Amazon.com

Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald's, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods don't really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubner's 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe there's a good economic reason for that too, and we're just not getting it yet. --John Moe

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner Answer The Amazon.com Significant Seven

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, author and co-author of this season's bestselling quirky hit, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, graciously answered the Amazon.com Significant Seven questions that we like to run by every author.

Levitt and Dubner answer the Amazon.com Significant Seven questions

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Reviews (118)

interesting, but not rocket science
Unlike a lot of economics books this book is pretty fair and unbiased. I don't think it is as funny as some readers thought, but the subjects are interesting. Most of it is common sense. Like that teachers cheat to make their students look smarter on standardized tests and real estate agents won't necessarily being doing everything they can to help you. As a graduate student in economics, I find is reasoning for the decline in crime being attributed to abortion highly speculative. Common sense would tell you that "aborting" fetuses that are likely to become criminals will reduce crime, only if that mother doesn't have as many children as she would if abortion were illegal. The author does a good job of staying away from the politics of abortion.

This book is good for the layman but is nothing new to the average economists. I personally think that it has been given too much praise and attention.

Thought provoking but falls a bit short
While Levitt has the propensity to ask many interesting and thought-provoking questions, his data analysis is often suspect to the same tunnel vision which he attributes to many academic studies. Levitt seems so intent on proving the "conventional wisdom" wrong that he immediately accepts data from a single source as long as it provides a sensational conclusion. For instance, just about all of Levitt's conclusions on education and parenting come from a single ECLS study conducted 15 years ago. The early chapters on information and cheating are quite solid and alone may be worth the price of the book. However once Levitt tackles education, crime, and parenting his down-to-earth anecdotal approach becomes insufficient to explain these complex issues. Freakonomics is similar to many other pop-science bestsellers in that it makes its subject more approachable through oversimplified explanations and conclusions.

A Great, Quick Read, Perfect for Summer
I very much have enjoyed reading this book.As a grade school teacher, it doesn't surprise me that teachers cheat on their students' end-of-the-year assessments; what is surprising is that this is rarely talked about and people seem to be shocked and surprised when, on the rare occasion, someone gets caught.With the pressure to have one's students earn high scores coming from both parents and administrators, how could it not happen?Much more is expected of teachers today, and not all are up to the hard work, time and energy.But this book isn't only about teachers--you'll learn about drug dealers and how they organize their gangs quite similar to corporations; you'll be surprised that sumo wrestlers cheat (I actually hadn't thought about them or the game, but there is a way they can cheat), among other topics. Perhaps the most controversial notion is about what brought down crime levels in the 1980s, a time when everyone predicted crime would rise.It's an interesting idea, but Levitt doesn't provide much support, which was disappointing.

Layman's LanguageAnalyses of Various Social Canards
Too often articles or books written by economists are couched in arcane verbiage and statistics.Levitt avoids this, and the result is a very interesting, though-provoking review of several social myths.

He begins by summarizing the status of crime in the mid-1990's - high, and projected to go much higher with the coming "teenager boom."Instead, it began a long, steep decline.The most common "explanations" were "roaring economy," "gun control," and "innovative policing." Levitt then goes on to summarize data that convincingly reture them all.For example, a good economy might decrease economic crimes, but why did violent crimes drop even more?Further, why didn't crime also fall during the booming '60s?As for innovative policing, Levitt reports that the declines began prior to this initiative, and that its prime contribution was through adding policeman (accounting for about 10% of the drop).Similarly he refutes the logic for crediting increased rights of citizens to carry guns, and gun buy-backs, while the drop in crack prices is credited with 15% of the drop.

Levitt then reports the results of Romania's strong anti-abortion posture in the 60s - a large contingent of resented children, many of whom became serious problems when they grew up.Finally, the "shocker" - Levitt presents various data that provide a solid case for concluding that the drop in crime was primarily due to Roe v. Wade making abortions available to lower-income women - many of whom would have had problems raising the unwanted children.

Other topics addressed by Levitt include documenting cheating associated with "high-stakes" (eg. potential job loss, raises, school closure) pupil testing (estimated at about 5% in Chicago Public Schools), documenting and explaining the lack of drug traffic profits for most of those involved (rakeoffs by those at higher levels).Another interesting and useful topic covered is how society often misplaces efforts into low-payoff efforts to protect children (eg. child-resistant packaging, flame-retardant pajamas, avoiding being seated near front-seat airbags, and keeping their children out of homes with guns), instead of the much higher-payoff of keeping children away from homes with swimming pools.

Throughout the book, Levitt carefully summarizes supporting data, while also informing readers of how similar data are often misused.His "bottom-line," so to speak, is for the reader to become more aware of the effect of incentives, and the frequent lack of factual bases for conventional thinking.

An interesting, useful two-hour read.

Revelations?!only if you're the type to wear shades at night
while interesting, the subject matter of this book is not sublime, the questions are not revolutionary and the 'answers' are soooo not comprehensive. though a contribution is likely, to claim that crime went down simply because of abortion is silly. and duh swimming pools are 'more dangerous' if you look at data collected from past incidences. but you cannot claim this to be true of the inherent/accidental potential for danger of a swimming pool compared to a gun. this book seems to ignore that probability is only predictive if circumstances are equal. and that sometimes a name might carry significance beyond where it can get you in life. but perhaps that one is more than what can expected of educated white men. Still... fun reading, great cover. And I'm sure levitt's classes are more intellectually engaging than this book. ah! one more thing: drug dealers live at home because 'Gator boots, with the pimped out gucci suit/ Ain't got no job, but I stay sharp/ Can't pay my rent, cause all my money's spent/ But thats ok, cause I'm still fly/ Got a quarter tank gas in my new e-class/ But that's alright cause I'm gon' ride/ Got everything in my moma's name/ But I'm hood rich da dada dada da' - Still Fly by Big Tymers ... Read more

Book Description

Within 20 years -- possibly far sooner -- China will have the world’s largest economy. That will powerfully impact you: your job, your company, your economic future, and your country. In The Chinese Century, Oded Shenkar shows how China is restoring its imperial glory by infusing modern technology and market economics into a non-democratic system controlled by the Communist party and bureaucracy.

Shenkar shows why China’s accelerating growth differs radically from predecessors such as Japan, India, and Mexico -- and how it will lead to a radical restructuring of the global business system. Discover why the U.S. is most vulnerable to China’s ascent... how China’s disregard for intellectual property creates sustainable competitive advantage... and how China’s growth impacts every global business and consumer.

Above all, Shenkar shows what you must do to survive and prosper in "the Chinese Century."

· Cheap labor + millions of high-skilled professionals

· How China will sustain dominance in low-tech industries as it enters high-tech realms

· Building tomorrow’s Toyotas and Sonys... faster and cheaper

· Chinese multinationals: learning from joint ventures, preparing to lead

· Leveraging Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and the "Chinese diaspora"

· Bringing together the world’s most powerful pool of human resources

· $2 Rolexes, and beyond

· Piracy, counterfeiting, bootlegging, and stolen intellectual property

· From economics to geopolitics: counterbalancing America

· Previewing China’s increasingly assertive foreign policy ... Read more

Book Description

Macroeconomics is an integrated knowledge-building tool that is both concise and comprehensive. A 240-minute DVD explains macroeconomics in entertaining, easy-to-follow fashion, while well-designed Web interfaces help you to place the material into the real world. Professionals looking to learn more are shown both sides of each argument, then given the information they need to make informed choices on how macroeconomic factors impact society.

Amazon.com

In Conquer the Crash, Robert Prechter explains why he thinks the boom times are behind us. Based on his interpretation of the Elliott Wave principle (an idea premised on the notion that mass investor psychology is what really drives markets), Prechter believes that the U.S. economy is about to enter into a deflationary depression that few investors are prepared to deal with. In making his case, Prechter assembles an impressive array of data that in essence suggests that the bill for the last 10 years of market excess is about to come due. The second half of the book shows how to avoid becoming "a zombie-eyed victim of the depression" and offers advice on protecting one's assets in a deflationary environment (cash is king). If there's any good news in the future that Prechter sees coming (other than how to avoid it), it's that all-out depressions don't last very long. Conquer the Crash should appeal to gloom-and-doom investors and to those desperately looking for a safe haven from the uncertainties of today's markets. --Harry C. Edwards ... Read more

Reviews (89)

Who are you going to believe?
Subscribers to Prechter's newsletters will have already read most of what is in this book. But for the other 99.99% of investors in the world who are not his subscribers, he has distilled down his reasoning and recommended course of actions into one convenient place.

This book is really two books within one set of covers -- the publisher even uses two different kinds of paper stock to differentiate the "books." In "book one," Prechter draws from history and shows charts & graphs (some going back 300 years) of what has happened in situations similar to what we are going through today. Known for his Elliott Wave analysis, Prechter does not stop there. He uses all of the tools of technical and fundamental analysis to methodically build his argument that the current market downturn is very far from over. Like a lawyer presenting a case, he covers everything from esoteric considerations such as rising federal debt as a percentage of GDP, to public psychology, to the ultimate impotence of the Fed. At the end of the section, the reader is left with the choice to either believe that history repeats, or that "this time it's different."

"Book two" presents practical advice of what to do now. He offers suggestions of what to do if you're in the stock market and your account is way down. He covers junk bonds, real estate, treasuries, pension plans, 401Ks, insurance, gold, and the whole spectrum of investments. To help the reader, he lists the safest banks in the country. He has eye-opening advice for people who are relying on government protection such as FDIC bank account insurance. Finally, he shows how to actually profit in the environment we are currently in.

Some disparage Prechter for his past fault of getting out of the market too early. It's a valid criticism; nevertheless, every one of his predictions are currently playing out. How do you argue with someone who is right?

Ultimately, the reader is left with a choice. One is to follow the financial mass media, economists and brokerage analysts who say recovery is just around the corner. The other is to look at history and Prechter's prediction, along with his track record of being only one of a handful of people to predict the magnitude of the market crash. Who are you going to believe?

Shows you how to profit from the coming depression.
In his new book, Robert Prechter makes a convincing case that we are heading for a deflationary depression, similar to the environment the U.S. saw in the early 1930's, and Japan has experienced for the last 12 years. Readers are shown how to prepare, and even prosper as this deflationary scenario unfolds. While most will be crushed by the weight of their own mortgage and credit card debt, readers of this book can take advantage of a once in a lifetime investment opportunity.

Prechter's understanding of technical, contrary, and economic analysis is exceptional. According to conventional wisdom of investors, traders, and the so-called "experts" on Wall Street, external events and fundamentals cause psychology and social mood to change. Flying in the face of this conventional wisdom, Prechter maintains that in reality the opposite is true; psychology and social mood cause underlying economic and market conditions to change. Once you view events from this perspective you can successfully anticipate conditions and properly adjust your investment techniques for maximum wealth appreciation and preservation.

Prechter identifies the many ways for readers to profit off the continuing stock market decline. Whether you trade stocks, bonds, commodities, or options you will find valuable advice in this book. It will have a permanent spot on my own bookshelf next to Prechter's earlier classic "At the Crest Of the Tidal Wave". Prechter's advice will surely be used in my own trading.

Interesting but...
I like Prechter because he's an interesting, unconventional thinker. But... I want to be careful and fair... doesn't his track record leave quite a bit to be desired?

At one time (I think the early 80's), I've read or heard he did well with his market predictions. But, not sure, didn't he get the 87 crash wrong in the sense that the market quickly recovered and that would've been the opportunity of a lifetime to buy? And, hasn't he's been bearish though another great opportunity, the incredible bull market of the latter 90's?

Finally, here we are in mid 2004, with Gold holding _above_ $400, the stock averages within spitting distance of their old highs, and the fed likely to raise interest rates because of the economic recovery (along with job creation) to keep inflation in check.

It just seems like Elliot Wave strings you along... there're always unlikely alternate counts and unlikely alternates to those that make you question why the unlikely of the unlikely seem to happen so often. I'm not trying to bash; would actually prefer to be more positive; but am simply expressing an honest dissapointment.

Highly Recommended!
Prophets of doom have always made entertaining reading. In his latest fire-and-brimstone warning, Robert R. Prechter, Jr., an experienced forecaster of long-term economic and social trends, says financial Armageddon is just around the corner. While his technical analysis ("Wave Theory") may appear to be stock-market astrology, readers may appreciate his examination of the basic functions of money and credit, his argument that worldwide central banking has fundamentally altered these functions, and his perceptive comparisons of the late 1990s with the Roaring Twenties. Prechter might have appealed to a broader audience by toning down his graphs and technical talk, and focusing instead on his investment suggestions: If the market turns down, you'll save your skin, but even in a bull market, keeping your money safe can't hurt. We recommend this book to anyone looking for bear-market investment advice, as well as those interested in technical analysis or an opinionated view of business and market cycles.

A poorly argued case, even for market bears.
Mr. Prechter is best known as a popular advocate for the Elliot Wave principle. He continues this school of thought in this book.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part attempts to persuade the reader that the US economy is headed for a deflationary depression. The second part recommends actions to prepare and prosper during a deflationary depression. This specific edition of the book also includes an update written in 2004. (The original book was written in 2002.)

First of all, with any investment book review, it is important to understand the reviewer's biases. My belief is that the US will enter some type of unwinding, either through an extended securities bear market, or more severe overall imbalance. I maintain a minor belief in technical analysis but do not rely on it.

Elliot Wave analysis is, at its core, a technical analysis methodology. Elliot Wave claims to find a recurring pattern in short term, long term, and ultra-long term market price charts. What is gravely missing, however, is some sort of explanation or justification for its supposed utility. Many schools of technical analysis, for example, give plausible explanations for why "resistance levels" exist based on market or individual investor psychology. This is completely missing from Mr. Prechter's writings and thus he fails to distinguish himself from a long line of failed data miners.

This missing and crucial "why" is the most glaring hole in this book. While other writers attempt to prove a thesis through a chain of reasoning and supporting data, Mr. Prechter skips steps in his thesis. The holes are not glaring to a casual reader, but a person with some breadth in economic knowledge will easily spot large omissions.

For example, even if you accept the disjointed framework of technical and fundamental analysis, the fundamental arguments for deflation are seriously flawed. Note, also, that Elliot Wave principles claim only to predict the performance of securities. Thus, Elliot Wave is agnostic with respect to the inflation vs. deflation debate. Therefore, Mr. Prechter's arguments for deflation are purely fundamental in basis. This is where his loose foundation really comes apart. His understanding of the Federal Reserve functions are contrary to those written by many other writers and scholars, including many who share similar contempt for the Federal Reserve. This is rather crucial, because the specific authorities and obligations of the Federal Reserve can determine whether a presumed economic failure results in deflation or hyper-inflation. Convincing cases for deflation have been made, but Mr. Prechter does not offer one.

Where many market bears thoroughly argue and carefully build their conclusions, Mr. Prechter glosses over far too many details to arrive at this deflation conclusion and blatantly ignores examples that contradict his thesis. He uses the US depression of 1929 as his sole argument that monetary policy is powerless to prevent deflation, forgetting that Federal Reserve authority was much lesser back then. Meanwhile, he ignores the numerous historical hyper-inflation examples caused by monetarism, such as 1970's US "stagflation", the recent collapses of Argentinean and Mexican currency, or even popular historical cases such as the South Sea Company bubble and post World War One Germany. Mr. Prechter is either grossly ignorant or deliberately avoiding such cases. Neither speaks well for him.

Most importantly, he sets up his own case of why he is wrong. He admits that there is a small probability that he could be wrong and that hyper-inflation will set in. Mr. Prechter says that this would be indicated by a declining US dollar and a price of gold reaching above $400 per ounce. Both are now clearly true, yet in his 50-page 2004 appendix, he conveniently ignores this fact and chooses to emphasize only his market index prognostication.

The rest of his fundamental case rests on material already beaten to death by other bearish scholars. He writes about historical price to earnings ratios, the contrarian indications given by popular finance magazines and long-to-short ratios, for example. His fundamental arguments are not thoroughly presented and escape ridicule only because others have argued the case before him. He adds nothing new here.

Since the first part of the book is so poorly supported, the second part regarding how to survive a depression is irrelevant. His recommendations generally apply only to deflation and would not work in a hyper-inflation or zero-inflation economy.

When one supports an already argued case, the burden of proof is small. However, if one dares to present a different case as Mr. Prechter has done, one needs to cover all well known and reasonably applicable cases at a minimum. Mr. Prechter has failed in this regard and by his own criteria. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1991, a small group of Russians emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union claiming ownership some of the most valuable petroleum, natural gas and metal deposits in the world. By 1997, five of those individuals were on Forbes Magazine's list of the world's richest billionaires. These self-styled oligarchs were accused of using guile, intimidation, and occasionally violence to reap these rewards. This revelatory work examines the structure of the Russian economy and considers why it collapsed in 1998 and why it began its recovery in 1999. It also provides a close examination of the Russian oil industry and the oligarchs who control it and who have now decided to go "legitimate". ... Read more

Reviews (3)

How The Russian Mafia Destroyed Russia
I first became acquainted with this work through an NPR interview. The author, Marshall Goldman, was suddenly asked by the reviewer what he thought about top Mafia thug Mikhail Khodorkovsky giving a million dollars to the Library of Congress (as a means of legitimizing himself). Naturally, as I work at the Library of Congress, I perked up, paid attention, and then bought the book. Wow.

Khodorkovsky (currently in jail) started out as a good little communist, belonging to the Komsomol, and going to college. Johnny on the spot, he parlayed a small bank charter for
Menatep to become Russia's richest man. Unfortunately, Menatep was involved in the Bank of New York money laundering scheme, bilking the US out of billions. In 1994, the Federal Reserve ordered the CIA to investigate Russian banks, a study which concluded most Russian banks are Mafia controlled. Although the study is still classified, Menatep was the only bank publicly noted for being Mafia controlled (page148). Knodorkovsky started Yukos Oil, which was a swindle. Using this money, Khodorkovsky, with Henry Kissinger as a member of his board, gave one million dollars to the Library of Congress to start the Open Russia Foundation (page 149).

Another Library of Congress rent-a-thug was Vladimir Gusinsky. Gusinsky predated Khodorkovsky--probably because he's currently on the lam--and had helped fund the Librarian of Congress' Russia documentary film. Gusinsky had actually attended the University of Virginia to study financial management. He named his business empire MOST (a play on the word bridge)after the sign on ATM machines. Goldman also provides us with the "how" of how these two Mafia "oligarchs" could seem presentable given their backgrounds. Somebody got them the services of APCO, which is an offshoot of Arnold and Porter, a top DC law firm full of congressmen and other movers and shakers (page 129). The rest is history, as they say.

I also just have to mention one of the Russian jokes that Goldman repeats. Due to broad government theft this one circulated: A man parked under Yeltsin's office and walked away. A guard rushed up and said "You can't park under Yeltsin's office." "It's okay, the man replied, "I locked the car."

Goldman gives us the backgrounds and histories of all the top "oligarchs" and an explanation any layman can understand regarding just how Russia became so corrupted. This book, then, is not just for Library of Congress employees looking to see who the latest donors to our institution are.

Our Librarian of Congress, James Billington, is a former Sovietologist and "Russian scholar," so I suppose he knows what he is doing. Here is what Goldman thinks, though, "The more involved Russian businessmen become with the West, the more likely it is that they will come to adopt Western business practices, presumably good ones. But there is no guarantee. Given how deeply ingrained some of the less desirable practices are among Russian administrators (past and present) it is only to be expected that some of the more nefarious behaviour we have encountered inside Russia will also surface outside (page 118)."

An Absolute Must Read
I was first drawn to this book after hearing the author interviewed. He was talking about his book when he was interrupted and the interviewer asked Marshall Goldman about Russian Mafia PR campaign on US government officials.(...)In the book there is a brief mention of this fact on page 149, "To show how public-spirited YUKOS [the Mafia-run oil giant] had become, it donated $1 million to the U.S. Library of Congress and set up an Open Russia Foundation with, among others, Henry Kissinger as a member of the board of trustees." It was James Billington, the current Librarian of Congress and former "Sovietologist" professor who brought them all together. Wow.

This book is not just about the Mafia figure, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who ownes YUKOS. What sets Goldman's book apart from others I have read, such as "Comrade Criminal," is the description of what went wrong in Russia when the Soviet Union fell. Dr. Goldman paints a rather bleak picture. Goldman explains the how and why of the vouchers scam and how out of Russia, a certain overnight class of incredibly rich "oligarchs" came on the scene. Goldman shows how these billionaires never developed an economy, at one point contrasting how in Poland the problems that occured in Russia never arose.

If you want to lose sleep you need to read this book as the inroads of Russian Mafia-controlled in America should cause real alarm. As cited on page 118, "The Russian were supposed to adopt out ways, not bring their ways to the United States." Congress is well aware of all this, as on page 128 Goldman relates how the CIA reported that half of Russia's banks were Mafia controlled. The only bank to be so named publicly is MENATEP (page 148). The man the Librarian of Congress brought to the Library of Congress was not just the founder of MENATEP, but also involved in the Bank of New York money laundering.

The two chapters on the oligarchs (pages 98-156)make for heavy reading, especially since two of the oligarchs are (now were) directly involved with the Library of Congress, Vladimir Gussinsky (who fled Russia) and Khodorkovsky (arrested in his jet and currently in jail in Russia). Goldman really gives you the average Russian viewpoint of these oligarchs and the Putin reactions. That the oligarchs are intertwined with the KGB and the fact that the Russian government is predominated by KGB types is described by Goldman. His repeating of jokes really gives the feel, like the one about the subway rider who asks the man standing on his foot if he is from Petersburg (Mafia central) or the KGB. When the man says neither, he is then asked "then why are you standing on my foot?" The other great joke describes the outright theft of the country through the story of the man who parks his car under the window of Yeltsin's office. You can't park under Yeltsin's office the guard says, which the man responds "It's okay, I locked my car."

It is all this together than makes this book a classic.(...)

Best book on the topic
I have read many books on the transfer of the USSR state economy to private hands and this is, by far, the best and clearest on the topic. If one has to read just one account, this is it.

Since this is one of the great economic changes of the 20th century, and robbery on a scale that has few if any precedents, Goldman's book is very valuable and important. He is candid about the monumental errors his colleagues made as advisers (ignoring those who dipped into the honey pot and made, by professorial standards, fortunes). He has interviewed countless people and made the arcane clear. Authoritative, well-written, an excellent piece of work. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Not that great
I read this book for an international studies class, but as an econ minor, i was really dissapointed. the book is targeted towards non-econ majors, i think, but it ended up just confusing most of my friends in the class who had no econ background. however, i did okay, not becuase of this book, but because of my own econ background that allowed me to fill in the gaps and understand the confusing explenations and definitions used in this book. there are better ways to say what gerber tried to say, in my opinion, so i would not recomend this book very highly. although it was decent, it could have been much better. ... Read more

Book Description

Applauded for providing the most clear and accurate presentation of advanced microeconomic concepts, Walter Nicholson brings us Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions, 8e . It gives readers the opportunity to work directly with theoretical tools, real-world applications, and cutting edge developments in the study of microeconomics. Reviewers exclaim, "Nicholsons text is solid, rigorous and comprehensive. It is sensibly challenging for students, best serving students with a mathematics background, and absolutely essential for those who are preparing for graduate studies in economics." ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Best Intermediate Book on the Market
This is the book you should purchase to learn classical intermediate economics if you plan to go to graduate school in economics. You will need calculus, but if you want to learn 'real' microeconomics, calculus is indispensable. Competing texts are too mathematically infantile to be of much use. This text is very worthwhile for self-study because solutions are given to half of the end-of-the-chapter problems.

A relatively mathematically sophisticated student should be able to go through the book on their own. After you've done this, you will be well on your way to possessing the 'intuition' as well as the 'basic' mathematical underpinnings needed at the graduate level.

As others have mentioned, the book is relatively light on game theory. Other texts will be necessary (Binmore, etc.) for learning this topic at the advanced undergraduate level.

an excellent intermediate book
This is a very good book for someone that wants a thorough understanding of intermediate level micro. It presents economics at a level in between Hal Varian's Intermediate Micro, and the far more advanced book by Mas-Colell. It gives a clear introduction to economics using calculus and, unlike other books, Nicholson covers second derivate conditions. This provides additional inights that help understand the more technical Mas-Colell.
Also, the type set and fonts are eye-friendly, and Nicholson is a master at explaning economics in a way that helps you learn it. I recommend this book for the serious student who wants to get ready for graduate level microeconomics courses. By serious, I do not mean only students that are majoring in economics, but also any other student who really wants to learn microeconomics.

The best!
At the first glance, this book is elegantly laidout, but mathematically "inadequate". However when you really read it, you find the author is a master in explaining very complicated concepts in an easy way. I am a PhD student, but I learned "economics" from this book. The textbook by Mas-Colell that our professor chose was a disaster. That book was heavy, stinky, and the authors did a bad job in explaining even the simplest ideas. I decided to use the Nicholson's book and understand everything and (only) this book made me love microeconomics.

Lots of economists like to show off their math skills and like to show what a "rocket science" their field (economics) is by applying weird notations and "bad" English. Therefore, they intentionally make simple (maybe sometimes profound) ideas appear as complicate as they can be. Once you waste 1 day's time and undertsand the idea, you yell to yourself, "what a simple thing!". My experience is, spending 3 day's on Mas-Collel's book, I understand a thing, but it only requires 30 minutes if you use Nicholson's book.

I was a physicist before persuing economics. In physics, we regard a good scholar (or someone who really understands what he is talking about) as someone who can explain difficult stuff in easy ways. Otherwise we dont think too much of him/her. In this sense, Nicholson (maybe Varian too) is truly a scientist, a great scholarly master. I am using these great terms because I am very grateful to the author since I truly learned stuff from it and it saved me from the great disappointment in microeconomics inflicted by Mas-Collel's book.

A good book but needs improving
A good textbook providing sufficient coverage of microeconomics with mathematical details. In this edition, it adds some matrix algebra as an extends. However, it seems to be inadequate. And I hope the future edition should includes more and more mathematical technique similar to the Eugene Silberberg's (The Structure of Economics).

An everyday book for an economist
When you joined the economics school, and later on, you realized that there are books that you'll use it forever. One of them is Nicholson; used in Canada, US, England, Mexico, etc. is a book that will build up mathematic economists with strong theoretic background. I really enjoyed this book and this course. Thumb up for the book. Thumb down for the price. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Absolutely fabulous!
This is a must for people who like to know the truth of what happened in Latin America over the centuries of European influence... and the truth isn't pretty. Eduardo Galeano doesn't blame the American people for all of Latin American problems and incredible corruption at government and management levels, he points out at the American governments and their foreign policy; the fact remains we, Latin Americans, have been invaded by American marines more than 200 times, and every single time it hasn't been to defend the people and democracy but to support right wing corrupted officials and capitalists. Take Chile for example, it was American dollars and American advisors which help orchestrating the criminal and totally anti-democratic coupe d'etat of 1973...

Eduardo Galeano is an excellent writer, and he has dedicated most of his life to put his writing at our service, so that we understand how we ended up in such mess and poverty having one of the richest continent on Earth.

I first read this book when I was 13, now I am 38 and came to your site because I would like to have an updated copy of this book for my children. I read the other comments made before mine and could not let the opportunity go to give people the other side of the coin...

In summary: THIS IS A MAGNIFICENT BOOK, WELL WRITTEN, WELL RESEARCHED AND WELL INTENTIONED!

PS: I live in Australia and this book is a text book for some of the courses run by Australian universities.

Compelling, must read for us latinos
I really recommend this book; it opened my eyes to many aspects of Latin American History. Sure, it's not very pretty, but reality usually isn't. I think it's essential for every latino who wants to try to understand our past, present & future to read this book. I read it first in Spanish, just recently a bit of it in English; it reaffirmed my belief that it is best to read authors in their native language (when you can), or as the case may be, in the language the text was originally written. Mr. Belfrage did a good job, but some insights and terms were lost in his translation. Also, I read other customer reviews and it's interesting to note that the only two "bad" comments came from the united states, a place with a very warped view of Latin America.

Facts are facts, but we cant blame others for out mistakes.
As a REAL LATINAMERICAN that was born and has lived in Latinamerica most of his life i have to say i disagree with this book. Yes facts are facts and the USA has intervened in latin america far too many times, but we cant blame them for our problems. Look at Cuba, after the early 1960's the USA has not intervened with Cuba and Fidel has been free to run "his" country, and look at what he has done, even after he received billions in money from the former USSR. Yet, who do we blame for Cuba being such a poor country?
I recommend reading "Fabricantes de Miseria" its a great and not one sided book about how everyone from wealthy bussiness families to unions and militaries have ruined latinamerica. Although i think that book is only in spanish.

A classic masterpiece
Eduardo Galeano's classic work serves as a testament to the world. His words resonate with all of us who have seen and felt the pillaging of Latin America first hand. The book writen in "90 nights," when Galeano was 31 years old meticulously illustrates how Europe and North America have raped, and exploited Latin America in their continued crusade for wealth. Galeano displays how the genocide of the Indigenous Americans and the enslavement of Africans created 'the foundation stone upon which the giant industrial capital of modern times was built'. Read this book and tell me that isn't true.

open veins of Latin america
Great response, good condition and better than average service thank you ... Read more

Book Description

Government is broke.The 2004 federal deficit will be the highest in U.S. history. The states have suffered three years of record shortfalls. Cities, counties and school districts are laying off policemen and teachers, closing schools, and cutting services.Government leaders have patched together combinations of accounting gimmicks, on- time fixes, real cuts, and tax and fee increases to relieve the fiscal pain.But it won't go away.

Overall, American governments from the White House to City Hall are enduring theirworst fiscal crisis since World War II.But this time, the crisis will be permanent.On one side are skyrocketing costs for health care, Social Security and pensions.On the other is opposition to tax increases.In the face of this crisis the bankrupt ideologies of left and right offer little guidance. The Price of Government does.

Whereas Reinventing Government, David Osborne's 1992 New York Times bestseller, was a manifesto for change, The Price of Government is a clear, step-by-step roadmap for change, offering concrete solutions drawn from the authors' combined thirty years of experience leading and advising public institutions.The authors begin by describing a radically different approach to budgeting-one that focuses on buying results for citizens rather than cutting or adding to last year's spending programs.They go on to show how leaders can use consolidation, competition, customer choice, and a relentless focus on results to save millions while improving public services, at all levels of government.

These ideas have been put into practice successfully from schoolhouses to statehouses and from City Hall to the Pentagon. They are built on common sense, not ideology. The Price of Government will interest everyone who is concerned with how tax dollars are spent-and how to get the results we need at a price we're willing to pay. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Highly Valuable, Depth, Practical
There is no question today that governments-at all levels-are in dire fiscal straits. Years of political maneuvering, wasteful spending, mismanagement, and an economic roller-coaster have taken their toll. While wonderful innovation has been seen in a number of government agencies at the federal, state, and local level, most have a very long way to go. The resistance to change must be overcome if we are to avoid widespread bankruptcy of the very organizations that we, as taxpayers and citizens, rely on for shared services and support. Change is a community effort, not just something to be delegated to a few elected or appointed officials. But the work to be done is akin to hugging a hippopotamus...especially if the animal doesn't want to be hugged!

The authors are consultants-which could be considered good news or bad news. In this case, it's good news. They are founder and senior partner of Public Strategies Group, a firm specializing in the field of improving government. Osborne is author of the best-seller, "Reinventing Government." These authors have the credentials that cry out how valuable their book might be.

The five sections of the book organize their huge volume of information, commentary, and advice: Smarter Budgeting, Smarter Sizing, Smarter Spending, Smarter Management, and Smarter Leadership. Through fifteen chapters the authors describe what's been happening, the impact, what changes could-or should-be made, and what benefits will result. There are no illustrations in this book-a few charts; it's straight text in page after intriguing page. Tremendous content that can be absorbed in a straight-through read or studied in a reference book fashion.

Community leaders will find an incredible amount of material to work with in these pages. The question is how many communities will have sufficiently strong and committed leadership-political and apolitical-to overcome the resistance of tradition and self-serving turf protection in order to bring about critically needed change. If you can build the community resources to make the needed improvements, this book will be a real treasure for exploring opportunities and finding wise solutions.

Best management book this century
Takes Reinventing Government to the next level. Very readable yet provides specific directions on how to apply total quality management and performance management to create public organizations that function efficiently and develop public budgets that lead to results valued by citizens.

The best management book I have read this century. Recipes for successful public management.

A blueprint for better government
This book is about our future--the one we can have if we choose the difficult path of dramatic change. The authors present a convincing argument that we don't have to choose between higher taxes or service cuts. There are great opportunities for getting more from government services with the taxes we are willing to pay. The authors lay out a blueprint for pursuing those opportunities starting by radically changing the way governments do budgeting. The success stories are compelling. This is stimulating reading to anyone interested in getting better results for the dollar. I loved the chapter on politics and the argument for leading from the radical center. ... Read more

Book Description

With its roots in history and eyes on the future, this book traces the development of our economic society from the Middle Ages to the present, offering a balanced perspective of why our economy is the way it is and where it may be headed. It explores the catalytic role past economic trends and dynamics—particularly capitalism—have played in creating the present challenges we face, and offers suggestions on how we may deal with them most effectively in the future. Chapter topics include the economic problem, the premarket economy, the emergence of market society, the industrial revolution, the great depression, the rise of the public sector, modern capitalism emerges in Europe, the golden age of capitalism, the rise and fall of socialism, the globalization of economic life, and why some nations remain poor.For individuals interested in the economic history of the U.S. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

How did market society come to be?
This book examines the transformation of traditional society into market society: the necessary pre-conditions and steps. The author reminds us that, despite the material advances of modern society, some key economic ideas still apply. All societies must be organized for the material survival of its members. The inter-dependencies among societal members in simpler societies have not been eliminated in market societies, despite the hyping of the independent, self-maximizer by modern theorists; in fact, the complexities of modern societies may well create more dependence, not less. And market societies do have some inherent problems.

The author points out that any society must have a coherent system for producing useful goods and services and then distributing them in a manner sufficient for society's perpetuation. Man has relied upon combinations of tradition, command, and markets to solve those production and distribution problems. Tradition uses time-honored methods of work, "allocated by heredity," which are reinforced by "law, custom, and belief." Change and competitiveness are not tolerated. Command is authoritarian control of economies and is mostly associated with economies operating in rapid catch-up mode, such as the Soviet Union. However, even democracies use elements of command during periods of crisis. In market societies, the aggregation of supply and demand guide economic functioning with no distinct center of control or allegiance to past practices.

Manorial estates and the guilds dominated life in the Middle Ages along with the Church, but the author points to small beginnings of a more commercial world. Itinerant merchants established a small niche for commercial activity in some urban areas. The more successful of them came to be key financiers of monarchs keen on expanding their authority. The gold and silver realized from 16th century New World expeditions stimulated commercial activity. Calvinism, in contrast to the Catholic Church, sanctified hard work and the accumulation of wealth as an indicator of spiritual worthiness. Gradually, feudal society became more reliant upon money as a basis of social exchange. No longer were manorial lords obligated for the overall well being of serfs. The displacement of peasants by the enclosure movements was justified by the opportunities for the landed aristocracy to use their estates as sources of cash revenue.

The author identifies several changes that are necessary for a market economy to emerge. Virtually every task, good, or service has a monetary reward. The anticipation of financial reward guides such decisions as where to labor or what to produce. A society of contracts supercedes a society of status and traditional social bonds. With those changes, a certain amount of social uncertainty is introduced. Yet a market society is not without its own forms of control. The competitions of seller versus seller and buyer versus seller are constraining forces on economic behavior.

Generally it takes a market economy to substantially change the material well being of an entire society. In the first place, traditional societies are not unhappy with the status quo. What is needed are investments in capital goods, or "tools, equipment, machines, and buildings," to increase human productivity leading to higher living standards. And it is the hope for profits or higher wages that spurs investment of money and labor in those goods. But investment implies savings, which, in turn, generally requires a sacrifice in consumption and lower wages. The author suggests that the growing pains of industrialization, mostly on the backs of the working class with the "forced emigration of the peasantry by enclosure and heavy-handed exploitation," could not have been avoided. He undercuts that argument slightly by acknowledging that the forces of democracy in the 19th century ameliorated conditions for the working class.

Scientific and technological advances are often large factors in the development of capital goods and increased productivity. English industrial production literally exploded based on the inventions of such men as Wilkinson, Watt, and Arkwright. The factory system came to dominate English life. New technologies have often literally transformed market societies. The automobile, for example, drastically changed residential patterns, facilitated social independence, and was a massive generator of employment. Can anyone doubt the impacts of electricity, airplanes, television, and computers?

However, the author points out that market societies do not necessarily operate according to the basic theory. "Consumer power" is a first principle of classical economists; according to that notion, consumers force products to be sold "at the lowest price compatible with continued production." But market societies invariably tend to be dominated by a few large firms, where economic efficiencies can be attained. These large enterprises often agree among themselves to set pricing above truly competitive levels. In addition, because much of what is produced in modern economies is non essential, consistency of demand must be created through advertising. While large firms may be needed, consumer sovereignty is mostly a fiction.

Stable market economies must maintain the balances between production and purchasing and savings and investment. Workers' purchasing power must be consistent with production volumes. In addition, savings ought to be converted into investment, or capital formation. The Great Depression was brought about by workers being underpaid and capital investments not being made. The Great Depression and WWII established that government must intervene in a market economy through fiscal and monetary policies to bolster economic stability.

The author emphasizes that basic instabilities remain in market societies. In a market economy, it remains the anticipation of profit on the part of businesses and entrepreneurs that motivates most investment and growth. Technological displacement and unemployment continue to undermine purchasing power. And the author wrote in an era before the evisceration of large "countervailing" unions, the forces of globalization, and a resurgence of rightist, anti-government ideologies. Those developments could have only added to the author's concerns of instabilities.

The book is hurt by not being able to contend with the tremendous changes of the last forty years, though the cautions remain relevant today. It is, however, an excellent guide for understanding the economic and societal changes from the Middle Ages to the era of science and capitalism. Try Charles Lindblom's "The Market System."

Concise but Biased
This is a concise text book for use in high school or first-year college classes on the history of economics that traces the development of the market economy. The basic framework of the book is valuable: how the market transcended earlier forms of economic organization based on command and/or tradition.

There are good summaries of key terms and good discussion questions at the end of each chapter to stimulate classroom discussion; organizationally the book is very good and production values are quite high - very few typesetting errors, good paper, nice ink.

Robert Heilbroner is not, however, the best equipped author to be writing on this subject, as his cynical, Hobbesian view of human nature comes to the surface in numerous remarks whose cumulative effect is a high degree of skepticism about free enterprise and unregulated markets - a skepticism that is not backed by evidence and argument, but more by fears of "bigness" and "unscrupulousness" of business and businesspeople.

(Review based on the Tenth edition of this book)

Good, concise introduction for undergrads
This is an excellent introduction to Economic History for undergraduate students. It is concise and well-written, full of poignant examples, tracing economic organization from the Middle Ages through the present. The chapter summaries and discussion questions at the end of each chapter are very useful for both the student and the professor. The brevity of the book leaves open the possibility of including related academic articles or even other textbooks in the syllabus.

The main disappointment is that the nineteenth century--which was full of economic, social, and political change--is basically ignored. The content jumps from the Industrial Revolution to the beginning of the twentieth century. The traditional Euro-American egocentrism is also present. ... Read more

Book Description

This classic book offers a broad sweep of economic history from prehistoric times to the present and explores the disparity of wealth among nations. Now in its fourth edition, A Concise Economic History of the World has been updated to reflect the stunning changes in the world economy since 1989. Truly a definitive history of globalization, the new edition has been expanded to include coverage of the most recent developments in the European Union, East Asia, and, in general, transition economies. Comprehensive and global in scope, this concise text features ample illustrations and a fully updated annotated bibliography that guides readers to the relevant scholarly literature. Now available in eleven languages, including Spanish (second edition), French, German (two volumes), Polish, and Chinese, this unique work remains an invaluable, lively, and accessible text for both undergraduate and graduate students of European economic history, the history of globalization, and world development. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Not Bad
The title of this book should read "An Economic History of Europe," because 90% of the material focuses on the economic development of Europe. This is understandable considering that the industrial revolution first occured in Europe, and pulsated outwards. However, the amount of time given towards explaining the economies of the middle east, Asia, Oceania, Australasia, Africa, Latin America, and even the USA are so minute that the title is decieving and for all intensive purposes incorrect.

Nevertheless, the book is quite interesting, as it progresses from the dawn of human civilization with very concise and brief summaries well in to the twentieth century becoming more desciptive and detailed. If you are interested in how the world economy arrived to its current level, then I would suggest that this book is a good read and worth your while. Since this edition was published in 1997, it is excusable for the author to omit the economic consequences of the Euro, the rise of China and the rest of Asia, and the economic implications of Septemer 11. The author also refuses to offer his speculative view on the future of the world economies, thereby leaving the reader to do his or her on guess work. Although the introduction of the book, on the current inequality of world economies, is quite interesting, it is not elaborated upon towards the end of the book, and causes a lack of continuity. If you wish to understand better the world economy, you would be better off reading the encyclopedia, Lonely Planet travel guides, or perhaps even better, (what I have done) which is to travel and see these countries for yourself with your own eyes.

The total economic history of the world in laymans words
Rondo Cameron certainly explains the hold economic history of the world. Rondo takes you from the ages before Christ to the twenthieth century. Why did the Roman Empire went down?, Why Spain was not able to achieve higher levels of economical well-being despite their big colonies overseas?: Questions like these are answered in Rondo's excellent book. If a man wants to forsee the future, he has to go back and learn where he comes from. Economics and History were successfully married in the book, so historians, economists and financiers will find it helpfull.

Eurocentric, but focused
Don't expect "A concise economic history of the world" from Cameron's work. Do expect, however, an excellent account of Europe's economic history. If you want a more global, less "economic" account of the pre-modern world, try Janet Abu-Lughod. As for the modern world, a synthesis of Cameron and Asian experts would provide the comprehensive picture Cameron's title implies.

Concise, informative and extremely well written
This is one of the best books on economic history that I have read. This book is an excellent start for a person interested in economic history: it is well written, it is well structured, and overall fun to read. This book is an excellent overview and a very good guide. One thing for sure: it's an excellent way to spend your time. It enriched my knowledge of economics and history and became a good companion. ... Read more

Book Description

Despite significant gains in promoting economic growth and living conditions (or "human progress") globally over the last twenty-five years, much of the developing world remains plagued by poverty and its attendant problems, including high rates of child mortality, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and war. In Growth and Empowerment, Nicholas Stern, Jean-Jacques Dethier, and F. Halsey Rogers propose a new strategy for development. Drawing on many years of work in development economics -- in academia, in the field, and at international institutions such as the World Bank -- the authors base their strategy on two interrelated approaches: building a climate that encourages investment and growth and at the same time empowering poor people to participate in that growth. This plan differs from other models for development, including the dogmatic approach of market fundamentalism popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Stern, Dethier, and Rogers see economic development as a dynamic process of continuous change in which entrepreneurship, innovation, flexibility, and mobility are crucial components and the idea of empowerment, as both a goal and a driver of development, is central. The book points to the unique opportunity today -- after 50 years of successes and failures, and with a growing body of analytical work to draw on -- to pursue new development strategies in both research and action. ... Read more

Reviews (57)

Packed With Knowledge!
Shortly after a briefing by author Robert Shiller, Alan Greenspan warned the country about the "irrational exuberance" pushing stock prices excessively high. The year was 1996 and, in hindsight, it's clear that the bull was just beginning to run. Anyone who heeded that warning would have passed up some of history's most impressive gains. Yet, if history is any guide, stock prices could be in for a 10 or 20 year decline, falling back below the bull market's gains. But Shiller isn't teaching market timing; he's debunking some cherished investing axioms, such as, the belief that stocks are the best long-term investment. He discredits financial reportage, limns to the psychological and emotional factors that make markets behave irrationally and proves that nothing is new about "new economy" prattle. The book is a very effective vaccination against the costly virus of credulity. We [...] suggest this book for every investor's shelf - dog-eared and worn from frequent re-reading.

Right on the money 3 years later.
This is a treaty on Behavioral Finance. Shiller makes a strong case that markets are not efficient, but respond to crowd psychology.

Shiller rebuts the Efficient Market Hypothesis. He has analyzed many U.S. stock market crashes. In each case, he did not find information absorbed by institutional and individual investors that justified the market downturns. In all cases, it appears the investors were "aware" of the reasons for the market downturn as explained by the financial press after the downturn occurred. For Shiller, this means that the reasons were false, and that investors do not digest information in such an efficient and immediate way as stated in the Efficient Market Hypothesis.

Shiller believes investors are irrational, and trade based on certain premises such as herd instinct, momentum, belief that stocks always go up. These beliefs are reinforced by the media. The resulting market valuation at the time the book was published (first quarter 2000, the market's peak) was far above its intrinsic value. As they say, the rest is history. Shiller's timing was perfect. We have been in a Bear market ever since.

Kudlow And Cramer Need This Shoved Down Their Throats!!!!!!!
Shiller pursues his uncomplimentary examination of inexperienced investors authoritatively, all the way into their psyches and lapses of reasoning. Introspecting to the CNBC-led, over-hyped carnival sideshow that investing dilapidated into (fall 1999 to March 2000, when the top exploded), all-important valuations were relegated in favor of insane dot-coms, companies with NO business models, not expected to turn profitability until years later, and ever-accursed tech stocks, whose prices were trading profanely overextended. The culprit for investors' sins was financial media; from the most superficial propaganda outlet, ruining investing science into a fad, CNBC, to purportedly "respected" publications, WSJ, to radical, greenhorn publications, the Street.com and Motley Idiot. All sources mentioned had one unrighteous plan in common: the turbulent peddling of speculative garbage like YHOO at $200 without current year earnings to show for, OR shamelessly outright varmint: Pets.com! The culpable media obviously didn't incriminatingly impose people to go underweight in cash, homicidally overweight in tech-but their worst involvement was NEVER raising the alarm to cap Wall Street's mania, angrily opting instead to procure mutual fund talking-heads ruthlessly, to hypnotically fabricate longing, on television!

Discordant factors produced the disreputable herd mentality/behavior that Shiller dissects, striving to overthrow the Efficient Market Theory, which invites debunking. Shiller decidedly reasons the opposite of the Efficient Market Theory. It's unimaginable for persons to actually oppose Shiller's precognition, not because bears the world over were vindicated by equities' bleak performance, but because stocks' P/E ratios are calculated for precisely the reason Shiller alerted: to regulate stocks' unwarranted racketeering. It's fact, that at the bubble's start, techs in the networking and chip sectors were probably outperforming their "old-economy" peers, relating to earnings. Yet since most investors are miserably prepared, they were harshly ensnared by the lax press to pile on to those initially moderate rewards for stocks, to abuse those gains in overstepping ways. Likewise, one could argue that when the Bubble burst-and additional factors like 9/11 and corporate scandals contributing-those same feebly swayed "investors" sold the markets off nightmarishly worse than what was due. Again, because their paranoid nervousness took over their rationale in deciding how to approach markets. I retrospect with ghoulish HORROR, the relentlessness of wrongdoings that Wall Street, the collective body, committed in hazardously presaging themselves for the hardest bear ever.

CNBC, fund managers, analysts blindingly had the blameworthiest ulterior motives to exploit undereducated soccer moms, Sunday investors. Roughly analyzing, the more people CNBC guilefully suckered into longing dangerous techs, the more ratings they'd get, intensifying on-air "personalities"' payoffs, including CNBC's anchors' OWN holdings in various funds they'd get under GE. The more bait fund managers could lure to invest in their funds, the more they'd be compensated for escalating their funds' values. Ever-notorious ANALysts' ulterior motives laid not in the public's response, but in companies' stocks that they covered. Some were paid kickbacks for their suspiciously nothing-but-buy ratings. This triad of terror is accountable for falsely justifying the market's overreaching excesses beyond their, initially, reasonable beginnings. The drone public was simply mistaught that internet stocks' repugnant absence of income would materialize soon enough, networking high-fliers like CSCO and JNPR were said to "never suffer" from lack of business because of ever-expanding business that the growing internet would provide, and that the zombie public could expect profane, double-digit returns for years to come, laxly based on one year's (1999) fluke growth of speculative tech stocks which were preyed upon as a fad.

Also contributing to mania were factors that people mistook to maltreat as reasons for entering markets in a buy-and-hold savagery. As baby-boomers aged, they were unquestionably snared by CNBC's falsenesses to expose themselves supplementary more to equities which were on teetering foundations. The same's true of mutual funds' elevating popularity, as innumerable people were misdirected to blindly trap themselves in funds where they'd never monitor its performance for lengthy times. Other factors were also involved in this worst bear market in 100 years, constituents like 9/11, corporate improprieties, personal bankruptcies-the plausible, defining trigger that blew the markets up (particularly NASDAQ) was people overstretching their margins, thus being extorted to sell automatically. These are hallmark characteristics of hype markets' speculators being so overextended on long sides that when savvy investors decide to take their respective gains from months of abominable gains, selling significantly, margin calls are consequently called in on many accounts. This leads additionally bleakly into the domino effect of tumbling decks of cards.

It's pronounced message still corresponds to today's markets. CNBC's-ONCE AGAIN!!!!-restarting their impenitent Jihad of superficially, abusively embellishing the mediocre point the economy's currently at. Respecting historical bear cycles, we're indisputably in the 4th secular bear since the 20th century, convincingly proven by the damaging downfall of 2000-2002, arduously worse than any declines in the last century, especially the NASDAQ. There may definitively portend 18 years more of this feral bear, from 2000 levels. The shiest estimate of S&P 500's P/E's still sinfully extreme at 30-you'll pay 30 bucks to one dollar of what it's licitly worth, for vast majorities of stocks. Companies repeat slashing jobs-no small part thanks to the newest scourge of outsourcing-at record, breakneck furiousness, with probability of jobs returning to levels markedly improved from the -400 000 that impend awful growth to increments which would traditionally support prosperous GDP higher than 4% ascendingly unlikely. Through this purgatory, and ruthlessly mediocre to pessimistic economic numbers up to the present, aggressively hardened CNBC is unapologetically unlearning from its breaches and refusing to revere their costly errancies. CNBC persists on solely rigging the most obdurate perma-bulls (Angiletas, Leones) and loathsomely irrelevant, corporate Bush Admin. pushers (Kudlow, Cramer) to comment on the last half-year's markets. Those same schemingly prejudiced perma-bulls are seizing control of current market conditions to exaggerate them furiously and depravedly. The increasingly intolerably wretched CNBC "personalities" are debauching to vile, hypocritically "happy" guises while on air, further tyrannizing an air of "great market returns". They're willfully relapsing to 1999-2000's embezzlement, and need to be spurned as Contrarians!!!!

Excellent Education on the Market - and Enjoyable Easy Read
I am not a financial expert. I have traded stocks, futures and index funds but that is the extent of my involvement with the market.

Having said that I think it is not necessary to be an expert to read and appreciate the book. In fact the book uses a lot of common sense in its presentation of market data and the discussions of the data and the markets.

The most striking thing to me about the book is the description and summary concerning macro trends or cycles in the market. These cycles can extend decades. For example since approximately the late 1800's there have been five or six speculative bull runs to high market P/E values. The exact reason is different for each run up. We have seen run-ups due to the companies involved with railway stocks a century ago, the telephone as an investment tool in the 1920's, and then the new internet companies and trading electronically in the 1990's. The way stocks are bought and are sold and the financial instruments vary with the year or era. But these cycles repeat themselves every decade or two.

In almost every case investors participating in the speculative market spike or bull-run gets carried away and thinks this time, in this era, whether it was the 1920's or the 1990's that investing is now "different". The rules have changed. The high P/E ratios are now the norm. It is a "new era" and the old rules do not apply. Sound all too familiar? But in each and at every peak in the S&P or Dow, reality eventually sinks in, the investors pull back, and the market drops back to its historical average levels. That average level is a P/E ratio for the large cap or S&P 500 companies having an average P/E ratio in the general range of 10 to 20 or 25 maximum.

For some people foolish enough to invest near the market highs, and then who ride the market down have had to wait 20 years to see their stocks return to the same value at which they were purchased. Some stocks and companies do not survive the downturn and the investment vanishes. Now in our time one can only speculate on how many years or decades it will take for the NASDAQ to return to the 5000 to 5500 level.

This is sobering book, and it rates 5 stars for a short but excellent read and education.

Jack in Toronto

Calling the top of the market
The current importance of Professor Robert J. Shiller's prescient publication in March 2000, right near NASDAQ topping out around 5000, is to see what relevance it has for us today. He begins with 12 factors he believes played a major role in creating the bull market/boom/bubble of the late 1990s, and ends with an assessment of which of those 12 will continue to play an influential role going forward. That, too, should be our concern.
First, let me say that his deconstruction of the "efficient market theory" probably has more lasting importance in the financial world than his assessment of whether we had an overvalued stock market, and should be taken to heart by everyone who wants to make money in the stock market. In over a decade as a member of two securities exchanges, I never found any evidence that the random walk or efficient market theories had any significance in real world finance. An ivory tower construct, for sure.
Prof. Shiller's 12 reasons for the 1990s boom and their current/future influence:
1. The Internet: It remains a viable growth engine, but got ahead of itself. The Internet continues as a strong influence on business and the stock market.
2. Decline of foreign competition: Our victory over communist economies is waning. New competition (China)