Reviews (3)

Well worth getting the update
Cheng Hsiao's 1986 monograph "Analysis of Panel Data" drew the attention of many to the inherent advantages of using longitudinal (ie. panel) data sets, where the same subjects are observed at different periods in time. Substantially as a result of Hsiao's excellent presentation of key issues, the volume of research using panel data increased dramatically during the next fifteen years.

It is especially timely that Hsiao has written an updated version of this classic. All the essential concepts from the first edition have been retained; in addition, the author does a very good job of providing coverage of the many advances which have been made in analysis of panel data since 1986.

Of special note, in relation to the second edition, are the chapters on dynamic models (Ch. 4) and discrete response models (Ch. 7). These two areas have been particularly in need of an updated treatment, since a great deal of recent research has taken place into the properties of estimators in these situations. Hsiao's treatments of these are correct up to and including 2001, which provides a major service for researchers interested in these topics.

An alternative book, by Badi Baltagi, exists. However, Hsiao's book is superior and should be purchased by all who wish to pursue modern empirical work.

A classic.
This book is a classic on panel data econometrics. Nevertheless, the materials in this book do not account for nonstationary panel data. I am anxiously waiting for Arellano's Panel Data Econometrics, which contains up-to-date treatment.

A book necessary for panel data analysis
This neat monograph is necessary for any research in panel data analysis. ... Read more

Book Description

Authors Santerre and Neun take a fresh contemporary approach to health economics.The writing style is lively and inviting to students that are intimidated by the term "economics."The authors use several real-world applications to make the economic theory more approachable to students.The central theme of Health Economics, 3e relates to the costs and benefits associated with various health care choices.Using this theme, the book covers the many changes that have taken place in the field of health care in both the public and private sectors. ... Read more

Book Description

Praise for Financial Valuation

"The book has a wealth of detail, practice tips, examples, and extra information, plus sections on business valuation situations not addressed elsewhere. A valuable addition to the literature of business valuation."
–– Shannon Pratt, CFA, FASA, MCBA
Managing Director, Willamette Management Associates
Managing Owner, Business Valuation Resources, LLC

"The book sets a fine example in technical yet readable exposition. As the text flows, it is evident [the twenty-five authors] have taken great steps toward achieving uniformity reflecting the various opinions within the profession.This goes a long way toward reinforcing proven methodologies and validating their ‘real world’ application. The well-thought-through categories–starting with Standards of Value–and legal insights with ‘tried and true’ cases reveal and attest to the depth of [the authors’] experience in business valuation and litigation consulting.
"All of the topics appeal to practitioners of all levels. Value-adding ‘ValTips’ are quite helpful in stimulating broader consideration of each subject and elevating the reader’s perspective."
–– Parnell Black, MBA, CPA, CVA
Chief Executive Officer
National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts

"This book takes the consensus of many talented appraisers and presents topics in a fashion that has not been seen before in any other valuation treatise.Many of the same old topics are presented, but this time, even I was forced to take a much closer look. This unique approach to many of these topics is a must for the well-rounded appraiser."
––Gary R. Trugman, CPA, ABV, MCBA, ASA, MVS
Trugman Valuation Associates
A Rachlin Cohen & Holtz Company

"This is a unique publication in that it brings together twenty-five nationally recognized names in the valuation industry to provide practitioners with their consensus ‘school of thought’ on many commonly encountered valuation issues. The author list includes analysts from all the valuation organizations with many current or former members of the AICPA Business Valuation Subcommittee and the AICPA BV Hall of Fame. An excellent reference source for CPAs looking for guidance from some of the top valuators in the nation."
––Thomas E. Hilton, MS, CPA/ABV, CVA
Chair, AICPA Business Valuation Subcommittee
Partner, Anders, Minkler and Diehl LLP

Coauthors: Mel Abraham, Jim Alerding, Terry Allen, Larry Cook, Mike Crain, Bob Duffy, Ed Dupke, Nancy Fannon, John Gilbert, Tom Hilton, Greg Koonsman, Eva Lang, Mike Mard, Harold Martin, Mike Mattson, Jim Hitchner, Steve Hyden, Ray Moran, Charles Phillips, Jim Rigby, Ron Seigneur, Robin Taylor, Linda Trugman, Don Wisehart, and Mark Zyla. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Review of "Financial Valuation: Applications and Models"

Jim Hitchner, a name well-known to ABVs and other valuation practitioners, conceived the novel idea of bringing together twenty-five highly visible and well-respected valuation professionals to present the group's collective views and positions on business valuation concepts and applications. Each of the authors is a coauthor of the entire book. The authors, many of whom are ABVs and instructors for the AICPA's national business valuation educational program, include Mel Abraham, Jim Alerding, Terry Allen, Larry Cook, Mike Crain, Bob Duffy, Ed Dupke, Nancy Fannon, John Gilbert, Tom Hilton, Jim Hitchner, Steve Hyden, Greg Koonsman, Eva Lang, Mike Mard, Harold Martin, Mike Mattson, Ray Moran, Charles Phillips, Jim Rigby, Ron Seigneur, Robin Taylor, Linda Trugman, Don Wisehart, and Mark Zyla.

The result of this collective effort is "Financial Valuation" - a text that presents a compilation of "best practices" for the business appraiser.

"Financial Valuation" covers the obligatory fundamentals found in most other introductory texts. What sets this text apart from others is its focus on applications and methods. The text contains numerous practical examples and discusses alternative approaches for tackling those complex issues that are often encountered in the real world of valuation practice. This focus makes "Financial Valuation" an indispensable tool for even the most experienced appraisers. Some of the text's highlights include:

Chapter 4, Income Approach to Value, discusses the alternative income valuation methodologies and includes a detailed example of the excess cash flow (earnings) method.

Chapter 5, Cost of Capital/Rates of Return, includes a comprehensive presentation on the application of Ibbotson data for determining risk premiums in discount and capitalization
rates.

Chapter 6, Market Approach to Value, discusses alternative market valuation methodologies and presents a quantitative method for using and adjusting guideline public company multiples for size and growth differences.

Chapter 9, Report Writing, presents a detailed valuation report with numerous comments on why certain items were included or excluded.

Chapter 12, Family Limited Partnerships, presents a detailed case study on the valuation of a Family Limited Partnership including the selection of discounts for lack of control and
lack of marketability.

Chapter 13, Court Case Issues and Review, includes synopses of over 40 tax court cases organized by major valuation areas of dispute.

Chapter 16, Valuation in the Divorce Setting, discusses the complexities of valuing ownership interests in closely held businesses for divorce purposes, including a discussion of relevant state case law, standard of value, applicability of discounts and premiums, etc.

Chapter 18, Valuation Issues in Professional Practices, provides an overview of the issues involved in valuing professional practices such as medical, law, and accounting practices.

Chapter 19, Valuation of Healthcare Entities, includes two detailed case studies: a surgery center and a hospital.

Chapter 20, Valuation of Intangible Assets, includes a detailed case study on an allocation of purchase price for a business combination under new SFAS 141.

Chapter 21, Marketing, Managing, and Making Money in a Valuation Services Group, presents practical guidance on how to operate a valuation practice.

Chapter 24, Valuation Views and Controversial Issues, presents a discussion of subjective and difficult areas of valuation in the form of a case study/report format.

The text also includes hundreds of "ValTips" which alert the reader to important and often controversial topics. The accompanying "Financial Valuation Workbook" provides a detailed case study, models, and exercises that can substantially reduce a beginner's learning curve and assist the experienced practitioner in better organizing the valuation process. The Workbook follows the valuation engagement format and is organized by standard, easily identifiable sections that allow for easy reference.

SUMMARY
"Financial Valuation" gets two enthusiastic thumbs up! ... Read more

Book Description

Packed with interesting examples and real world leadership, this readable, upper-level textbook helps students develop an understanding of theory while acquiring the necessary skills and insights to become effective leaders. It is written for courses teaching leadership theory and application. ... Read more

Book Description

Designed as an introduction to general economics for non-majors, Sharp/Register/Grimes' Economics of Social Issues presents economic concepts as useful tools to analyze contemporary social issues.Each chapter presents economic concepts then places them within the context of very current issues facing society.The book may also be used to supplement principles courses with lively social issues to add relevance to the economic principles being taught.Economics of Social Issues has garnered a loyal user following for its timely and impartial handling of current social issues which dominate newspapers and television news. While the issues are contemporary and the supporting information updated, the authors remain objective. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

outstanding introduction to economics
this is an outstanding book for those who want to know more, but not too much more, about economic thinking. modern examples and applications make the book easy to read, for a university text. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1983, Michael Dell, a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, drove away from his parents' Houston home in a BMW he'd bought selling subscriptions to his hometown newspaper.  In the backseat were three personal computers.  Today, he is the chairman and CEO of Dell Computer Corporation, a $30 billion company and the second largest manufacturer and marketer of computers in the world.

Founded on a deceptively simple premise-to deliver high-performance computer systems directly to the end user-Dell Computer is the envy of its competition.  It has consistently grown at two to three times the industry rate, its stock went up more than 90,000 percent in the last decade, and Dell is now selling more than $35 million worth of systems per day over  In Direct from Dell, you will learn

Reviews (110)

Great read for Business & Economics Studnets
I can understand the criticism of this book that perhaps Mike Dell should have gone more in depth about the dynamics of his company and industry. However, this being his first book that I know of I can understand why he choose to keep it short and simple, and to his credit.

A great peak into the mind of a business man and leader who in my opinion deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence with Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Lee Iacocca et al.

One part in particular that caught my attention was Chapter 7 where on page 95&96 he talks about his "Know The Net" initiative in order to familiarize his employees with the Internet.

I personally liked when he stated that: "Some might argue that if you give employees access to the World Wide Web, they will spend all their time surfing the Net. But that's like saying, We don't want to teach our people how to read because they might spend all their time reading."

Fabulous insight into Michael Dell's view of the Internet's future as a conduit for Economic Efficiency in business, school, and life.

Great piece of literature especially for beginning Business& Economics students. Peace :-)

"Stalled Thinking" has not been a problem at Dell!
Given Dell's track record, success and innovation, this is a book that should be read by all business executives. It should also be read by all students to provide encouragement for trying the things one wants to do and is passionate about. As a strategy book, it is well written. I was hoping to learn more of the Dell secrets, the "how tos" behind this very successful approach. I also believe the market has over reacted to Dell's recent announcement of slower (38%) earnings growth. That is still superb performance and Dell is likely to outperform and continue to meet customers' need for many years. The usual problems that stall companies: The Communications Stall, The Bureaucratic Stall, The Disbelief Stall (we can't do that here), The Misconception Stall (it's too hard to do and won't work becuase), The Unattractiveness Stall, The Procrastination Stall and The Tradition Stall (this is how we have always done it) seem not to be strong issues at Dell because the company continues to ask the right questions. This is the key to progress at a much faster rate, and/or at a much lower cost. The focus on customers and selling direct helps to make this possible. Dell can continue to do many things right in the future. It will be fun to watch them. They are poised to be a prototype company of the future.

FAST-PACED AND INSIGHTFUL SKIM, BUT HINTS OF NARCISSISM
Whether you're an entrepreneur, a manager, a marketer, or a passionate loyalist of the compelling and always competitive offerings from the star PC firm, this semi-memoir will let you in on the madly tight ship that's known as Dell.

It's a fairly compact fluently-written book that distills Dell's lessons for business (p.s. it's NOT a biography of Michael Dell) that lends itself to some pacy in-flight reading.

But thinking back, I have a couple of gripes.

In recounting the company's meteoric rise from a college dorm to the multi-million dollar company in a short couple of decades, the book advocates a fanatical belief in the power of the Internet and how it is vital to every business's survival. If you don't provide access from every one of your users' desktops, you'll be gone. I find this a bit hard to digest as a categorical generalization, and I am a net evangelist myself. But I would not have expected anything different from Dell.

Secondly, the tone of the author(s?) occasionally takes on a doting note, and they seem to imply that Dell veritably invented the direct selling approach. This is patently misguided. A corollary that stems from this is the novel way that Dell came up with to segment customers. Somewhat cloying, this self-absorption.

Yet, in terms of good business insights, it's a fascinating read good enough to be devoured in a day or two. Recommended, especially as a business gift.

Very inspirational
As a young entrepreneur it helped me to believe that one can achieve their goals by having a plan and a burning desire to succeed.

Great story with practical advice!
The story of Dell Computers is an enjoyable story of how an entrepreneurial young Michael Dell couldn't contain his enthusiasm for his business idea and took it all the way. Without much to guide him beyond his instincts he made some mistakes, but he admits to these and describes them so readers can learn from them as he did. Of course, far more can be learned from what he did right. One of the more noteworthy approaches he mentions is that Dell rewards success by *reducing* the responsibilities of the successful manager- an act many use as a negative disciplinary measure in other companies. The reasoning is that after a division grows from a $10 million market to $200 million, by cutting it back to $25 million, it will be easier for the manager to focus on this smaller block, understand it better, and again grow it to $200 million or more. ... Read more

Reviews (53)

Sets the stage for all information architects
This book will teach you some basics on how to most effectively present quantitative information using various sorts of graphs and charts. Afterwards you will know how and why you should get rid of chart junk (gridlines, tick marks, ornaments, etc.) or alternatively using some of the examples on bad design presented, you will see how to manipulate your audience using the "Lie Factor". Actually the advice given in this book could easily fit within just one piece of paper, but then: This book is simply beautiful. It is state of the art for printed books, you almost feel a passion for it. Mr. Tufte takes his own medicine: No words in this book are superfluous. Illustrations and examples are carefully selected and reprinted with the utmost care. It takes no more than some hours to read the book, but afterwards you can use more than just a few hours to study the examples of timeless graphic displays. The only reason why this book is short of five stars is the following: Mr. Tufte uses quite some space providing statistics about charts found in different publications (chart junk percentages, lie factor. Personally I find this information fairly irrelevant and would have preferred more examples of chart remakes. However this book is definately still a MUST have!

I'd give it 6 stars if they'd let me....
Instead I give this book regularly to my students & wish to goodness that more of my colleagues had copies. From the opening pages -where Tufte gives us 4 data sets that are statistically indistinguishable but graphicly at different points of the compass- through the beautifully rendered examples of classical and modern examples of meaningful graphics & "chartjunk" Tufte serves as a wry, witty, and informative guide to the perils & joys of informing or confusing an audience with charts and graphs.
Although in some ways a polemic against the misuse of graphical techniques, Tufte never loses his sense of humor & gives us plenty of really GOOD examples as well as a harsh deconstruction of some truly horrendous images. While this, the first in what has become a series, predates the muddy dawn of computer graphical "presentations" the basic principles outlined in its pages are every bit as applicable to the PowerPoint generation as they were to transparencies & posters. Buy it. read it Use it.

You'll Never Make a Chart the Same Way Again
Edward Tufte is a prophet of the Information Age come to warn us that we must repent or be consigned to oblivion.

One of the great advances which has made the Information Age possible has been the development of easy-to-use graphing software to swiftly create charts which used to take skilled draftsmen days to produce.

Unfortunately, the commoditization and automation of this once-dear skill set has resulted in the proliferation of lies, damned lies, and lousy statistics.

Tufte, a Princeton professor and polymath with passionate interest in statistics, information design, and public policy, offers up a thorough diagnosis of what ails our data-rich, information poor society:

- Poor graphical integrity, where the visual proportions are out of synch with the data's proportions

- Chartjunk, unnecessary clutter which reduces the proportion of data-ink in a graphic

- Poor labeling, which robs data of context

- Low-density presentations, where complex and nuanced data are "dumbed down" for the sake of a fleeting aesthetic

Fear not---Dr. Tufte also provides the reader with a course of treatment (called "Graphical Excellence") thoroughly illuminated with real-world examples drawn throughout history.

This is one of those rare works which feeds both your right and left brain. It is a closely-argued work on behalf of clean and clear communications. It is also a wonderful art book depicting the evolution of an often-misunderstood art form.

Whether you're an engineer, a statistician, a businessman, or a teacher, this beautifully-designed book will help you become a more effective communicator.

Superb Introduction to Quantitative Information Display
Prof. Tufte uses an excellent assortment of charts and graphics to illustrate his points. I found this book to be a quick read; and one I could return to for years to come, as the principles he describes are quite applicable to web site design. I would recommend this book, in fact, I was impressed enough to sign up for the design seminar.

Very Short on Substance; Has Essentially Only A Single Point
Other reviewers have mentioned a few negatives. To me, these mostly boil down to short-on-substance problems. The author is a bit pompous -- which wouldn't matter that much if he had a lot to say. Alas, he does not. In essence, the author makes one -- and only one! -- point with the whole book: eliminate "chart junk" (e.g. 3-D effect bars, etc). He is manically obsessive-compulsive about this point so that he takes it to extremes -- get this: computing "data ink" to "junk ink" ratios he even eliminates the axis line (to increase the ratio). While he's at it, just put tics and only where data are (thus giving marginal distributions of x and y) -- cute idea and it does increase "info"-to-junk ink to the max, but these ideas are nearly absurd extremes. If you really want to learn new techniques and real-value PRINCIPLES get William Cleveland's "Elements of Graphing Data" (original or revised). Don't be put off by publication date -- Cleveland's book is a superbly enjoyable read with eminently useful ideas. I've used principles from Clevelend's book to great effect. I've been graphing for decades, but with Cleveland's book I recently made a very large jump in the quality of my graphical communication. Skip the low-on-substance, one-note Tufte and go for the full-of-substance, emminently useful Cleveland. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The Working Poor examines the "forgotten America" where "millions live in the shadow of prosperity, in the twilight between poverty and well-being." These are citizens for whom the American Dream is out of reach despite their willingness to work hard. Struggling to simply survive, they live so close to the edge of poverty that a minor obstacle, such as a car breakdown or a temporary illness, can lead to a downward financial spiral that can prove impossible to reverse. David Shipler interviewed many such working people for this book and his profiles offer an intimate look at what it is like to be trapped in a cycle of dead-end jobs without benefits or opportunities for advancement. He shows how some negotiate a broken welfare system that is designed to help yet often does not, while others proudly refuse any sort of government assistance, even to their detriment. Still others have no idea that help is available at all.

"As a culture, the United States is not quite sure about the causes of poverty, and is therefore uncertain about the solutions," he writes. Though he details many ways in which current assistance programs could be more effective and rational, he does not believe that government alone, nor any other single variable, can solve the problem. Instead, a combination of things are required, beginning with the political will needed to create a relief system "that recognizes both the society's obligation through government and business, and the individual's obligation through labor and family." He does propose some specific steps in the right direction such as altering the current wage structure, creating more vocational programs (in both the public and private sectors), developing a fairer way to distribute school funding, and implementing basic national health care.

Prepare to have any preconceived notions about those living in poverty in America challenged by this affecting book. --Shawn Carkonen ... Read more

Reviews (37)

A Searing Look At Poverty In America
Poverty is a marginalization of good and decent people. It is about a lack of money, and it is about far more. It is also about the myth that if one works hard that one will not be poor. In fact, most persons who are poor do work hard. Most hard work is rewarded at a low level of pay because our system rewards the employer who pays at the lowest level that can be achieved.

The author discusses the problem of Asthma in America caused primarily by the poor living in cities and in poor housing. He also discusses malnutrition in America.

The more money we invest in our children, the lesser amount of money we will need to invest in prisons. More than that, if we will reduce the poverty of millions of children then we will have a much more wonderful society in which to live. Our society works in part like a chain-link fence. That is, the overall quality of our society is no better than the weakest link in our "chain-link fence" of security for our citizens.

Fascinating but Misses Some Basics
I enjoyed this book tremendously; Shipler is a fine writer.His overall point is that a lot more could be done about poverty than we are presently doing, and that it wouldn't necessarily cost more money than we are spending now.I agree!
There are some glaring omissions in the book.Shipler talks extensively about the problems immigrants face, but he says nothing about how much the condition of the American poor would improve if immigration laws were enforced.In my opinion, by accepting immigrants from overpopulated countries America is, in effect, subsidizing other countries' irresponsibility in failing to solve their domestic problems.Shipler echoes the conventional wisdom that immigrants take jobs that native-born Americans wouldn't.Well, if jobs cleaning houses and picking produce paid $14 an hour, native-born Americans would be lining up for them.Why don't such jobs pay that much money?Because with America's loose immigration policy and lax enforcement of even the existing laws, employers know there's always another desperate immigrant willing to work for less. Restricting immigration would do a lot more to help poverty than using taxpayer money to pay for interpreter services, which Shipler mentions approvingly in Chapter 8, or anything else Shipler suggests.
Shipler also says too little about the role of free trade in lowering US wages.There's a big difference between free trade with countries that have labor and environmental standards similar to our own, and free trade with countries like China where labor and environmental standards are almost non-existent.Free trade between a high-standard and a low-standard country increases poverty in both countries:in the high-standard country because it can't compete on the wage front, and in the low-standard country because it ruins its natural resource base.Subsidizing that trade (as we do when we subsidize transportation costs with artificially cheap oil) simply ruins the trading countries faster.
Shipler's most important omission is in the area of birth control.I am married and between my husband and I we make a good middle-class income.We have one child, age seven.Between paying for child care (after school and during vacations when the public schools are closed), getting the child back and forth to school and child care, taking him to the doctor, attending school events, taking time off to care for him when he is sick, etc., etc., my experience has been that even one child is incredibly expensive both in money and time.I can't see how our family could possibly manage financially with two children.Yet over and over again, the poor families in Shipler's book have three children, five children, even eight children or more.Shipler doesn't even mention that poor families might find it easier to manage if they had fewer kids!As far as I'm concerned, anyone who has more than two children has NO right to complain that his poverty is society's fault.Where a nineteen-year-old has three children and ishaving trouble feeding them adequately, as a clinic patient described on page 211 of Shipler's book does, this strikes me as the sort of problem that is a lot easier to prevent than solve.Tubal ligation is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent poverty known.And yes, I had one.

hidden right wing agenda
First half of the book:
Don't let the description of this book fool you by telling you that both right and left wing readers won't like this book. That is a ploy to get you to think that you must be more open minded of, and accepting of, this book. It was immediately clear to me after having read only a few pages that this book was written with a serious right wing slant utilizing typical right wing stereotypes. Before I even started the first chapter of this book I noticed that there wasn't one person in the list of those consulted in the writing of this book that was poor! They were all people of privilege. It was also apparent that every editorial review listed in the book was either a newpaper or a person of affluence. Do you see any editorial reviews from anti-poverty groups, womens groups, immigrant groups, or any other group that represents the poor? NO, you don't. Who controls the newspapers? Well, let's see, umm how about the affluent and the heads of corporations. All people who have much to gain from giving the average American the impression that the poor are poor due to their own defects! How typical it is that people write books about poor people without poor people being consulted as to the real causes of poverty and what their needs are! I would remind readers that people who *think* that they know what poor people need, and are not poor themselves, have no actual personal experience to judge by but rather judge based on stereotypes of the poor. I would throw this book into the fire except that I feel that you must know your enemy to fight them. Reading this book is infuriating. The author makes it appear that every poor person has a combination of drug problems, alcohol problems, childhood abuse issues, poor parenting skills, poor budgeting skills, and an incomplete education. He doesn't seem to have been able to find poor people anywhere in the entire United States that don't fit this desciption! Please! The interviews with poor people were written *in their own words* and I found it extremely difficult to understand these people as their grammar was so poor. According to this author nearly all poor people are illiterate, or if not, still sound as though they are! None of them could pronounce a simple sentence without using improper grammar or slang! Are there NO poor people in America that can speak properly? Come on! In the chapter on child abuse which of course leads to those same people abusing their own children there isn't a poor parent in America that hasn't been abused by their parents and all are at risk, if not already abusing, their own kids! They all need to take parenting classes! My God, talk about stereotypes! When the author discusses illegal immigrants, particularily farm and factory workers, and describes their terrible living conditions I suppose he wants to make the reader aware of this sad fact and that it needn't exist but instead gives the impression that poor immigrants must be terrible slobs that can't see anything wrong with their living conditions and are satisfied with them as long as they have work. He wasn't able to find a single illegal immigrant farmer or factory worker in the entire United States that had anything negative to say about these conditions! Does this author really expect people to buy this? I must do some research and find out who financed this writing. I'm sure I will find out that it has been financed by the spin doctors.

Though there are problems amongst poor people and often more than there are amongst the affluent, these problems are almost always caused by poverty itself and could be significantly reduced by providing universal health care, access to decent and affordable housing, livable wages, reliable and efficient transportation, affordable food and nutritional suppliments, affordable and reliable child care, and a comprehensive education for all members of our society. Don't BUY the SPIN!

Part 2:
In this section the author has finally found one poor person in the entire US that has an education and doesn't sound illiterate when they speak. This person, however, is the token *middle class* white woman who has been unfortunate enough to have divorced and fallen from her higher position in society. Of course there are no poor people in America that haven't fallen from this higher rung on the economic ladder that are literate so he must use this example. Here he portrays her as making the correct choice of working part time to spend more time with her kids and to send them to private school by making sacrifices in other areas while she lives off of the generous support payments that her husband provides. Now we know he can't use a welfare mother as an example of making the right choice to stay home because that would not sit well with the affluent readers. Did I mention that nearly every poor persons home is dirty, dishes everywhere, clothes on the floor, filthy conditions generally? Oh yes, they all live like pigs. Oh we mustn't forget that none of them have *soft skills*, a spin word used by the welfare reform spin doctors to denote cases that must be forced into training programs which consist of resume writing, interviewing skills, basic computer usage, getting to work on time, etc. Yes it's true, according to this author, all poor people have low self esteem and can't even speak to or look at an employer when in an interview never mind arrive on time or call in when they can't show up!. They are all so terribly damaged that they can't even communicate on a normal human level with another human. Sub-human poor people they are really you know, they need help in this area. I'm sure forced participation in a *program* that will address these soft skills and then direct the poor into *entry level* positions will be the cure for this!
After all, do you really expect employers to pay decent wages to people when they are so damaged and so useless that they are nearly animals? They are costing companies money by putting up with them you know. Come on!

Have I mentioned that there aren't any employers in America to blame? Yes, the author mentions a few employers who say they can't cut into their profit margins or it will put the business at risk. These are all small operations he mentions. Does the risk to employees mean anything? NO! Have corporations that have billions a year in profits been mentioned? NO! We can't upset the corporate guys or they won't buy the book!

Really is just amazes me that so many readers are taken in by this book. I wonder how it is that having lived in poverty for many years and knowing literally hundreds of others in the same position that I can't recall a single one that sounds illiterate. Nearly every poor person I have ever met has astounding skills at time management, budgeting, problem solving, and most are computer literate today as well. They all keep relatively clean houses and none of them beat their kids, in fact they are usually the first ones to point out minor flaws in each other parenting and offer helpful suggestions. They have developed a fine network of bartering and support amongst each other. They are skilled at resume writing and communication skills. So how come they aren't working or working and still poor? Well, lets see, how about.. there are no jobs that pay enough money to support a single person, never mind a family. How about the lack of economically feasible and decent childcare. How about tuition costs so high that only a fool would go into that kind of debt for a higher education with little means to pay it off upon graduation. How about the fact that jobs once performed by unskilled labour now require a masters degree to get hired. Does a thousand applicants for every one position say anything to you? Let's not forget that if you are working at a low paying job, your chances of promotion are nil. Low paying jobs don't have promotion opportunites. Neither do they provide raises for skills, experience, and time on the job. Oh you say, I know a poor person who got a 10 cent raise last week! Lets see, a 2% raise a year when inflation is say 5% leaves you how far into the hole?. You call this a raise? Employees wages are decreasing every year to the benefit of the employers. How about preventative health care including dental care so that it doesn't cost more in the long run? Oh yes, then there is the cost of public transportation or a car if your rural, clothes for work, quicker, more costly, meals to cook and you end up without enough left for food to sustain you to go to work. I guess poor people are supposed to work hungry and like it. This will really increase self esteem people! Does this author actually expect us to buy the idea that a lower income job that is usually something that no one wants to do, doesn't lead anywhere, and doesn't pay enough to fill their stomach or pay their bills is going to increase people's self esteem!? Let the author work at one of these low wage jobs for a few weeks and see how his self esteem is.

While I don't dispute that the people mentioned in this book are actual people with the problems cited, the author has conveniently selected a group of experiences which very carefully fit into the spin doctors stereotypical view of the poor in order to justify their welfare reform, low wages, and forced back to work *programs*. Very clever and hardly noticable by the general population who are not acutely aware of the real issues and elaborately planned, corporate funded, political brainwashing attempt to divert your attention from the problems of the free market system to the defects of the poor.

Absolutely no mention was given to the responsibility of corporations in paying livable wages and his end remarks regarding government responsibilty were diluted at best. Mr. Shipler, nice try but you haven't fooled all of us.

The Weight of the World
This book, at somewhat of a more superficial level, reminds me of Pierre Bourdieu's 1990 narrative sociology of hard lives in France and Chicago, The Weight of the World.

What's most interesting about the pathologies narrated is that they are shared by the middle and upper middle classes in America, but become much more consequential when the money isn't there.

Of course, each pathology has to be narrated in its own unique context. Tolstoy started the Karenina famously by saying "All happy families are happy alike, all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way".

Both sides of this dictum, which was at best a snappy way of starting a good book, can be interrogated. Part of the Weight of the World on people (such as my fellow students at Roosevelt University in Chicago) who start with silent disadvantages is that they learn not to narrate their lives with any justice.

This is because to do so in a dysfunctional family is often to get whacked.

In drug and alcohol rehab, which we see in Shipler is where welfare to work must often start, language STARTS with the absolute requirement for a true recognition of what Marx described as one's relations to one's fellow man in his purple passage "all that is solid melts into air".

But then, in computer classes and classes in resume writing, the Clintonian compromise with an uncompromising Republican class war changes this, and suddenly, the narrative becomes highly structured.

As Shipler points out, it becomes a narrative entirely concerned with satisfying naturalized employer needs.

Shipler gives a telling example. Physicians, who spot serious childhood illnesses, almost never think to call the mother's supervisor at work to ask that accomodations be made because excessively privatized health care makes the physician "think like a manager and not a physician"...in a society in which members of professional guilds outside the legal profession (and to an extent within it) are increasingly encouraged to subordinate their professional judgement to "thinking like a manager"...a rather unpleasant sort of chap, at the limit: rather something out of Dickens, forever making nasty little calculations.

Thus "thinking like a manager" means the physician will have internalized a mental "block" in which the job arrangements of a poor mother are assumed to be absolutes, and unquestionable. The block of course has a very good reason, and this is the resurgence of the legal doctrine of employment at will, which since the 1980s has been used pretty much without mercy on lower-level employees.

Shipler is a thoughtful supporter of the Great Bubba and his Missouri Compromise with forces that since Reagan are as Uncompromising as the slave-owner South (and whose avatars are generally silent about their spiritual and at times physical inheritances from antebellum arrangements).

The problem for Shipler is that untangling arrangements at once partly benign, partly pathological, and in all cases intertwined is difficult social re-engineering in a society where the Uncomprising forces have greatly benefited from them.

Furthermore, nobody can call a work ethic, the willingness to get up and go, and wage labor an agreement with death and a covenant with hell, as did Garrison refer to the slaveowner's Constitution. Quite the opposite: progressive forces in Abolition times thought precisely as do modern Republican apologists.

They believed in the American dream of salvation through wage labor and saving money, as does Shipler: as does Bill Clinton. But where anti-slavery's simplicity of opposition meant that it escaped being an ideology, support for the eternal verities of work and save is not support for anything simple.

I mean, there is in my experience work like a dog, and blue one's hard earned dollars like a sailor in port: just because you work you don't have to save (although it's impossible to save if you don't work, unless you steal). Many of Shipler's poor remain poor because of odious lending arrangements in a society which has forgot the evils of usury. Others remain poor because they, like Sir John Falstaff, don't think sack and sugar a fault.

But nearly all remain poor because of a Gestalt, in which Shylock, sack and sugar combine. Their personal biographies (as Bourdieu also relates) are saturated with post-modern complexities and puzzlements.

Bourdieu's elder French men and women made decent lives for themselves in France of the 1950s. They joined the Communist party *sans peur*...which then taught them an interesting, but terribly real work ethic: since they were workers, enmeshed in a doomed system, it was their dignity, in nearly all cases, to show up on time, *en masse*, and work hard if only to frighten the bosses with a show of strength.

But as happened in the USA, where Vietnam and the 1960s intervened in the same way in France, where Algeria, Vietnam and the French experience of the 1960s intervened, resistance, for the children and grandchildren became what Eric Hobsbawm called "the anarchism of the lower middle class", a disempowering brew of passive aggression, drug and alcohol abuse, and cynicism.

The result today is that the lower middle, working and lumpen classes can't speak of their own dignity without being immediately suspected, in rehab, computer classes, and resume-writing classes, of a Bad Attitude and a desire to return to the Dreamtime of the 1960s.

The Hobbesianism, this war of all against all, pervades American, and American-influenced, society from top to bottom, and as a result, it's become a strange society of monads who counsel each other to Look Out for Number One.

In this explicit Hobbesianism, we're all Number One, but the trouble is paradoxically that which Orwell saw in Communism. Some of us, like Donald Trump, are more Number One than others and (in a regression to theological barbarism) one gains indulgences in the resulting foofaraw by serving more successful men.

Thus the business book advises a paradoxical, almost Buddhist path, to personal empowerment: the celebration of a successful self who in reality is another, more polished version of one's sweating self.

From top to bottom in American society, this has created mass delusion and the preconditions for reproduction of the same pathologies Shipler describes: anomie, isolation, aliteracy, cynicism and despair.

Capitalist "shock therapy" cured the Communist forms of these pathologies in those countries like Poland and the Czech Republic (for Communism as ideology naturalizes nonsense just as fast, if not faster, than capitalism as ideology). But no exogenous shock seems to be in prospect for capitalism unless Space Monsters from the Planet Zork arrive.

Capitalism, interpreted as the ideological exclusion of solidarity and in signal cases elementary acts of kindness, may be at this point an addiction in the West. In the epistemological crisis described by David Caute (in Critical Psychiatry) characteristic of the lower middle class family, we may need to marketize relations in preference to actually judging ourselves and others: to keep the world at arm's length.

Hopefully, this process has an end point.

While in France, I saw a French review of this book which in French shed new light on what's hidden in America: for the French writer spoke of "single mothers" as "meres celibataires".

To so speak of single mothers illuminates their flat situation with sudden light and shadow, for the Latinate language images them as an order of nuns, "chanting cold hymns to the moon".

It implies that single motherhood is less, as is described by the grim Puritan divine, a product of "choices" in an America in which we're always making choices later used against us, than a guild or a calling, in a Middle Ages unexperienced in America...where the single mother takes upon herself the inability of the patriarch to change a nappy or send a child support check.

But for the same reason the physician doesn't pick up the phone and yell at the uncaring boss, single mothers chant cold hymns to the moon on the bus to Walmart at 3:00 AM, and somewhere else no dinner is ever thrown, with beer and lap dancing, for men who've paid their child support.

The situation is occult in Adorno's naturalized sense, for lucky and successful people in America have been as it were possessed by a daemon. This daemon (whose spelling I make antiquarian to avoid any confusion with theological fantasy) has instructed his adepts never, on pain of exclusion from bien-pensance, to emotionally overtip the help, in the sense of ever recognizing that over and above a paycheck, the working poor are doing us a favor.

We even train ourselves never to think we're doing anyone any favors by working, because in the hegemonic ideology (so there: take that) the equation has to come out to zero: the pay we get is what we deserve, and, it's best to megaconsume (whether in the short term Yuppie sense, or the longer term, whee let's buy more house than we can afford, sense) than to show solidarity with fellow workers or even demand psychic satisfaction.

Well, if even the Shortest American in the World, Robert Reich of Harvard could not even for one minute ask himself WHY Republicans can't compromise, don't compromise and don't have to compromise, why friend Reich and Bubba can't THEORIZE, then even Hilary's 2008 nomination won't work. We'll wake up as in Groundhog Day, to find that the election was stolen from Hilary despite exit polls showing a Hilary landslide.

As antiphilosophical Americans (insert appropriate reference to Tocqueville right here, as soon as I get around to actualy reading that prolix Frog), we don't think there is any such thing as Objective Spirit, and the Germans who used to discuss such nonsense over beer and sausage on Chicago's Lincoln Avenue are now silenced.

But what Objective Spirit MEANS is that we have no control whatsoever over a political Groundhog Day, in which cockroach exterminators drown what's left of any welfare state in the bathtub and in which our voices for peace and economic justice have no air: in which like spacemen we scream in silence.

It was at this point that the late Derrida, in Specters of Marx, had to go around the bend, and start speaking of ghosts. We know a slave when we see one, dodging the ice on the Ohio while we cheer him on in the old play.

But precisely as the static Weight of the World is in fact silently borne, we realize that this World Trade Center is all we have. Materially, like Hamlet in Act One, we tend sadly only to reproduction of intolerable lives. It takes an exogenous, ectomorphic event such as Dad cap a pie on the battlements to make us imagine negative, and positive possibility.

But absent this, we have Bill Murray in Groundhog day, punctured only by what old Tom Eliot heard in The Waste Land: murmurs of maternal lamentation, Erde-Kundry (whom none could call fair) sighing under the cumulative weight.

We'll wake up to find that the American electoral system, superstructure as to its base, in fact is fair in that it transmits not what we know, what we think we want, but our darkest and innermost Fear and Loathing, expressed in the very idea that when we've learned not to cut ourselves a break, we're damned if we'll cut dem welfare queens, dem bums, a break.

The code was tweaked for a Neil Bush win? What else is new? Shipler's working poor fight a rigged system, rigged today using high technology which has become a second nature, and in the next installment, the bien-pensants will learn once and for all that Bush v Gore was only the first shot. They can "vote" for the next multimillionaire Democrat until they are blue in the face, but in their heart they want what's delivered to their mortgaged door by the wretched of the earth.

The Weight of the World, Allen Ginsberg's "Trees! Clocks! Radios! Tons!" is known only to the structural engineer as frozen energy, frozen anger, and bodies turned to stone as heavy as the moon. The Working Poor, of course, know that their situation is never absolute, like slavery: my Mom's loyal maid knew instinctively that they were both mistress and servant, and coequal servants to my Dad's absolute need for a quiet, upper middle class, home (as compared to the usual *menage* of screaming wife, hounded husband, and noisy kids).

I conclude (aintcha glad I wrap it up) that we are ALL working poor: like Bob Marley said, we bellyful (maybe) but we hungry. But this should be a call to arms and to the strong compassion of Marianne, or forgotten Molly. When the storm breaks, it will be a mighty storm.

Spoiled by a Desire for "Balance"
This is one of the best books about poverty to have come out in recent years. Shipler writes beautifully and he is one of the few writers on the subject who has been able to shift almost effortlessly from anecdotal stories to the "big picture".

His basic thesis is entirely free of the sanctimonious BS one usually hears from both right and left: yes, poor people do make a lot of bad decisions, but then again so does everyone else. Rich people, however, are generally insulated from the effects of their bad decisions by their wealth and/or social connections, attributes which also tend to naturally put them in positions where it is easier to make good decisions.

If Shipler had stuck with this basic thesis, I could have given this book 5 stars. But somewhere along the way it seems that Shipler falls prey to the journalistic malady of "finding balance". This, of course, is immediately taken to mean that he, the author, should write something which "challenges both left and right". The above-mentioned thesis thus gets banged around and Shipler ends up with a confused message.

The worst parts of the book are when Shipler interviews supervisors and other non-poor people. Suddenly his BS meter seems not to work anymore. While Shipler is a master of explaining the mistakes and self-deceptions of the poor, he cannot seem to say anything even remotely critical about the actions of the employers with whom he talks. Everything they say gets taken at face value, even patent absurdities such as when a Proctor and Gamble spokesman tells him that the reason the company cannot have more regular working hours is that it would be bad for workers' career prospects not to be able to work with all three shift supervisors! This, mind you, after just explaining at length how the irregular working hours were causing serious havoc with the life of a single mother. Shipler sets aside his good journalistic instincts and feeds us this nonsense as a "reasonable" statement. The author is a bit too worshipful of the dictates of the "free market", accepting the employers' claims of being "helpless" as patently true, even though he knows little or nothing about the industries involved.
If we should expect the poor to take responsibility for their lives and be active moral agents, why not extend that same requirement to those a bit up the income ladder? This is a book about poverty whose main (and pretty much only) fault is that it doesn't examine wealth at all. ... Read more

Book Description

Why is America so rich and powerful? The answer lies in our genes, according to psychologist John Gartner.

Hypomania, a genetically based mild form of mania, endows many of us with unusual energy, creativity, enthusiasm, and a propensity for taking risks. America has an extraordinarily high number of hypomanics -- grandiose types who leap on every wacky idea that occurs to them, utterly convinced it will change the world. Market bubbles and ill-considered messianic crusades can be the downside. But there is an enormous upside in terms of spectacular entrepreneurial zeal, drive for innovation, and material success. Americans may have a lot of crazy ideas, but some of them lead to brilliant inventions.

Why is America so hypomanic? It is populated primarily by immigrants. This self-selection process is the boldest natural experiment ever conducted. Those who had the will, optimism, and daring to take the leap into the unknown have passed those traits on to their descendants.

Bringing his audacious and persuasive thesis to life, Gartner offers case histories of some famous Americans who represent this phenomenon of hypomania. These are the real stories you never learned in school about some of those men who made America: Columbus, who discovered the continent, thought he was the messiah. John Winthrop, who settled and defined it, believed Americans were God's new chosen people. Alexander Hamilton, the indispensable founder who envisioned America's economic future, self-destructed because of pride and impulsive behavior. Andrew Carnegie, who began America's industrial revolution, was sure that he was destined personally to speed up human evolution and bring world peace. The Mayer and Selznick families helped create the peculiarly American art form of the Hollywood film, but familial bipolar disorders led to the fall of their empires. Craig Venter decoded the human genome, yet his arrogance made him despised by most of his scientific colleagues, even as he spurred them on to make great discoveries.

While these men are extraordinary examples, Gartner argues that many Americans have inherited the genes that have made them the most successful citizens in the world. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Dr. Gartner's Hypomanic Patient
I am a former patient of Dr. Gartner and a mentalhealth professional as well. In reading his book and then reading some of the reviews( especially the NY Times interview) I began to wonder if we were all reading the same book. I found the book to be entetaining, funny and astoundly accurate. I have treatedmany patients who are exactly as John describes in his book. I my self have or have had most of the characteristics described in "the Hypomanic Edge". When I spoke with Dr. Gartner last week he asked me what I thought, I told him you "got it right!". I have long held the view that most of the written material in field is just recycled trivia, completely useless. This book is ground breaking and we need more of John Gartner and less of Dr. Phil and his ilk who write books that are more Jacquline Susan and about as usefull as the novel "Love Story".
Psychodoc

SHEDS PYSCHOLOGICAL LIGHT ON AMERICA'S SUCCESS & CHARACTER.
This nation gives unusual opportunities and celebrates the success of the hypomanic personality-one marked by an elevated mood state that may be, but is not necessarily, subject to depression. Hypomania is not an illness. The irrational confidence, ambition, vision, and zeal of these individuals has had an enormously positive impact on this nation's rise to economic prosperity. The book spotlights nine hypomanics through our history, and devotes a chapter to each of them, which is both a small biography and a clinical case history. The author concludes by offering evidence that the genetic roots of hypomania trace back to our primate ancestors. A totally absorbing and enlightening book.

Why didn't anyone think of this before?
It strikes me that there are two really interesting forms of writing in psychology; one that analyzes complex ideas in complex language, and one that breaks down complex ideas in simple language.Both have their place, yet neither is easy to pull off successfully.Gartner has captured the latter form of writing quite handily in The Hypomanic Edge.His central thesis, that a hypomanic character is actually a desirable way of being, is at once counterintuitive from prevailing cultural logic, and simultaneously one of those ideas that, in retrospect, seems so obviously true and useful that it's hard to imagine why we didn't think of it before.The intellectual clarity of Gartner's opening and closing chapters, coupled with the biographically and psychologically rich middle chapters on several important entrepreneurial figures through the centuries, makes for an enlightening and eminently readable book.Gartner has managed to generate a fresh angle on well-trodden clinical and historical ground.This in itself is quite noteworthy and refreshing, and I'm sure the book will be rewarding to most who open it.

Brilliant
John Gartner's unique new book is a tour de forceIt is a page turner which I could not put down.Dr. Gartner brings to life men from each of America's five centuries as he interweaves his story of how genetically driven mood alteration altered America. Hypomania is a form of bipolar disorder that gave these men the restless energy, incessant sleepless speech and work capacities that made them world altering giants, but also the impulsivity, reckless speech, and, with most, delusional excesses which sowed the seeds of their ultimate personal decline.The book reads like a novel but cites an impressive array of sources in over 800 footnotes to document his thesis that America is a nation of immigrants who come here because of their bipolar genes.This "immigrant drive" made America a leader in business, the arts, science, religion and finance, and Dr. Gartner demonstrates how with literary skill and clincal accuracy.

He writes of the supreme accomplishments and pathological excesses of Christopher Columbus, 17th century religious leaders, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Carnagie, the Hollywood Selznicks and Mayers, and the discoverer of the human genome Craig Venter.In each chapter Dr. Gartner gives the reader the background history, and sociological and technological information necessary to highlight the significance of the person's achievment.He uses written sources, but also has impressively and extensively interviewed biographers, colleagues, decendents, and
Dr. Venter himself, making the stories The Hypomanic Edge with information, surprises, humor, and compassion.

As a practicing psychoanalyst and psychiatrist I was very impressed with the scientific quality of the book, but having shared the book with several members of my family, I can attest that the the non-professional reader will find the book equally compelling.

A different title might have been helpful!
Don't be misled by the cursory dismissals contained in some of the "professional" reviews.I am a psychologist and I know Gartner.This is the most interesting psychology book that I have read in quite a few years.However, that is not saying much as most psychology books are uninspiring.Whether you agree with him or not (I'm not sure that I do) it is an interesting read and a well thought out presentation.If you are going to disagree with him, you will have to work at it.The link between genius and craziness has been discussed before and is not the most interesting part of this book.What is useful is the examination and documentation of the lives he chose to illustrate his thesis.More important are the implications for managing creativity and ambition.Gartner's examples are of those whose success contains the seeds of their downfall.Those of us in the field know many whose "inspired imagination" and "unrelenting drive" routinely insure that any measure of success will elude them. ... Read more

Book Description

Liquid markets generate hundreds or thousands of ticks (the minimum change in price a security can have, either up or down) every business day. Data vendors such as Reuters transmit more than 275,000 prices per day for foreign exchange spot rates alone. Thus, high-frequency data can be a fundamental object of study, as traders make decisions by observing high-frequency or tick-by-tick data. Yet most studies published in financial literature deal with low frequency, regularly spaced data. For a variety of reasons, high-frequency data are becoming a way for understanding market microstructure. This book discusses the best mathematical models and tools for dealing with such vast amounts of data.
This book provides a framework for the analysis, modeling, and inference of high frequency financial time series. With particular emphasis on foreign exchange markets, as well as currency, interest rate, and bond futures markets, this unified view of high frequency time series methods investigates the price formation process and concludes by reviewing techniques for constructing systematic trading models for financial assets. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

From the experts in the field
Michel Dacorogna and the team at the former Olsen & Associates are well-known experts in the field of foreign exchange rate data analysis, and their book provides us with a vast, useful source of information. Unfortunately for students and other beginners, the book is written like a compilation of papers and review articles, the opposite of pedagogical, and with an awful choice of 'computerese' notation (MA(t,n)=sum(EMA(t',k)... etc) that makes Boudhaud-Potters look easy in comparison. More to the point, even their noncomputerese notation is difficult to follow. I hope for a very different second edition written pedagogically for students of this growing and important field. On the positive side, data analyses are performed using logarithmic returns, not price increments. Workers in the field who consult this text will find it helpful.

For the new millenium...that's what we need.
The book covers a wide range of topics related to high-frequency data in Finance. There is a very detailed approach to tackle a huge amount of data and to deal with its based stylized facts. The book triggers the reader's desire to update his knowledge in the field of finance.

More Than An Introduction
This one of the few books on high frequency finance is a most welcome to the literature. The book is useful not only for people who are new to the subject but also for researchers in the field since it is a most uniform treatment of many topics. From adaptive data cleaning (chapter 4) to intraday and weekly seasonality (chapter 6) and real time trading models (chapter 11), it covers a broad range of topics specific to high frequency financial time series analysis. Chapters on volatility modeling (Chapter 8), forecasting (chapter 9) and correlation and multivariate risk (chapter 10) are enlightening especially for risk exposure analysis and risk management purposes. Finally, the the extensive bibliography is a precious source for those who would like to explore certain topics in detail. I highly recommend it for practitioners as well as researchers in the field. ... 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

Book Description

As interest rate markets continue to innovate and expand it is becoming increasingly important to remain up-to-date with the latest practical and theoretical developments. This book covers the latest developments in full, with descriptions and implementation techniques for all the major classes of interest rate models — both those actively used in practice as well as theoretical models still ‘waiting in the wings. Interest rate models, implementation methods and estimation issues are discussed at length by the authors as are important new developments such as kernel estimation techniques, economic based models, implied pricing methods and models on manifolds. Providing balanced coverage of both the practical use of models and the theory that underlies them, Interest Rate Modelling adopts an implementation orientation throughout, making it an ideal resource for both practitioners and researchers. "Interest Rate Modelling is an encyclopedic treatment of interest rates and their related financial derivatives. It combines advanced theory with extensive and down-to-earth data analysis in a way which is truly unique. For practitioners, students and scholars in the field, this impressive work will be the standard reference for years to come." Professor Tomas Björk, Stockholm School of Economics "… an excellent book. I am particularly pleased by its breadth and range of topics… the reader is provided with an informative and readable exposition." Dr Farshid Jamshidian, NetAnalytic "I particularly like the strong emphasis on the practicalities and calibration of interest rate models. This book will be invaluable as a comprehensive reference to students, researchers, and practitioners." Professor Francis Longstaff, The Anderson School at UCLA "This is a carefully written, scholarly but fascinating presentation of the field of Interest Rate Modelling. It combines the best of two worlds: the rigour expected from finance in academia with the relevance expected from finance in practice. James and Webber are truly masters of their market since this book is surely a must-buy for both researchers and practitioners. If only all finance books were written with this care and attention to detail." Dr Neil Johnson, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford "Today, interest rates are key economic instruments. This is a mammoth treatise and must surely rank as one of the most comprehensive available on the topic. Anyone interested in modelling or simulating the behaviour of interest rates, be they practitioner, economist, mathematician or new entrant to the subject, will find within a wealth of pertinent material." Professor Peter Richmond, Trinity College Dublin ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Best Book on Interest Rate Models in the Global Markets
This is the most comprehensive coverage of interest rate models available anywhere in the global markets. If you already have a model, read this book to examine options for additional improvements. If you are developing a model, buy this book for the best state-of-the-art guidance available.

Jessica James's writing is always clear and accessible, and her Ph.D. in physics lends unparalleled quantitative expertise to the state-of-the art analysis of models and their applications.

A real must !
As a math grad student who is interested in the term structure modelling, I found that this book is really useful! It just tells you everything about interest rate modelling,not just for the no-arbitrage modelling issue, they even have a chapter about the macroeconomic foundation for interest rate fluctuation! The math used in this book is very concise without too much measure theory twaddle,Everyone who works in this field should have a copy. It's a real must!

Best Book on Interest Rate Models in the Global Markets
This