No comments about Innovations in Investment Management: Cutting-Edge Research from the Exclusive JOIM Conference Series.

3 comments about An Introduction to Global Financial Markets, Fifth Edition.

1. Although the book by Valdez is truly introductory it does give a good overview of financial markets. It is a pity that Black and Scholes' model or binomial trees are mentioned as too difficult. Different option strategies are mentioned but not explained. One or two graphs would have made it a lot clearer, but as the writer indicates on several occasions, that is outside the scope of this book. For a more thorough understanding of financial markets this book is a good introduction but not enough to really get a good idea.



2. When an engineering student completely unfamiliar with economics can use this book to prepare a comprehensive collection of lectures for a large group of Ph.D.-level students in Beijing during the transcontinental flight, it is obvious that this book is extremely capable of teaching. Read the news article:

   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/19/nchina19.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/02/19/ixnewstop.html

   However, that makes you question the complexity of the profession and the necessity of the professors teaching it, because if someone can effectively become an expert one a plane trip, it can't be that complicated. That, or Mr. Valdez is a genius who knows how to take something enormously complex and transform it into something incredibly simple.




3. This book gives a good summary of several important concepts related to the financial markets. It is a truly introductory level book but it is highly recommended if you are looking for a complete overview to fill up the gaps in your basic knowledge. Highly readable, even for people without a formal background in economoy but with a basic practical knowledge of the financial markets.
   One negative point concerns paragraphs where the history of certain concepts is described or where practical examples are given, applying to different countries in the world : these are often too elaborated without any clear added value.
   This book is also recommended by 'The Economist' magazine.

5 comments about Intermarket Technical Analysis: Trading Strategies for the Global Stock, Bond, Commodity, and Currency Markets (Wiley Finance).

1. This book is old (1991) and does not cover the important
   facet of sector rotation or how to intrepret this book into a meaningful stock play. Murphy in this book does not even hint at it, thus allot of this information is not truly useful. The concept is superb but the execution quite flawed.

   Instead get the other Murphy book:Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications OR Martin Pring's new edition to his updated Complete Technical Analysis. Even Murphy's chapter in New Thinking in Technical Analysis: Trading Models from the Masters
   was better than this book, despite its short 25 page conciseness.
   Funnily his video on this topic DOES update the book and cover Sector Rotation so Murphy obviously is aware of the oversight.

   This book is boring with no payoff. There is too much repitition with no real payoff (sector rotation); if you are truly interested in this important field of study look elsewhere.




2. This book and its concept dwells into the area of the financial markets and how they affect each other. Its theory meshes with various other market theories in that if one market goes up, another may respond differently. This is one of the handful of books i would recommend to anyone beginning to get serious about the financial markets. I first picked this up in a state library, much to my amazement it was brand new and never borrowed, much like a lot of the information in it.



3. You'll learn a lot from this book. Most investors sit obsessively focused on the market averages. They'll cut on their TV and see the ticker on CNBC be in the green and feel elated or else they'll see it red and get worried. Murphy's book will show you how a study of the bond, currency, and commodities markets along with an analysis of the stock market will help you see the big picture and get a better feel for where the economy and all of the markets are going. The past 3 years has proven to us that just because the stock market has a rally doesn't mean we are on the verge of a big economic boom or a new bull market.

   Murphy demonstrates how each of these four sectors interact with one another and the business cycles and if you can grasp the lessons he teaches you then you'll have a clearer understanding of what drives the financial markets. Once you understand these cycles you will be able to forecast the intermediate term trend of the markets. It really isn't that complicated.

   The only negative about this book is that it reads like a textbook. It takes a theory of how these markets rotate with one another and demonstrates it with example after example. It takes work to get through the book, but the payoff is well worth it. In fact the lessons in this book are critical to anyone who wants to become a successful investor. In today's environment of rapid boom and bust in which market timing is critical they are more important than ever. Even though it is 10 years old, this is the best book on the subject.




4. Those who were reluctant to accept the benefits of intermarket analysis after reading Intermarket Technical Analysis (1991) will find making the paradigm shift much easier after reading his latest book published in February 2004 called Intermarket Analysis. Murphy has the benefit of some monumental market events in the last three decades to demonstrate his case and he uses them to great effect.

   As John pointed out in an interview for Stocks & Commodities magazine I did with him in December 2003, it was his original goal to write the quintessential intermarket book but then found the topic so involved that each chapter could have become a book. There is just so much to discuss. Attempting to cover anything but a small snippet in a review is sheer folly. It is also impossible to do the book justice.

   Markets have become so interdependent in the last decade, a correlation that continues to strengthen with time. If those who suffered financial ruin between 2000 and 2002 had read Intermarket Technical Analysis, how many of them could have avoided huge losses and even profited from what occurred? We will never know for sure but is it a risk they anyone can afford to take, especially when considering that the cost of avoidance (cost of the book) is less than $50? For those serious about making money in the market and keeping it, his new book, Intermarket Analysis is an absolute must!

   Matt Blackman - Technical writer/review and regular contributor to Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities Mag, Traders Mag (Europe), Working Money, Traders.com Advantage, SFO Magazine




5. This is a book that everyone should read. Even if you don't trade this is a great book about economics and will help anyone to understand what moves the markets and why. There are numerous charts in this book comparing different markets to each other in a plain easy to understand format. As a technical book goes this one is easy to comprehend will give the reader a much greater knowledge of the markets and the economy in general. As a trader myself this is one of the best books out on this subject I know of and one of the best books I have read on trading period. As an example a few years ago lots of economists were talking deflation. If you had of read this book you would have known that we were not heading into a period of deflation but inflation. What is presented in this book is not an exact science but will give the reader insight to what the future economic situation will be.

No comments about Connections Across Eurasia: Transportation, Communication, and Cultural Exchange Along the Silk Roads (Explorations in World History).

3 comments about International Economics.

1. This text book is a wonderful resource for all wanting to learn more about economics in the international arena. It is packed full of facts, graphs, and explanations. One problem I did find in this book is that it tried cover too broad a field. If it would have concentrated on one specific topic like the international economics, and left out the finance, it could be a much stronger work. I grew tired of hearing "as you already know..." It could have not made so many assumtions about what students already knew and used the extra area to cover them. All in all, it was a helpful resource for extra learning, however, I would suggest looking further for a book that will stand alone in teaching an international economics course.



2. I have taken a few international economics courses and of all the textbooks this was by far the easiest to read and understand. The authors do an excellent job of making the models clear by giving detailed examples. This is one book I am definitely not selling back to the bookstore at school.



3. This is an ideal introduction into international economics, as a theoretical study.
   It assumes only basic prior knowledge of microeconomics and macroeconomics, and is on undergraduate level.
   
   [It is not, however, enough as a prerequisite for more advanced books like Rogoff's Foundations of International Macroeconomics, which requires more advanced studies in macroeconomics and is much more mathematical.]
   
   The book is not mathematical, although basic formulae from micro & macro economics are frequently employed, but in a general manner - so a good memory of your basic economics or mathematical economics class is ideal.
   That said, the main tools used are graphs, which are analyzed.
   
   The explanations are quite straightforward, I never had any major problems understanding the concepts.
   
   What I liked about this book, besides the accessible writing style, is the thorough coverage, you get a solid foundation in other words.
   This is one of very few textbooks from uni that I decided to keep and not re-sell.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

No comments about International Economics: Theory and Policy (7th Edition) (Addison-Wesley Series in Economics).

3 comments about China's Great Train: Beijing's Drive West and the Campaign to Remake Tibet.

1. What a an enlightening read. Brilliant imagery and a wealth of knowledge. This is not one to be missed.



2. As a recent visitor to China where I took several trains I look for books about this fascinating country. This book is really a mix of the political history of Tibet and China and the building of the train line. The author gets into the background through the lives of some Tibetan people, by far the best way to help understand the impact on ordinary people. But he doesn't get lost in the details. The other half of the book, the actual building is also interesting, both the political pressure of an impossible building schedule and problems with unproven construction solutions especially of building on permafrost. A quick, easy and interesting read.



3. Lustgarten, an American journalist, says his "reporting was completed without [China's Ministry of Railways'] sanction and involvement." He also says the story was "inspired by my early introduction to the Dalai Lama and Tibetan culture when I was a young boy." These two comments at the end of the book help explain the failure of the preceding 277 pages. Instead of a story about "China's Great Train" - the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, a stunning engineering achievement by any standard - the book is little more than invective against "Beijing's Drive West and the Campaign to Remake Tibet," the book's subtitle. Only two of the book's twelve chapters (8 and 9) are truly devoted to the making of the railway, and they fly by in 45 pages. Too much of the rest of the book is polemic, with page after page going by without so much as a reference to the railway.
   
   Take advantage of Amazon's "Search Inside!" feature: the opening tone of the book carries throughout, as does the prose style. (The first sentence on page 6 is a doozy.) Also, "Search Inside This Book" for the word "stringy," go to the page where it appears (179 - actually page 163 of the book) and read the churlish description there of Zhao Shiyun, the man who successfully directed the multibillion-dollar railroad project to completion a year ahead of schedule. Throughout the book, Lustgarten rarely lets an opportunity to be negative toward the Chinese go by.
   
   Readers looking for thoughtful journalistic writing about the development of new technology (like Tracy Kidder's "The Soul of a New Machine") or level-headed historical writing about a massive railroad project (like David Haward Bain's "Empire Express") will not find it here. As someone who drove alongside the full length of this railway (on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway) a year before its completion, and wondered how in the world its myriad challenges were overcome, I found this book to be a major disappointment.

5 comments about Debt Virus: A Compelling Solution to the World's Debt Problems.

1. This is one of the most thought- provoking and scary books I have ever read. Clearly solutions must be found to the incredible build up of world debt to avoid world crisis. Dr. Jaikaran has a solution that sounds plausible and I recommend that everyone tell those in power about this book. You will not be able to put it down!



2. Frederick Soddy wrote a book in the 1920's with the same title as my review. Dr. Soddy was writing about the monetary system in England and he reached the same conclusions as Dr. Jaikaran. Dr. Soddy also won the Nobel Prize in Physics for work involving the discovery of Isotopes. Dr Soddy was clearly a very bright man, but after reading his book I must tell you he was obviously better with numbers and physics than he was with the English language.

   Jacques Jaikaran, on the other hand, can write. Dr. Jaikaran and Dr. Soddy reached identical conclusions about money and the way it works in our society, but after reading "Debt Virus" you'll have a clearer, more understandable picture than you will after wading through "Wealth, Virtual Wealth and Debt."

   This is an important book that anyone who earns, saves, invests or uses "money" (obviously I mean everyone) ought to read.

   I interviewed Dr. Jaikaran for a radio show I once hosted and have heard him speak back in 1995. He taught me more about money than I had previously learned in four years as an undergraduate, three years in law school and twenty five years of business. And, he did so in an engaging, easy to understand manner.

   Dr. Jaikaran (he's a medical doctor by the way) learned about money, after becoming a successful surgeon, when he was invited to join a bank board. Being a responsible person, he actually read the materials he was given by the bank, the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve. Then after he resigned from the bank board and after the bank later failed, he translated all of that into English you and I can understand.

   Dr. Jaikaran has made a compelling case that our civilization is piling up too much debt, causing debt inflation and creating dangerous monetary conditions. He also provides intriguing information about who owns the Federal Reserve (it's not who you think), how banking really works, the history of money, where our money comes, what banking systems might offer safer alternative systems from and other important facts. By the way, he's not a "gold bug" arguing for a return to the gold standard.

   But, does any of this really matter to regular people like us? Well, if you paid attention to current events over the past five years, you will have noticed a series of currency crises in Thiland, Russia and Argentina. Those people we watched on television mobing banks, trying to get their money out of Argentina while it was still worth something and worried about the economic survival of their families, could easily have been you and me. Their system is basically the same as ours.

   Dr. Jaikaran is a very bright, forthright and opinionated man with strong views on a variety of subjects. You may disagree with him about somethings, I do; however, I've not been able to find fault with his facts, logic or conclusions when it comes to money and debt.

   If Dr. Jaikaran and Frederick Soddy are right about money and debt, and I think they are, then our monetary system is in grave danger.

   I feel strongly enough about this that I've given this book to at least half a dozen people and suggested it to dozens of others. I would have given more away if I could find people willing to think about money, fractional reserve banking and debt.




3. This book is written at a high school level but it is more
   informative than most college textbooks on the subject
   of money and banking...

   The problem:

   Every dollar in existence represents a dollar of debt owed by an
   individual, a business firm, or a governmental unit. Few
   understand that all our money arises out of debt and IOU
   operations.

   When a storekeeper secures a $10,000 loan from the bank, there is
   no transfer of funds. The bank simply makes a bookkeeping entry
   that increases the storekeeper's checking account by $10,000. By
   doing so, the bank has just created new money. In addition, the
   bank expects the storekeeper to repay the loan with interest on
   the money it created by the bookkeeping entry.

   In an all-debt or debt-dominant money system it is mathematically
   and physically impossible to repay the aggregate debt, for only
   money representing the principal is ever created. The interest
   that must be repaid along with the principal debt is never
   created. For some people to repay their principal and interest,
   their interest must come from the principal created for other
   people�s debt. A deficit in the aggregate money supply thus
   occurs making it impossible for other debtors to repay their
   principal, much less principal and interest. Given such a money
   system, it is only a matter of time before all the wealth of the
   productive sector of society is transferred into the hands of the
   money creators.

   The solution:

   Debt-free money, in the form of "US Notes."

   The dollar bills in your pocket are called Federal Reserve Notes.
   Under the present system, the US Treasury acts as a "print shop"
   for the Federal Reserve. The Treasury only prints money when
   asked to do so by the Federal Reserve System. Its order to print
   money does not come from the President or Congress.

   When the government wants money, it has only two choices, it can
   either tax American citizens and businesses, or it must borrow the
   money from somewhere. When the government borrows money from the
   Federal Reserve, it issues an IOU (a bond) to the Fed, which then
   creates checkbook money by means of a bookkeeping entry. This
   newly created money is then lent to the government, at a price,
   known as interest. In order to pay the interest on this national
   debt, the government either collects taxes, or borrows more money.

   The author proposes that Congress is legally entitled to order the
   US Treasury to print US notes. He goes on to suggest that the
   Treasury should be the only authorized source of money in the
   United States, and it ought to answer to the government. In this
   way, money would be created by government but no interest would be
   owed. This in turn would eliminate the need for an income tax.

   My thoughts:

   The author's solution is similar to what Abraham Lincoln tried to
   do when he issued "greenbacks" to fund the civil war.

   Although the author's presentation of the problem is excellent, I
   have misgivings about his solution. Once the government is given
   the right to print fiat money, the potential for abuse would be
   enormous. For instance, a left-wing government might decide to go
   on a spending spree and propose all sorts of public works projects,
   from socialized medicine to government ownership of entire
   industries.

   Unless equal attention is given to making sure that the power of
   government to intrude into the lives of citizens and businesses
   (both public and private) is limited, the author's solution might
   just put us on the fast track to socialism, and we could end
   up with the very tyranny we seek to prevent. In my opinion,
   debt-free money issued by the government should only be attempted
   if, and only if, constitutional safeguards ensuring limited
   government are in place.

   Ironically, socialism is precisely what the "money power" wants.
   Since they control the government through indebtedness, they would
   like the government to assume even greater control over the economy
   and the lives of ordinary citizens.

   Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. In the final analysis,
   our social problems are not so much political or economic, as they
   are spiritual:

   �If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
   and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
   will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal
   their land.�

   II Chronicles 7:14




4. He makes some interesting points. And then repeats them over and over and over. He also gives no suggestion for implementing his solution, other than everyone with a loan suing the bank for loaning them illegitimate money. I believe he is currently incarcerated in a federal prison for tax fraud (claimed Texas was not really a state and therefore didn't have to file tax returns).



5. If you want to understand money, its function, its creators, its effects on society and the ills of all human being, it is the only book that will enlighten you about the dangerous power of banking institutions.

5 comments about International Economics.

1. I've found this book easy to follow, even if I'm not very good at Economics. Simple, with many examples and graphs. Case studies and good bibliography at the end of each chapter.



2. The book really brings an in depth analysis of the modern financial world, through a very simple and easy to access method of presentation. Good for students, interesting for any other reader...



3. This provides different kinds of examples as well as theories. It no doubt helps students learn about the real world. Particularly,the chapter on tariff policy is good enough to have a good grasp of the field.



4. I don' t think it is any better than other texts and I just want to balance out the overall rating average by giving a low rating.



5. The author, Dominick Salvatore, is clearly an expert in the field. Unfortunately, his field appears to be Keynesian economics circa the 1960s, and is almost completely wrong, and at times, incoherently wrong. Imagine that in the 1940s to the 1970s, man's knowledge of chemistry was thrown out the window, and replaced with alchemy. This is what Keynesianism did to economics. I have only read the second half of the book, but it simply makes no sense. It rambles on and on about balance of payment "deficits," which are impossible, as the capital account and current account always will balance each other out. It is obsessed with "equilbria" and "disequilibria," based on a mythical "balance of payments" deficit and surplus, rendering such diversions meaningless. The text dumbly assumes that trade between a person across the street from you is completely different from a person across the world from you, and senselessly assumes that government intervention in the economy can achieve policy objective, contrary that the entire historical record indicates this is not the case. Reading this text, one feels like they are in a particularly blighted region of the 19th century, or in Soviet Russia. There is incredibly little of accurate knowledge in this horrifically bad text. Knowing what's in it might be good for passing an exam, but it doesn't teach anything useful beyond that, and unfortunately, it's over reliance on graphs, with mind numbing references to said graphs splattered across multiple pages, makes it very difficult to pull anything together. In summary, Salvatore is an expert in a discredited field, and I am sure if he put in the time and thought, the 10th or 11th edition could actually begin to approach a modern understanding of economics, instead of the dark ages of economics, and thereby become a useful education tool, as opposed to one of indoctrination of failed principles and concepts.

No comments about The Economic Structure of International Law.