Download or read book For Your Own Good written by Adam J. Hoffer and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In For Your Own Good, experts Adam Hoffer and Todd Nesbit bring together the work of 25 scholars in the field of public choice economics to raise awareness of the consequences of selective taxation and encourage a better-informed debate over such policies.
Download or read book Advanced Financial Risk Management written by Donald R. Van Deventer and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-02-06 with total page 834 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Practical tools and advice for managing financial risk, updated for a post-crisis world Advanced Financial Risk Management bridges the gap between the idealized assumptions used for risk valuation and the realities that must be reflected in management actions. It explains, in detailed yet easy-to-understand terms, the analytics of these issues from A to Z, and lays out a comprehensive strategy for risk management measurement, objectives, and hedging techniques that apply to all types of institutions. Written by experienced risk managers, the book covers everything from the basics of present value, forward rates, and interest rate compounding to the wide variety of alternative term structure models. Revised and updated with lessons from the 2007-2010 financial crisis, Advanced Financial Risk Management outlines a framework for fully integrated risk management. Credit risk, market risk, asset and liability management, and performance measurement have historically been thought of as separate disciplines, but recent developments in financial theory and computer science now allow these views of risk to be analyzed on a more integrated basis. The book presents a performance measurement approach that goes far beyond traditional capital allocation techniques to measure risk-adjusted shareholder value creation, and supplements this strategic view of integrated risk with step-by-step tools and techniques for constructing a risk management system that achieves these objectives. Practical tools for managing risk in the financial world Updated to include the most recent events that have influenced risk management Topics covered include the basics of present value, forward rates, and interest rate compounding; American vs. European fixed income options; default probability models; prepayment models; mortality models; and alternatives to the Vasicek model Comprehensive and in-depth, Advanced Financial Risk Management is an essential resource for anyone working in the financial field.
Download or read book Investing written by Robert Hagstrom and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-08 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this updated second edition, well-known investment author Hagstrom explores basic and fundamental investing concepts in a range of fields outside of economics, including physics, biology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and literature.
Download or read book Taxing Choice written by William Shughart II and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page 652 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taxing behavior deemed "politically incorrect" has long been a convenient way for politicians to fund programs benefiting special interest groups, to the public's disadvantage. Government policy toward various goods - drugs, tobacco and alcohol, for example - has been locked into a regulatory cycle of tax and taboo. Support for legalizing other substances is buttressed by the revenue-generating power of so-called "sin" taxesi And the products subjected to excise taxation have varied from soft drinks, fishing gear and margarine to airline tickets, telephone calls and gasoline. Taxing Choice thoroughly addresses the costs and benefits of these predatory public policies.Shughart notes that the record of such punitive selective taxation has been anything but successful, hindering economic progress and failing to deliver the promised social benefits. In addition, the costs of selective taxes fall disproportionately on lower-income people, while more politically powerful interest groups benefit. At the same time, such policies are a poor way to raise funding for public services, and foster political corruption and self-serving bureaucracies accountable to no one. Indeed, policies discriminating against certain products may represent ominous trends easily extended into virtually every facet of people's lives. One can envision policies proscribing foods, sun bathing, obesity, and even books, films, and political and religious beliefs deemed "dangerous."Part I is devoted to the political economy of selective taxation. Contributors trace the history and politics of selective excise taxes in the United States, discussing the range of products that have been subject to such taxation from the founding period to the present. Part II explains how these taxes emerge in a political marketplace with opposing pressure groups scrambling for wealth transfers in their own favor. Part III looks at taxes on specific products as well as such banning policies as Prohibition and the war on drugs. Constitutional, economic, and civil liberty issues, including civil asset forfeiture and product liability, are discussed in Part IV. With the accelerating national debate over tax reform and the downsizing of government, Taxing Choice is a timely and far-reaching contribution to a debate of great interest to economists, policymakers, historians, sociologists, and taxpayers in general.
Download or read book Investment Industry Claims Debunked written by Robert P. Kurshan and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is for people who want to know what to do with the money they save: so that it's there when they need it - to buy a home, pay for college, etc. - but also grows enough so they don't outlive it. The investment industry is fixated on the importance of maintaining a "balance" of stocks and bonds, shifting to more bonds as one ages. This book challenges this belief by arguing that what's actually important is to have just enough bonds and cash to support spending needs from a stable source, and to replenish these through the sale of stocks at propitious times when the stock market is not depressed. It features simple mathematical calculations, an explanation of basic financial objects like stocks, bonds, ladders, CDs, ETFs, or annuities, a discussion of how to evaluate financial risk, examinations of insurance, fraud deterrence, dollar cost averaging, benefits of a mortgage, risks of a pension, and general advice about healthcare. Although the book is written to be accessible to those with little or no prior knowledge of finance, the studies and conclusions presented here benefit a multitude of financial investors.
Download or read book Failed written by Mark Weisbrot and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Failed argues that some of the most important economic developments of recent years, including prolonged economic failures and alternatives, are widely misunderstood. Topics include the Eurozone, growth in the developing world, Latin America's "second independence" in the 21st century, and the International Monetary Fund's policies and loss of influence.
Download or read book Ratings Rating Agencies and the Global Financial System written by Richard M. Levich and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ratings, Rating Agencies and the Global Financial System brings together the research of economists at New York University and the University of Maryland, along with those from the private sector, government bodies, and other universities. The first section of the volume focuses on the historical origins of the credit rating business and its present day industrial organization structure. The second section presents several empirical studies crafted largely around individual firm-level or bank-level data. These studies examine (a) the relationship between ratings and the default and recovery experience of corporate borrowers, (b) the comparability of credit ratings made by domestic and foreign rating agencies, and (c) the usefulness of financial market indicators for rating banks, among other topics. In the third section, the record of sovereign credit ratings in predicting financial crises and the reaction of financial markets to changes in credit ratings is examined. The final section of the volume emphasizes policy issues now facing regulators and credit rating agencies.
Download or read book Report Pursuant to Section 21 a of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Regarding the NASD and the Nasdaq Market written by United States. Securities and Exchange Commission and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Influence Machine written by Alyssa Katz and published by Random House. This book was released on 2015-06-23 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illuminating history and groundbreaking investigation tracing how a single trade organization turned itself into the most dangerous political weapon in America When Americans hear the words “Chamber of Commerce,” many still think of the local business associations that spruce up Main Streets and sponsor Little League teams around the country. But the United States Chamber of Commerce is a different animal altogether. The Chamber was originally founded to give big business a voice during the long—and now almost inconceivable—period in American history that saw the rise of workers’ rights, consumer protections, and environmental awareness as national priorities. But over time, driven by an antigovernment ideology and its desire for financial and political power, the Chamber metastasized into a fighting force designed to protect the worst excesses of American industry. The Chamber, through its veiled corporate sponsors, can take credit for some of the most disturbing trends in American life: the reversal of environmental protections, the destruction of unions and worker protections, the rise of virulent antigovernment ideology, the enlarged role of money in campaigns, and the creation of “astroturf” movements as cover for a corporate agenda. Through its propaganda, lobbying, and campaign cash, the Chamber has created a right-wing monster that even it struggles to control, a conservative movement that is destabilizing American democracy as never before. The Influence Machine tells this history as a series of gripping narratives that take us into the backrooms of Washington, where the battles over how our country is run and regulated are fought, and then out into the world, where we see how the Chamber’s campaigns play out in real lives. In the end, Alyssa Katz reveals the hidden weaknesses of this seeming juggernaut and shows how its antidemocratic agenda can be reversed. Praise for The Influence Machine “Important and probing . . . a valuable and a sobering contribution to the study of power in American society . . . Katz has assembled a work of synthesis and insight. . . . The chamber has, she argues, effectively countered the influence of labor unions and contributed to the widening economic divide in American society. Those points are made forcefully and backed up impressively.”—Los Angeles Times “An urgent look at the ‘political assault weapon’ that is transforming the country . . . [Katz] does invaluable work in tracing how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been a relentless engine for pressing a ‘business of enterprise unfettered by government.’ . . . An eye-opening, maddening read.”—Kirkus Reviews “With clarity and verve, but without polemic, investigative journalist Katz describes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s evolution into a many-armed behemoth. . . . [She] illustrates with several examples of how the organization has managed to influence courts, strong-arm Congress, cripple federal agencies, and sway the public with ‘voter education’ ads—and, more recently, it has exported cutthroat American business practices abroad.”—Publishers Weekly
Download or read book Reconfiguring European States in Crisis written by Desmond S. King and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reconfiguring European States in Crisis offers a ground-breaking analysis by some of Europe's leading political scientists, examining how the European national state and the European Union state have dealt with two sorts of changes in the last two decades. Firstly, the volume analyses the growth of performance measurement in government, the rise of new sorts of policy delivery agencies, the devolution of power to regions and cities, and the spread of neoliberal ideas in economic policy. The volume demonstrates how the rise of non-state controlled organizations and norms combine with Europeanization to reconfigure European states. Secondly, the volume focuses on how the current crises in fiscal policy, Brexit, security and terrorism, and migration through a borderless European Union have had dramatic effects on European states and will continue to do so.
Download or read book China s Sovereign Wealth Fund Developments and Policy Implications written by Michael F. Martin and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China's ruling executive body, the State Council, established the China Investment Corporation (CIC), a sovereign wealth fund, in September 2007 to invest $200 billion of China's then $1.4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. Congress and financial analysts raised concerns about the CIC after its creation, partly because it was a comparatively large sovereign wealth fund, partly because it was government-owned, and partly because it reported directly to the State Council. These concerns raise question about U.S. policies on inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and the global competitiveness of U.S. financial institutions. Certain commentators suggest that more should be done to protect the United States from China's rising role in international capital markets.
Download or read book From Bear to Bull with Etfs written by David R. Kotok and published by . This book was released on 2014-07-09 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revised second edition focuses on certain U.S.-registered ETFs and their performance during the recent bear market and subsequent bull market up to March 2014. It concentrates on those ETFs that refer to, are part of, are linked in some way to, or are references for the Standard and Poor's 500 Index and its sector components. It also includes some ETFs that capture performance results outside of the S&P 500. There are three sections and a new appendix. The first section focuses on actual trading and events that occurred in the market from October 2007 until March 2014. The second is a brand-new section written by Talley Leger on the performance of the cyclical vs. the defensive sectors of the U.S. equity market. The third section focuses on commentaries that discuss the events during the period of October 2007 through March 2014, written and published during this bear market and ensuing bull-market phase, extracted from Cumberland Advisor's website, www.cumber.com. Appendix III discusses the G4 central banks and their expansive monetary policies during the financial crisis and since."
Download or read book Financial Derivatives and the Globalization of Risk written by Benjamin Lee and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2004-09-29 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The market for financial derivatives is far and away the largest and most powerful market in the world, and it is growing exponentially. In 1970 the yearly valuation of financial derivatives was only a few million dollars. By 1980 the sum had swollen to nearly one hundred million dollars. By 1990 it had climbed to almost one hundred billion dollars, and in 2000 it approached one hundred trillion. Created and sustained by a small number of European and American banks, corporations, and hedge funds, the derivatives market has an enormous impact on the economies of nations—particularly poorer nations—because it controls the price of money. Derivatives bought and sold by means of computer keystrokes in London and New York affect the price of food, clothing, and housing in Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, and Buenos Aires. Arguing that social theorists concerned with globalization must familiarize themselves with the mechanisms of a world economy based on the rapid circulation of capital, Edward LiPuma and Benjamin Lee offer a concise introduction to financial derivatives. LiPuma and Lee explain how derivatives are essentially wagers—often on the fluctuations of national currencies—based on models that aggregate and price risk. They describe how these financial instruments are changing the face of capitalism, undermining the power of nations and perpetrating a new and less visible form of domination on postcolonial societies. As they ask: How does one know about, let alone demonstrate against, an unlisted, virtual, offshore corporation that operates in an unregulated electronic space using a secret proprietary trading strategy to buy and sell arcane financial instruments? LiPuma and Lee provide a necessary look at the obscure but consequential role of financial derivatives in the global economy.
Download or read book The Fundamentals of Municipal Bonds written by SIFMA and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-10-25 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive new edition of the most trusted book on municipal bonds As of the end of 1998, municipal bonds, issued by state or local governments to finance public works programs, such as the building of schools, streets, and electrical grids, totaled almost $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt, a number that has only increased over time. The market for these bonds is comprised of many types of professionals—investment bankers, underwriters, traders, analysts, attorneys, rating agencies, brokers, and regulators—who are paid interest and principal according to a fixed schedule. Intended for investment professionals interested in how US municipal bonds work, The Fundamentals of Municipal Bonds, Sixth Edition explains the bond contract and recent changes in this market, providing investors with the information and tools they need to make bonds reliable parts of their portfolios. The market is very different from when the fifth edition was published more than ten years ago, and this revision reasserts Fundamentals of Municipal Bonds as the preeminent text in the field Explores the basics of municipal securities, including the issuers, the primary market, and the secondary market Key areas, such as investing in bonds, credit analysis, interest rates, and regulatory and disclosure requirements, are covered in detail This revised edition includes appendixes, a glossary, and a list of financial products related to applying the fundamentals of municipal bonds An official book of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) With today's financial market in recovery and still highly volatile, investors are looking for a safe and steady way to grow their money without having to invest in stocks. The bond market has always been a safe haven, although confusing new bonds and bond funds make it increasingly difficult for unfamiliar investors to decide on the most suitable fixed income investments.
Download or read book Efficiently Inefficient written by Lasse Heje Pedersen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Efficiently Inefficient describes the key trading strategies used by hedge funds and demystifies the secret world of active investing. Leading financial economist Lasse Heje Pedersen combines the latest research with real-world examples and interviews with top hedge fund managers to show how certain trading strategies make money--and why they sometimes don't. Pedersen views markets as neither perfectly efficient nor completely inefficient. Rather, they are inefficient enough that money managers can be compensated for their costs through the profits of their trading strategies and efficient enough that the profits after costs do not encourage additional active investing. Understanding how to trade in this efficiently inefficient market provides a new, engaging way to learn finance. Pedersen analyzes how the market price of stocks and bonds can differ from the model price, leading to new perspectives on the relationship between trading results and finance theory. He explores several different areas in depth--fundamental tools for investment management, equity strategies, macro strategies, and arbitrage strategies--and he looks at such diverse topics as portfolio choice, risk management, equity valuation, and yield curve logic. The book's strategies are illuminated further by interviews with leading hedge fund managers: Lee Ainslie, Cliff Asness, Jim Chanos, Ken Griffin, David Harding, John Paulson, Myron Scholes, and George Soros.
Download or read book Crash of the Titans written by Greg Farrell and published by Currency. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The intimate, fly-on-the wall tale of the decline and fall of an America icon With one notable exception, the firms that make up what we know as Wall Street have always been part of an inbred, insular culture that most people only vaguely understand. The exception was Merrill Lynch, a firm that revolutionized the stock market by bringing Wall Street to Main Street, setting up offices in far-flung cities and towns long ignored by the giants of finance. With its “thundering herd” of financial advisers, perhaps no other business, whether in financial services or elsewhere, so epitomized the American spirit. Merrill Lynch was not only “bullish on America,” it was a big reason why so many average Americans were able to grow wealthy by investing in the stock market. Merrill Lynch was an icon. Its sudden decline, collapse, and sale to Bank of America was a shock. How did it happen? Why did it happen? And what does this story of greed, hubris, and incompetence tell us about the culture of Wall Street that continues to this day even though it came close to destroying the American economy? A culture in which the CEO of a firm losing $28 billion pushes hard to be paid a $25 million bonus. A culture in which two Merrill Lynch executives are guaranteed bonuses of $30 million and $40 million for four months’ work, even while the firm is struggling to reduce its losses by firing thousands of employees. Based on unparalleled sources at both Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, Greg Farrell’s Crash of the Titans is a Shakespearean saga of three flawed masters of the universe. E. Stanley O’Neal, whose inspiring rise from the segregated South to the corner office of Merrill Lynch—where he engineered a successful turnaround—was undone by his belief that a smooth-talking salesman could handle one of the most difficult jobs on Wall Street. Because he enjoyed O’Neal’s support, this executive was allowed to build up an astonishing $30 billion position in CDOs on the firm’s balance sheet, at a time when all other Wall Street firms were desperately trying to exit the business. After O’Neal comes John Thain, the cerebral, MIT-educated technocrat whose rescue of the New York Stock Exchange earned him the nickname “Super Thain.” He was hired to save Merrill Lynch in late 2007, but his belief that the markets would rebound led him to underestimate the depth of Merrill’s problems. Finally, we meet Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, a street fighter raised barely above the poverty line in rural Georgia, whose “my way or the highway” management style suffers fools more easily than potential rivals, and who made a $50 billion commitment over a September weekend to buy a business he really didn’t understand, thus jeopardizing his own institution. The merger itself turns out to be a bizarre combination of cultures that blend like oil and water, where slick Wall Street bankers suddenly find themselves reporting to a cast of characters straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies. BofA’s inbred culture, which perceived New York banks its enemies, was based on loyalty and a good-ol’-boy network in which competence played second fiddle to blind obedience. Crash of the Titans is a financial thriller that puts you in the theater as the historic events of the financial crisis unfold and people responsible for billion of dollars of other people’s money gamble recklessly to enhance their power and their paychecks or to save their own skins. Its wealth of never-before-revealed information and focus on two icons of corporate America make it the book that puts together all the pieces of the Wall Street disaster.
Download or read book Bloomberg Visual Guide to Municipal Bonds written by Robert Doty and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-02-23 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A hands-on visual guide to understanding and investing in an important and consistently safe investment vehicle Bloomberg Visual Guide to Municipal Bonds offers step-by-step guidance to the nature and diversity of municipal securities credit structures. This valuable guide demonstrates the dependability of the overwhelming majority of municipal securities, and points out particular market sectors that may yield greater rewards, but also present greater risks. This book also directs readers to good sources of up-to-date information as well as new market tools, byproducts of recent market enhancements, so as to assist you in making informed investment decisions. Filled with reliable and highly accessible information needed for making sound decisions when investing in municipal securities Author Robert Doty is a noted expert on municipal securities A valuable addition to the new Bloomberg Visual Series Engaging and informative, this reliable resource is an easy-to-use "how to" guide to municipal securities that will help you create more effective investment strategies.