus a real above inflation.

In current times this means government ten year bond rates of six to eight percent or more. The last ten years was the most ideal time in a century to control inflation. However, inflation was still three to five percent per year. The only logical assumption is that in the next ten years inflation is more likely to be near five percent or more. The historical real return required on government bonds is viewed as about three percent hence the total yield of six to eight percent. Currently, it is slightly below the range. Home mortgages will tend to be a couple percent higher than the government bond. In the simplest terms, had the Federal Reserve controlled inflation to zero, mortgage rates would be half what they are today. Since Greenspan went into the job committed to zero inflation like no other Fed Chairman, there will be no realistic basis for trusting in any potential Federal Reserve policy to eliminate inflation. It would take many years of proof before bond markets would believe any such policy. Because of money mischief we are stuck with high interest rates for a very long time. Thanks to our Federal Government and no one else. The blame could not be more clear.

Many governments have fallen including democracies over the matter of inflation. As USA citizens learn about inflation, it follows that political views will change. One of Friedman's most valuable contributions is the mathematical proof and imperial evidence collection that a little inflation does not help reduce unemployment. It worsens employment. Specifically, while 3% inflation is a smaller crime against the people than 10% inflation, it is still a crime with no redeeming virtue. This is not a matter of theory or political philosophy. Thanks largely to Friedman, the proof is in and the public debate should draw to a close.

The crowning moment of the book is when he details the observations that fiat money as a global money system is only a few decades old and it remains to be seen if governments can be harnessed by citizens to stop inflation. Friedman causes us to appreciate that there is only one place to draw the line. That is at zero inflation. The wreckage of inflation is not just in the aggregate economy, the low income and the retired. The mismanagement of money in the case of the USA by the Federal Reserve eventually reeks havoc in the securities markets. While Friedman is the Federal Reserves most articulate and worthy critic, his goal is to strengthen the spine of the Federal Reserve by educating the public and the government. After reading this book you are likely to see the senators that rant that "only they care about the unemployed and the Federal Reserve must now and always pump up the money supply" as at best badly misinformed.

To label Friedman a conservative or a libertarian economist as some reviewers do is to suggest that you can dismiss the authors views as not mainstream and suspect. This convention has clearly crossed over from the liberal major market media of modern times. It is truly dastardly to degrade the standing of Milton Friedman. His great works should command everyone's study and one should allow your views to be challenged simply on the merits of Friedman's work. A Nobel Prize is not awarded as the result of some game. Friedman's contributions to the modern world are profound.

Interesting
As always , concise writing which make you able to understand the hardest part of monetory policy

Economic guru
Friedman, a personal hero of mine, makes it clear that not one of us is free from monetary economics, whether we know about its effects on us or not. He lays down monetary theory and its connection to inflation. He goes the extra mile and explains its effects on politics and world events. A great read. ... Read more

Book Description

The Handbook of First Mortgage Underwriting details the foundation for a revolutionary new commercial mortgage underwriting process. The first true industry breakthrough in years, it brings tremendous savings of time, effort, and cost by prescribing the first industrywide standards for underwriting commercial real estate.

Includes:

• Easy-to-follow methods for cash-flow underwriting process and analysis
• Standardized scopes of work for the property's site inspection
• Guidelines for clear, concise presentation of the underwriting conclusions

Book Description

Developments in IT and e-commerce, large-scale mergers and acquisitions, andincreased outsourcing all suggest that operational risk exposures are substantialand growing. In recent years, bankers and financial professions have recognizedthe crucial and growing importance of operational risk management, and thefield is currently undergoing a surge of innovation and development. In thisauthoritative, up-to-date book, Operational Risk, leading operational riskmanagement expert Carol Alexander brings together contributions from theworld's leading experts to identify today's best practices for measuring andmanaging operational risks, and assessing them in the broader context of allrisk. ... Read more

Book Description

Liquidity means being able to get the cash you need when you need it, but it also means that others must perceive you can do this so that cash remains available to you. In many banks, liquidity is taken for granted until some crisis makes it a focal point for bankers, regulators, and the public. Too often liquidity plans and policies are put in place in response to such events with little consideration of the real questions bankers need to address.

This manual gives you the guidance and the tools you need to take control of your bank's liquidity risk. No other resource takes you from the general principles of liquidity management to the specifics of what your bank needs to do, and gives you the tools you need to do it.

• Specific recommendations for liquidity management help you determine the actions you need to take.

• Bank-specific case studies and examples (including actual balance sheet data) make it easy to apply the methods and techniques to your bank.

• A sample liquidity policy and contingency plan give you a proven model to follow.

• Worksheets, ratios, formulas, and checklists help you save time and get the numbers right. ... Read more

Book Description

An in-deph review of the tremendous risk and volatility in bank financial management. Financial Risk Management in Banking provides a practical and comprehensive overview of aggressive asset and liability management (ALM) which highlights the nuances that set ALM apart from basic financial concepts and practices as they are taught even at the MBA level. It demonstrates how ALM apart from basic financial concepts and practices as they are taught even at the MBA level. It demonstrates how ALM can strengthen the capital position of today's financial institution. Topics include: how accounting concepts can interfere with ALM; currency and international funds risk; the multi-dimensional aspects of bank financial risk; the relationship between cash flow, market value and risk. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

An excellent primer on ALM.
Asset liability management can get rather complicated. The authors treat this subject in a very user friendly way that the layperson can understand, and the technician can get good guidance out of.

They cover all the basics really well. After studying this book, you will have a very good understanding of gap analysis, duration, shareholder value added, liquidity management, and other related subject.

Simply perfect
The book offers a perfectly simple approach to ALM in banking. I cannot imagine a more concise framework for this subject. The authors fully attain their objective of providing fun reading for a banking subject,something really out of this world.

Excellent introductory and relatively adv risk mgmt material
The author gives a brief history of the banking history, mainly in the USA and thus motivates the introduction of the several subsequent regulations put in place, and of the different methods os assesing risk and optimising capital allocation. The book excells in simple yet powerful risk management techniques for banks. I have recommended (and, in fact some times given away) this book both to my students and my colleagues in the asset management industry. ... Read more

Book Description

Pricing derivatives theory comes alive in this self-contained interactive experience in financial pricing. The no-arbitrage perspective in a one-period state-preference model drives the book, and the Maple® and Matlab® programs help readers visualize payoffs and respond to various constraints and conditions. With clear explanations and lavish illustrations, Pricing Derivative Securities: An Interactive, Dynamic Environment with Maple V and Matlab teaches the core theoretical concepts so often disguised behind difficult terms and institutional details.
Readers can experiment with the electronic packages forever, using the book and its solutions manual as a tutorial that can help solve problems of increasing complexity.

Key Features
* Enclosed CD-ROM includes the student version of Maple V; it provides an interactive, dynamic and friendly environment allowing students to learn through hands on experience
* Enhances learning by altering the commands in the on-line files, varying them at will, in order to experiment with applications of the concepts and different (reader-generated) examples, in addition to the ones already in the prepared file
* Provides both the framework and the tools, based on the no free lunch concept, by which readers can analyze and appreciate different scenarios, including those that are not covered in the book, related to derivative securities
* Basic concepts of stochastic calculus are enriched with demonstrations using animation, simulation and three-dimensional graphs thereby overcoming mathematical complexity
* The MATLAB® Graphic User Interface provides the ability to bring to life on the screen the theoretical material of the chapters ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Pricing Derivative Securities
For when life throws you that derivative that you just can't look up in some book...
This book provides the building blocks on both the practical and theoretical levels that one needs to price derivatives. The book provides an essential combination of three things: 1) clear explanations and examples of fundamental concepts, 2) a hands on approach to software and pricing algorithms, and 3) emphasis on graphic visualization in understanding the behavior of derivatives in general. While clearly a textbook for a Master's level course, from the point of view of a practitioner, this book has also become my first reference source at the office for those times when I can't just look up the answer, and have to resort to first principles.

Pricing Derivative Securities: An Interactive Dynamic Envir
The theory of financial derivates is now much easily understood by combining mathemtical models with the symbolic, numeric and visualization capabilities of a CAS such as Maple. The author made an excellent choice to select Maple (primarily) and Matlab. Maple is used extensively in many academic and industry settings, and its integration into the presentation of the materials makes the content come alive. Great addition, that (even) every mathematician should read! I highly recommend it.

Pricing Derivative Securities if You Can't Program at All
Based on the title and description of this book, I bought it hoping to learn more about developing financial tools, specifically interest rate models, in Matlab. After working through most of the book, I have concluded that the use of the name "Matlab" in the title is misleading: it only means that Maple, the main tool of the book, may be accessed via the kernel of Matlab.

The book appears to be targeted primarily at undergraduates and MBA students, not practitioners in the field. Such an audience may have little interest (or need) in learning to develop code or the intricacies of the underlying mechanics of financial models, and for them, the book would no doubt be very helpful. The software that comes with the book includes a stripped down version of Maple, (which is nice, since you can't really use the book without it), and author-developed analytical tools. These tools support the goals of learning through the ability to quickly vary inputs and see the impact on the output, but as they are more or less a black-box, do not add much to one's independent ability to model new financial objects or extend existing ones.

The book includes the de rigueur definitions of typical financial instruments and explanations that facilitate understanding of these instruments (such as how to read and understand option data in newspapers, the mechanics of currency swaps and so on), but one really has to follow along with the Maple commands page by page to derive benefit. The fixed income section is very skimpy. It seems like the book is best suited as an extended set of lecture notes.

I like the book but would not recommend it to practioners looking for insight on tool development or to extend knowledge of cutting edge interest rate models (as these are not covered here). I would recommend it for newcomers to the field having mathematical or quantitative backgrounds who want a reasonably good introduction to financial instruments. It would also be useful as a companion text in master's programs in financial engineering or financial mathematics. Derivatives and Maple with training wheels. ... Read more