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"Until a few years ago," notes journalist-consultant Udayan Gupta, "venture capitalists were hardly on anyone's radar screen."That's not the case these days, as financiers who used to work behind the scenes now regularly set markets afire with their public support of high-profile technology and Internet stocks. In Done Deals, Gupta allows 35 of the brightest stars in what has become a $30-billion-a-year business to tell their own stories in their own words. We get to see exactly what they were thinking when they backed such endeavors as Intel, eBay, Excite, Genentech, and 3Com. Gupta's intention is to demonstrate how the industry has changed over the past half-century and how it differs today among its various forms. He achieves this beautifully by dividing the first-person accounts into thematically attuned sections that focus on dealmakers of the future (such as Mitch Kapor of Accel Partners), early pioneers (including the late Benno Schmidt of J.H. Whitney & Co.), West Coast veterans (such as Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital), past and present East Coast practitioners (like Charles Waite of Greylock Management), and visionaries (including John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers). Some of the stories are more detailed than others, but taken together, they provide a well-rounded view that will interest anyone who must deal with this often intertwined yet still individual world. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Not Impressed
Where are the great stories that are promised? I read the whole book and am still scratching my head! Most of the stories surround how the VC's got started in the business, what it was like being a VC in the 60's & 70's, how much money investors made on different investments, etc...not why deals were funded. I was hoping to get a better sense of what decision making criteria were used to justify various investments and left severely disappointed.

Where is the industry going? Again, no real insights here...

As someone stated earlier, if I wanted a historical perspective on the VC industry or a who's who in the industry, there are many, many sources on the internet for this information.

Try Ruth Ann Quindlan's book for better insights into the decision making that goes into dealmaking.

Horrible editing, but great stories!
The stories of the pioneers of the industry were captivating and showed the "pure" spirit of the early VC world. Their warnings on the collapse of the fee-driven, vapor business plan-led, and greedy VC environment of the 00's and its dangerous deviation from the "let's build profitable businesses and let the entrepreneurs shine forth" mindsets that got it all started were prescient. The stories tell you how it began, and how to build long-term success by tempering your craving for instant gratification (in fact, several of the pioneers warned that the lust for quick money can destroy the industry), then read this book. If not for the poor proofreading (lots of grammatical errors, from a Harvard book, no less!), I would have given this 5 stars. Probably... well, I saw this in a bookstore in China and read through it on the plane to Europe last week. If the Chinese read this... watch out!

AN INVALUABLE PEEP INTO THE WORLD OF VENTURE CAPITAL
Many of the yesteryear superstars from the boom hitech sector may have unceremoniously gone belly up, and VC is not exactly as "hot" as it was at the turn of the century, but turns out that circling overhead the dot-com carnage was an enthusiastic Gupta scribbling detailed notes of what was going on in the industry. He rounded up a flock of 35 leading venture cap investors, from early pioneers such as Eugene Kleiner and Arthur Rock to current industry stars Geoff Yang and John Doerr. Had them reveal a great deal of gripping skinny on their ventures, solid facts from actual deals they'd worked on. Organized the stash of all this collective wisdom into a neat little bound volume -- and voila - we have a ripper of a book!

Organized into five parts (Fast Forward, Beginnings, West Coast, East Coast and Visions), the book examines the industry's humble beginnings to its extraordinary present (ok, very very recent past and hopefully a recent future). For a non-US reader such as myself, it also contains a priceless critique on the differences between West Coast and East Coast investing, which is unique because you'll recognize that a relatively nascent industry such as VC can sport widely varying investment philosophies as well. As investment spreads out to Europe, Australia and China, this becomes even more useful.

The book packs info about the hottest deals we had heard about - from Yahoo to www.Amazon.com - which makes for a gripping read in of itself. But beyond that, there are invaluable insights and discussions at length about how the VCs set up their partnerships and hand pick top management teams. Much better than reading a "VC 101" text book because it presents a hands-on glimpse at the industry's past and future from the veterans' point of view.

Consider this book to be a detailed case study introduction to some of the more successful companies, from some of the more committed (and recognized) minds. A highly recommended possession for your libraries -- if not as investment advice, at least as an insider guide to the fascinating industry of venture capital.

Questioning
I opened this book with anticipation that I would be presented with an insightful examination of how the greats of the venture capital world worked with thier investments. What I found was a one-sided exploration about why these folks were great but not any of the grit that they must have faced to become the success that they are.

a must for VCs
As a VC myself, I found this book to be very inspirational. What struck me as a common theme among the great VCs was that there was a sense of vision and purpose. Sure everyone wanted to make a lot of money but you get the feeling all of these guys cared about creating a frontier and exploring it. With the bursting of the internet bubble I think people need to get back to that. Unfortunately, VCs are too busy raiding distressed companies to really think about creating the next tech frontier. But the next great VC will be the one that follows the instincts laid out in this book. Hopefully it will be me! ... Read more

Book Description

This Introduction explores the origins of capitalism and questions whether it did indeed originate in Europe. It examines a distinctive stage in the development of capitalism that began in the 1980s, in order to understand where we are now and how capitalism has evolved since. The book discusses the crisis tendencies of capitalism--including the S.E. Asian banking crisis, the collapse of the Russian economy, and the 1997-1998 global financial crisis--asking whether capitalism is doomed to fail. In the end, the author ruminates on a possible alternative to capitalism, discussing socialism, communal and cooperative experiments, and alternatives proposed by environmentalists. ... Read more

Book Description

An engaging, informative look at one of the most popular products in the world. Jammed full of facts, figures, cartoons, and commentary, The Coffee Book covers coffee from its first use in Ethiopia in the 6th century A.D. to the dramatic rise of Starbucks and other specialty retailers in the 1990s. Written with verve and filled with little-known facts, the book explores the process of cultivation, harvesting, and roasting from bean to cup; surveys the social history of caf society from the first coffeehouses in Constantinople to Renaissance French cafs to beatnik havens in Berkeley and Greenwich Village; and tells the dramatic story of international trade and speculation for a product that can make or break entire national economies.The book also examines the industry's major players -- General Foods, Nestl, Proctor & Gamble -- revealing how they have systematically reduced the quality of the bean and turned a much-loved product into a lifestyle. Finally, The Coffee Book considers the exploitation of labor and damage to the environment that mass cultivation causes, and explores the growing "conscious coffee" market and "fair trade" movement.

Facts about the coffee industry:
* Coffee is the second most valuable legal item of international trade in the world (after oil)
* More than twenty million people around the world are employed by the coffee industry
* Coffee is the largest food import to the United States ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Surprisingly interesting, entertaining and compelling
I picked this book up at the library, thinking it was about kinds of coffee and how to brew it. I was mildly disappointed to find out that it was about the coffee industry, but I read every word. If you want to know how to minimize ecological damage in choosing your coffee, here's where to find out. The history was also fascinating. A great read!

Fun, informative, and well-written
If, while drinking a pot of Joe, you have ever wondered to yourself "What the hell is this stuff, and how did it get here?" then you need to read this wonderfully entertaining book. Incidentally, by "Joe" I mean "coffee."

Yawwwwwwn...
I had hoped to read a thoughtful and measured history of coffee/the coffee trade. Instead, I found The Coffee Book to be heavy-handed, one-sided and didactic. Big Business Bad! Imperialism and Colonialism responsible for the Ills of the World! I had to force myself to finish it, and recently sold it for 50 cents at a garage sale. I feel a wee bit guilty; I think that the buyer paid too much...

Boy, what a disappointment THAT was.
Here I thought I was getting a book having something to do with coffee, all I got was a militant greenie screed against any business bigger than a lemonade stand.

Coffee makes rare and infrequent appearances in this book, which was written to reveal the evils of colonialism, how terrible slavery was, how underpaid Third World workers are, how awful America is in just about every way possible and to harrangue readers with straight doctrinaire party-line anti-business anti-WTO liberal international geopolitics. Coffee's just a stage prop for the authors' political rantings.

The authors clearly know nothing about coffee itself apart from the geopolitical ramifications of its trade as a commodity, what there is in the book pertaining to actual coffee is perfunctory, sketchy and cribbed from far better books.

Even on the book's real subject, which is to serve as a tract for liberal free-trade politics they can't get their facts straight. They mindlessly repeat the canards about Starbucks "imperialism" and how they're driving all independent shops out of business. Bushwa. Every study that's been done shows that wherever there's a Starbucks established, local coffee shops thrive and business for everyone goes up.

If you're into reading in-house literature for the free trade movement this book won't challenge your prejudices. But if you want to know something about coffee you won't learn it here.

Coffee could be worse than cattle!
Mr.Dicum and Ms.Luttinger have writtne a phenomenal book. From their obsure historical facts to their pinpointing the origin of coffee, 6th century Ethiopia, you will be riveted to your seat as if you were reading a fictional novel.

They put coffee, the coffee industry, and global coffee politics under a microscope and often times it fails to hold up to the scrutiny. No matter what your political affiliation is you can't help but be immediately shocked and awed and the incredible amount of sociopolitical machinations that go on for you to have that morning sip of java.

For 11 years I have been a futures investor, broker, and author. One of the preferred futures contracts that I trade is coffee. This book has provided me with an indepth background and perspective on coffee that I never had before. This is now one of my reference books. For those that are interested in investing in coffee either actual grounds or in futures this book is for you and for those that can go a day without the original "liquid gold" you have got to read it. At the end of the day you will appreciate that Starbuck's "venti mocha grande" just a little bit more. ... Read more

Book Description

Poverty may have always been with us, but it hasn't always been the same. In an in-depth look at trends, patterns, and causes of poverty in the United States, John Iceland combines the latest statistical information, historical data, and social scientific theory to provide a comprehensive picture of poverty in America--a picture that shows how poverty is measured and understood and how this has changed over time, as well as how public policies have grappled with poverty as a political issue and an economic reality.

Why does poverty remain so pervasive? Is it unavoidable? Are people from particular racial or ethnic backgrounds or family types inevitably more likely to be poor? What can we expect over the next few years? What are the limits of policy? These are just a few of the questions this book addresses. In a remarkably concise, readable, and accessible format, Iceland explores what the statistics and the historical record, along with most of the major works on poverty, tell us. At the same time, he advances arguments about the relative nature and structural causes of poverty--arguments that eloquently contest conventional wisdom about the links between individual failure, family breakdown, and poverty in America. At a time when the personal, political, social, and broader economic consequences of poverty are ever clearer and more pressing, the depth and breadth of understanding offered by this handbook should make it an essential resource and reference for all scholars, politicians, policymakers, and people of conscience in America. ... Read more

Book Description

Now in paperback, the fascinating story of America's vast natural ice trade which revolutionized the 19th century.

On February 13, 1806, the brig Favorite left Boston harbor bound for the Caribbean island of Martinique with a cargo that few imagined would survive the month-long voyage. Packed in hay in the hold were large chunks of ice cut from a frozen Massachusetts lake. This was the first venture of a young Boston entrepreneur, Frederic Tudor, who believed he could make a fortune selling ice to people in the tropics.

Ridiculed at the outset, Tudor endured years of hardship before he was to fulfill his dream. Over the years, he and his rivals extended the frozen-water trade to Havana, Charleston, New Orleans, London, and finally to Calcutta, where in 1833 more than one hundred tons of ice survived a four-month journey of 16,000 miles with two crossings of the equator. The Frozen-Water Trade is a fascinating account of the birth of an industry that ultimately revolutionized domestic life for millions of people. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Story of a Forgotten Industry
Mr. Gavin tells a very good tale of how Fredric Tudor took the seemingly absurd idea of selling ice and turned the idea into what was one of America's largest industries of the 19th Century.

What I found most captivating - more so than the biographical aspect of the book - was how Gavin put ice in perspective in America. It was a huge industry producing millions of dollars a year and employing thousands (many on a seasonal basis), yet because it was not taxed there is very little hard data. Moreover, ice appears to have been a primarily American love in the last century. Only after WWII did the rest of the world pick up our affinity for cold drinks and food. These perspectives make the book more than a biography or "how they done it" book and makes it worth reading.

Although I thought the book weakened towards the end (as if he was looking to fill a few more pages) it was a joy to read. Gavin made the history of a unique industry into a good story.

Tale of Commercial Endeavour and Perseverance
I picked this book up upon when I listened to an extract read on the BBC World Service several months ago. It spoke of a wild venture by a New England businessman to ship ice from Boston to the tropics. It seemed to me a fantastic and improbably story.

The very fact that it was improbably caught my attention - even with the technological advances of today, when little seems impossible, the idea of an industry based on shipping frozen water thousands of miles by ship seemed a little ludicrous.

It is to Weightman's credit that he transformed this almost-forgotten industry from the footnotes of history into a gripping tale of commercial endeavour and perseverance. It is an inspiring read and a fine example of how history holds more than dusty dull stories.

Provides a lively discourse on his accomplishments
In 1806 the brig Favorite left Boston bound for Martinique packed with large chunks of ice cut from a frozen lake: the first venture of a Boston entrepreneur who believed he could make a fortune selling ice to people in the tropics. Despite ridicule and hardship, Tudor made his fortune and founded a huge industry in the process: The Frozen-Water Trade: A True Story provides a lively discourse on his accomplishments. The Frozen-Water Trade is the impressive and informative story of that early 19th century adventerous entrepreneur.

Fredrick Tutor
One of books of the day happened to be this one (cant remember which though) and I was not only interested with in just a few pages, but surprised at how little I knew about such an revolutionary part of our early "ice age".

While the first few chapters of the book are excellent, it starts to get a bit dry in the middle - though the reference inside Waldon about Fredric will always stick in my mind from now on.

It would have been best if it had finished up at the end of the Mr. Tutor epic. Instead I felt the 'after tutor' chapter was almost added for flush - interesting but just seemed out of place. Maybe it was just unpolished?

If this book didnt fill such a huge hole in what I knew - I think it would've been a 3ish. Truth be told anytime such a little gem of a book is found - I am absolutely "kept" - and with this book it was 80% of the way.

ss

Interesting footnote of history
"The Frozen Water Trade" is an interesting chronicle of a long dead and forgotten industry. In this book, a story is told about how a particular idea first considered to be absurd, but then grows to a tremendously large business all around, and then impacts other later industries (such as beer brewing in Milwaukee) and then ultimately capitulated from the march of technological progress.

In many ways, I found the actual specifics about the business of selling ice as interesting as the general story about 19th century business life, such as dealing with relics from the mercantilist age in the caribbean to the business like of 19th century Boston shipping magnates. If the concepts that I am describing sound interesting to the slightest, then this book will not disappoint. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is the first available survey of English agriculture between 1500 and 1850. Written specifically for students, it combines new material with an analysis of the existing literature. It describes farming in the sixteenth century, analyzes the reasons for improvements in agricultural output and productivity, and examines changes in the agrarian economy and society. Professor Overton argues that the impact of these related changes in productivity and social and economic structure in the century after 1750 amount to an agricultural revolution. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Focused and Substantial Scholarship
Overton aims at answering a set of focused but important questions.Was there an 'Agricultural Revolution', a relatively discrete and identifiable period of marked improvement in agricultural output, in Britain.If so, when?If so, of what did it consist?What were its social corollaries?In the clearly written and very well documented book, Overton provides sensible answers.
Overton points out that Britain escaped a 'Malthusian trap' by boosting agricultural output hugely with increasing labor productivity, providing excess food to feed an expanding population and providing the extra population and food needed to support the conversion to an industrial economy.The key period is the century from 1750 to 1850.A series of technological and managerial innovations made this burst of productivity possible, many if not all introduced into or developed in Britain prior to the crucial century.The period after 1750, however, sees the integration of these methods into a powerfully synergistic whole.
Driving forces for these developments were the expansion of national markets for crops and increasing monetarization of the rural economy.All of these processes were accompanied by and reinforced by marked social changes including the decline of relatively self-sufficient farmers and villages, marked changes in land tenure patterns, and the emergence of a tripartite rural social system of landowners, tenant farmers, and a large body of landless laborers.Many of these processes were in train prior to 1750 but the period after that sees an acceleration of social change.
Overton is focused on Britain but surely this story has general implications.

A work of economic history
This book helps one to understand what your Ag Labs were going through during this period. The "Norfolk Four Course" crop rotation and the enclosure movement are given prominence in explaining how Britain broke out of the Malthusian trap. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Two-sided matching provides a model of search processes such as those between firms and workers in labor markets or between buyers and sellers in auctions. This book gives a comprehensive account of recent results concerning the game-theoretic analysis of two-sided matching. The focus of the book is on the stability of outcomes, on the incentives that different rules of organization give to agents, and on the constraints that these incentives impose on the ways such markets can be organized. The results for this wide range of related models and matching situations help clarify which conclusions depend on particular modeling assumptions and market conditions, and which are robust over a wide range of conditions. ... Read more

Book Description

European dominance of the shipping lanes in the early modern period was a prelude to the great age of European imperial power in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Yet in the present age we can see that the pre-imperial age was in fact more an 'age of partnership' or an 'age of competition' when the West and Asia vied on even terms. The essays in this volume examine, on a global basis, the many different trading empires from the end of the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. ... Read more

Book Description

Charles Kindleberger's World Economic Primacy: 1500-1990 is a work of rare ambition and scope from one of our most respected economic historians. Extending over broad ranges of both history and geography, the work considers what it is that enables countries to achieve, at some period in their history, economic superiority over other countries, and what it is that makes them decline.

Kindleberger begins with the Italian city-states in the fourteenth century, and traces the changing evolution of world economic primacy as it moves to Portugal and Spain, to the Low countries, to Great Britain, and to the United States, addressing the question of alleged U.S. decline. Additional chapters treat France as a perennial challenger, Germany which has twice aggressively sought superiority, and Japan, which may or may not become a candidate for the role of "number one."

Kindleberger suggests that the economic vitality of a given country goes through a trajectory that can usefully (thought not precisely) be compared to a human life cycle. Like human beings, the growth of a state can be cut off by accident or catastrophe short of old age; unlike human beings, however, economies can have a second birth. In World Economic Primacy, Kindleberger takes into account the influence of complex historical, social, and cultural factors that determine economic leadership. A brilliant overview of the position of nations in the world economy, World Economic Primacy conveys profound insights into the causes of the rise and decline of the world's economic powers, past and present. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Tour-de-force.
In this small book, Charles Kindleberger succeeds in giving us an insight why and which countries got and lost the world economic primacy : the Italian city-states (Venice, Florence, Genoa, Milan), Portugal and Spain, the Low Countries, Great-Britain, the US.
His main sources are F. Braudel, I. Wallerstein and M. Olson.

This book is a short but eminent course in economic history, from which we can learn a lot for our actual economic policies (e.g. the causes for decline).
The external causes are wars, and new discoveries (gold) and inventions in other countries.
The internal causes are risk aversion, increased consumption, decreased savings, reduced gains in productivity, decline in innovation, resistance to taxation, mounting debt, rent-seeking, speculative bubbles, gambling, corruption, increasing governmental and corporate bureaucracy, unwillingness to adapt to change. (p. 215-7)

A must for every economist and also for the layman.

From a brilliant economic historian...
... one likely to be unappreciated in his time.

Seldom do the socialsciences permit such an overarching treatise on what has been the greatestand, at the same time, most tragic four centuries in (in)human history.

Mr. Kindleberger captures the essence of the "age ofacquisitors" in an unprecedented manner. Hats off to ProfessorKindleberger. ... Read more

Book Description

This is a succinct and accessible account of the Industrial Revolution in Scotland. Dr. Whatley's approach is largely comparative, with the Scottish experience of industrialization being placed within the context of the debate about the "British" Industrial Revolution. This study encompasses the whole of Scotland and assesses the nature and impact of early industrialization in the towns of the Borders and in Dundee, as well as in the Highlands and Islands. Social and economic causes and consequences are also fully considered. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Scots Progress
The story of the Industrial Revolution in England continues to fascinate--why did it occur here rather than somewhere else?Was it a matter of access to natural resources, especially iron ore and coal?Or more important was it the genius of the inventors who made more efficient and economic use of those resources?Or was it the nature of the people themselves, a superior race to any other, imbued with the proper Christian values of hard work, honesty, and demonstrations of Calvanistic choseness?No doubt it was a combination of all of these factors combined with singular historical accidents, all entangled in ways impossible to discern.No matter--it makes for an exciting thing to contemplate, as well as temptations to draw lessons for our own time.

Whatley has done a credible job of examining all of these factors in a most scholarly and objective fashion, synthesizing all of the more recently collated statistics and economic indicators and deriving some new insights how the revolution occurred in Scotland.He usefully compares the phenomenon with the antecedent events in England in order to make the analysis more reliable and pertinent.His style is pretty much that of an economic historian, making for some tough going at times.There is hardly a trace of the characteristics of the important personalities of the movers and shakers, which would make for a livelier read, perhaps.But this is available in other sources, and within his own sort of approach carries it off well, making the book valuable to professionals, but accessible to the interested layman as well. ... Read more

Book Description

A History of Business in Medieval Europe, 1200-1550, demolishes the widely held view that the phrase "medieval business" is an oxymoron. The authors review the entire range of business in medieval western Europe, probing its Roman and Christian heritage to discover the economic and political forces that shaped the organization of agriculture, manufacturing, construction, mining, transportation, and marketing. Then they deal with the responses of businessmen to the devastating plagues, famines, and warfare that beset Europe in the late Middle Ages. Medieval businessmen's remarkable success in coping with this hostile new environment prepared the way for the economic expansion of the sixteenth century. ... Read more

Book Description

The essays in this volume break new ground in the theory of the business firm and its applications in economics.A leading analyst of industrial organization, Professor Demsetz critically examines current debates on the existence, definition, and organization of the firm and discusses issues related to the emerging theory of the firm.He then analyzes the relation among business ownership, wealth, and economic development. Subsequent essays offer new perspectives on competition, profit maximization and rational behavior, and shed new light on managers' compensation, antitrust policy, and the accuracy of firms' accounting data. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Critical Review to the Literature
Prof. Demsetz has written clearly all the arguments in this book. He has presented various theories of firm and various intrepretations about firm. The most valuable feature of this book is that it pointed out thedifferences among the views and critically evaluated all of them. This bookshould be readable to students, but should not be overlooked by researchersin this field. ... Read more

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Reviews (1)

Not for the layman
This much heralded account of the Federal Reserve is justly lauded in academic circles because Meltzer brings forth many Fed documents which have long been buried away and unavailable to scholars. He is able to pursue step-by-step Fed actions and relate what happened in all those many meetings behind closed doors. Through the mass of information he has uncovered and his own in-depth knowledge of monetary policy and the Fed, he is able to bring new facts to light and correct previous interpretations that are more often than not those of Friedman and Schwartz's A Monetary History of the United States.

The weaknesses of Meltzer's book stem from his massive archive of information and the strength of his predecessors. The sheer volume of information he is trying to convey prompts the narrative to drift and the reader sometimes loses the point. And, as a good academic historian, he is engaged in a dialogue with other historians of the Fed and monetary policy that can push the layman to the sidelines. Meltzer's history assumes the reader has a rather advanced knowledge of economics and finance such as an understanding of the real bills doctrine and the operation of an international gold standard. Also, the charts and tables are often not very helpful in understanding the text or at least could have been presented in a better manner.

Overall, Meltzer does not produce any stunning revelations but a great many correctives to previous accounts and much added detail. The novice to the history of US monetary policy would do better to read Richard Timberlake's book (though taken with a grain of salt because of its conservative leanings) or the classic work by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz. ... Read more

Book Description

"Gripping, often frightening...should be read by anyone wanting to understand, from the inside, how the international financial system really works." --The Economist

Lauded by reviewers and scholars alike, Paul Blustein's The Chastening examines the role of the International Monetary Fund in the series of economic crises that rocked the globe in the last decade. Based on hundreds of interviews with officials at the IMF, the World Bank, the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the White House, and many foreign governments, The Chastening offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Fund during an extraordinarily turbulent period in modern economic history and at a time when the IMF has become the object of intense political controversy.

While the IMF and its overseers at the Treasury and the Fed have sought to cultivate an image of economic masterminds coolly dispensing effective economic remedies, the reality is that as markets were sinking and defaults looming, the guardians of global financial stability were often floundering, improvising, and feuding among themselves. The Chastening casts serious doubt on the IMF's ability to combat of investor panics at a time when massive flows of money traverse borders and oceans.

A readable, compelling account of the deeply flawed workings of the international political system, The Chastening is vital reading for students and scholars of international diplomacy, government, and economic and public policy. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Top Notch Economic Journalism
This is a superb journalistic account of the financial crises that rocked Asia, Russia, and Brazil in 1997-98. It has enough journalism to be an exciting read, and enough economics to inform readers about modern international finance. It's hard to put down -- which is something that can be said about very few books dealing with the IMF.

There are two schools of thought about the crises of the late 1990s. One school -- call it the Markets-Don't-Err school -- blames poor economic management in the stricken countries. In this view, investors lost confidence in emerging markets after government deficits put downward pressure on exchange rates and poor banking practices led to corporate overindebtedness. The second school -- call it the Markets-as-Herd school -- blames the dynamics of international capital itself. Investors, having recklessly plowed money into emerging markets in the early 1990s, got cold feet when Thailand's currency collapsed in 1997. They then stampeded to liquidate their positions in other emerging-market currencies, punishing countries willy-nilly regardless of their underlying economic fundamentals.

It's a measure of the book's success that members of both schools can find evidence to support their position. My only complaint -- not serious enough to give the book less than 5 stars -- is the patchy quality of the narrative. Malaysia is barely mentioned at all, for example. I suspect this is because sections of the book were recycled from Washington Post articles.

Engaging like a James Bond movie
Enter the world of high international finance. Mr. Blustein has managed to present an extremely readable (fun, dramatic, engaging) account of the tragic economic crises that are now called the "first of the XXI century".

Not only will you learn the economic details of the crises in Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil and Long-Term Capital Management. You will also find yourself in the rooms where IMF staff negotiated with authorities. You will take a glimpse at the halls of the Treasury and the Fed, where Rubin, Greenspan and Co., proved their genius as policymakers. You will be humbled by the ferocity of international capital and about "how close we where".

Still the great lesson is that we need not oppose globalization to build a better future. Rather you will fell as having read the first steps of a new world which we are only beggining to understand. Hence the need to understand what happened to build a stronger international financial architecture with stronger institutions.

The Chastening by Paul Blustein
One of the best book ever written. Insightful, clever, informative, articulate, sometimes even humorious. Mr. Blustein fully grasp the human psychology as well as how the IMF functions. It is great book for people from all background, its easy to read and absorb. He explains all concept carefully and often using analogy to make them easy to understand. I learned more from this book than my summer research on IMF as well as all other books and articles written on IMF and their policies. One of the BEST book I ever read. A+++

Excellent Read on a Dry topic
Here's an amazingly well written book on an obtuse subject (the IMF and the economics of currencies) that tells a compelling story of the attempts to deal with the contagion crises in the late 90's. The book is very non-idelogical as it demonstrates the best efforts made by the IMF, World Bank, US Treasury & Fed, as well as the Central Banks of Europe and Japan to deal with the appearence of currency runs as they struck various developing nations.

While the book is not hawking a political slant, it is very honest about the fact that the IMF's solutions were at best partly successful. It addresses the very real concern that attempts to bail out countries in crises is really bailing Wall Street investors who took foolish risks with taxpayer money.

For a subject that has little coverage outside of technical studies this is a very good book.

Good read on a tragic epoch
I read this book after reading Dr. Stiglitz criticism on the IMF. Actually, Stiglitz quotes him. Contrary to Stiglitz', Mr. Blustein's book reads fast, makes some of the same criticism Stiglitz does but one does not feel he has an ax to grind. If you want to read a good book on the Asian financial crisis and Russia's default on its own ruble debt, this is the book for you. Very informative and entertaining. ... Read more

Book Description

The Historian's Wizard of Oz synthesizes four decades of scholarly interpretations of L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel as an allegory of the Gilded Age political economy and a comment on the gold standard. The heart of the book is an annotated version of The Wizard of Oz that highlights the possible political and monetary symbolism in the book by relating characters, settings, and incidents in it to the historical events and figures of the 1890s, the decade in which Baum wrote his story. Dighe simultaneously values the leading political interpretations of Oz as useful and creative teaching tools, and consolidates them in a sympathetic fashion; yet he rejects the commonly held, and by now well-debunked, view that those interpretations reflect Baum's likely motivations in writing the book. The result is a unique way for readers to acquaint themselves with a classic of children's literature that is a bit different and darker than the better-known film version. ... Read more

Book Description

How should governments and central banks use monetary policy to create a healthy economy? Traditionally, policymakers have used such strategies as controlling the growth of the money supply or pegging the exchange rate to a stable currency. In recent years a promising new approach has emerged: publicly announcing and pursuing specific targets for the rate of inflation. This book is the first in-depth study of inflation targeting. Combining penetrating theoretical analysis with detailed empirical studies of countries where inflation targeting has been adopted, the authors show that the strategy has clear advantages over traditional policies. They argue that the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank should adopt this strategy, and they make specific proposals for doing so.

The book begins by explaining the unique features and advantages of inflation targeting. The authors argue that the simplicity and openness of inflation targeting make it far easier for the public to understand the intent and effects of monetary policy. This strategy also increases policymakers' accountability for inflation performance and can accommodate flexible, even "discretionary," monetary policy actions without sacrificing central banks' credibility. The authors examine how well variants of this approach have worked in nine countries: Germany and Switzerland (which employ a money-focused form of inflation targeting), New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Israel, Spain, and Australia. They show that these countries have typically seen lower inflation, lower inflation expectations, and lower nominal interest rates, and have found that one-time shocks to the price level have less of a "pass-through" effect on inflation. These effects, in turn, are improving the climate for economic growth. The authors warn, however, that the success of inflation targeting depends on operational details, such as how the targets are defined and when they are announced. They also show that inflation targeting is not a panacea that can make inflation perfectly predictable or reduce it without economic costs.

Clear, balanced, and authoritative, Inflation Targeting is a groundbreaking study that will have a major impact on the debate over the right monetary strategy for the coming decades. As a unique comparative study of what central banks actually do in different countries around the world, this book will also be invaluable to anyone interested in how economic policy is made. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Yawn
I have never been a fan of condensed books for the obvious reason that they leave out content and motivation. This book, however, could be shrunk by 3/4 without any real loss. Yes, there is much in-depth case study information here, but the paper could have been much better used by substituting much of it for some harder, theoretical motivation and analytical discussions. The authors are capable of this. Also, despite the painstaking redundent detail and a few regressions, for me the authors fail to place inflation targeting and inflation targeting countries into the greater context of inflationary policies and countries facing inflation. It surprises me that there is no mention of some of the, especially developing countries, where inflation has been a serious problem and where most battles of the future are likely to be fought.

Heavy on the case studies and mildly repetitive.
An easy to read book for people of all levels. It takes the reader through case studies on the various countries which have introduced inflation targeting. This is interesting from a historical perspective, but since inflation targeting really is a very simple concept (announce an inflation target, describe why you aim to hit this target, make it clear how you shall go about achieving this target and at all times be transparent in your pursuit of that target) the book tends to be repetitive. This book simply goes over too many similar regimes and thus cannot help but cover the same points over again. The last chapter is a study of the U.S. (a rare example of a country with very steady inflation which has not introduced an explicit inflation target) with some recommendations on how (and why) it should implement an inflation target. This book is recommended if you want very indepth case studies on the introduction of inflation targeting in countries as different as Sweden, New Zealand, The U.K. and Australia, but if you only need a quick overview of what inflation targeting is then buy a good general Economics textbook and read the section on it. ... Read more

Book Description

The significant store of knowledge about publicly regulated pensions for old age has grown even more rapidly in the past decade. This book explores current research in four critical areas for pension policy:the political design of pension institutions; the iron links among fiscal deficits, private savings, and pension reform; how macroeconomic policy should be conducted after large private pension funds have emerged; and lessons on efficient organization of the pension industry, drawn from international comparisons including Australia, Chile, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom. ... Read more