5 comments about The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History.

1. this was one of the most captivating books I have ever read. Mr. Fischer tells the story of western history in a completely new and fascinating way; he tells the story of modern western history in the language of price fluctuations and inflation. I found this to be fresh way of looking at the live of people from our past.
   
   Mr. Fischer is not only a thourough researcher, but a good storyteller as well.
   
   I did not, however, agree with some of his opinions of modern economic theory, but respect his work and enjoys his writings.



2. DHF outlines the various collapses of currenices (manifested in price increases) over the past 1,000 years or so. Since the introduction of specie and the idea of intermediate value, there have been wild swings in their percieved values. This is a view of relatively "modern" usage of money and other intermediate specie.
   
   The over-arching concept is that these debasements take place over long swings of time, and create their own economic externalities.
   
   You can argue about DHF's validity with respect to economic theory, but as a great trader said, "If Jesus invested US$0.02 at 3%, he would now have all the money in the world" i.e. no "currency" last forever. There is nothing inherently more sound about the current system - if confidence is eroded through debasement (and it always is), then the system eventually collapses over a long period.
   
   The Roman denari took 500 years to lose 99% of its original value, the US$, Yen etc took 100 years. So where do we go from here?



3. Economics is a sub-set of history, with exactly the predictive power of other forms of historiography, no more no less. When economics is morphed into an operating ideology, societies suffer. David Hackett Fischer is a historian, one of the most consistently interesting historians of the American Colonial and early Federal periods, and one of the few historians these days willing to stick his neck out and venture big hypotheses in answer to big questions. "The Great Wave" is such a risk-taking book, an attempt to correlate 'waves' in prices of basic necessities with huge social upheavals. Academic economists, and simple readers familiar with notions of economic cycles such as Kondratieff waves, have tended to treat this book with skepticism and disdain. Full-time historians likewise have looked askance at even the attempt to write such an out-sized study of virtually everything. I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that the general reading public, as reflected in amazon reviews, finds The Great Wave to be a worthwhile and thought-provoking book.
   
   Fischer maintains that there have been four great waves of inflation, in the thirteenth, sixteenth, eightteenth, and twentieth centuries. The four waves "shared many qualities... All had the same movements of prices and price-relatives, falling real wages, rising returns to capital, and growing gaps between the rich and the poor. Each... developed increasing instability, and ended in a shattering crisis that combined social disorder, political upheaval, economic collapse, and demographic contraction." Well, friends, you'll have to read the book to find out where we are surfing on the fourth wave.
   
   Unlike some reviewers, I find Fischer's writing style cumbersome and repetitious, and certainly NOT the main attraction of his work. Rather it's a lot like skiing through wet sticky slush when you expected to be telemarking. But long uncomfortable journeys often make the best tales, and difficult books often leave the best afterthoughts. The Great Wave is such a book. (Note that used hardcovers are available for very modest prices.)



4. Almost every day reading the news headlines in 2007-2008, I see more confirmation of the Hackett Fisher's thesis. Runaway inflation led by energy prices, profiteering and hoarding of commodities, increasing gap between rich and poor, rising crime rates. These have all been seen in each great wave, each price revolution.
   
   We're at the culmination of the fourth such wave in the last 800 years. Chaos, severe social dislocation, and war followed the previous three instances. Can we beat the odds this time?



5. Well written and detailed analysis of a recurring pattern the author has identified across the last 6 centuries. The book is quite thick, but most of it are bibliographical and reference notes (very detailed) and a lot of charts, so reading is easy and smooth.
   The theory is well presented and clear to understand. Of course the conclusion cannot be definitive, as we are in the midst of the pattern and as usual patterns are easily recognizable only once they're complete. But the author does a good work of presenting the recurring and probable elements that would help identify what phase of the cycle (or wave) we are currently into. Please bear in mind that secular trends play out over many years although our consciousness tends to be stricken by shorter term events.
   In any case, a very relevant book for current times...

5 comments about Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy.

1. It is easy to be overwhelmed with the doom and gloom consequences of American's thoroughly unsustainable lifestyle: climate change, pollution of air, water, and soil, declining ecosystems, and the very real risk that in 60 years, nobody will be living what we today consider to be a first-world lifestyle. What to do?
   
   For starters, read Lyle Estill's Small Is Possible, a wonderful collection of writings that chronicles Lyle's own shift from get-setting deal-maker to homesteading community-builder.
   
   Lyle's writing style is excellent: concrete, humorous, and often self-deprecating, Lyle's stories spring to life from the pages, and then linger in details which keeps the community and its members, not Lyle himself, in the foreground.
   
   This book variously strikes me as: non-fiction Huckleberry Finn, a North Carolinian Omnivore's Dilemma, a contemporary Guns, Germs, and Steel, and The Tipping Point as played by actors in Chatham County.
   
   Let me say again: the book is very well written, the material is extremely compelling and relevant to the 21st century, and, in the great tradition of open source software (which Lyle himself acknowledges), it is designed to be a resource for others who believe that small is possible.



2. I need to first point out my conflict of interest in this review. lyle is my brother.
   
   He calls this a non-fiction book and I am sure it is but it is unlike the other non-fiction books that I read. I would call it more of a storybook and Lyle is a great story teller.
   
   It is a story about Lyle's life in a small town and the characters in that town.
   
   In the book he did mention me:
   
   "He (that would be me) is an insatiable entrepreneur who insists he be measured not by the vast pile of bad ideas, heaped at the bottom of the wall - but rather by those ideas that stuck. As a risk-taker he has figured out a way to stay in the possible, and not dwell on those ventures that stung him."
   
   At one point he talked about his blogging and how he was finding it difficult to come up with topics and someone suggested that he needs to entertain people. I found his book very entertaining and this is something that I should probably consider more in my blogging.
   
   I love the book and found it easy and quick to read. Lyle is a great writer (and always has been).
   
   I don't agree with everything in the book. I think supporting small just for the sake of supporting small has some flaws. His book lays out many reasons why small can be better value. And if it is better value - then clearly I support it.
   
   Although small is possible, I am going to strive for big. I wonder if Lyle will still like me?



3. I just finished the book and found it very interesting and well written. As a reporter for a small weekly newspaper that covers Pittsboro, NC, I was fascinated to learn more about the many personalities, businesses and organizations that make up this small town. I certainly see Pittsboro as a more dynamic and exciting place through Lyle Estill's eyes. I initially had low expectations of the book since I thought it would just be a compilation of essays, blog entries and newspaper columns, but it contained about 98 percent original writing. I have been telling many people around town about the book as a great way to learn more about Pittsboro. I think the book will be popular on a national scale since it talks about many ways that communities, and individuals, can be more self sustaining and this is an important issue nationally. On another level, it is interesting as the story of an entrepreneur who had the courage to renounce a very high-paying conventional job to pursue his dream.



4. Globalization is becoming more and more the name of the game in recent years, but is it really needed? "Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy" is a look why smaller economies are still viable in the modern world. Focusing on self-sufficient towns and cities that produce almost everything they need on their own, and how such locations improve their own economies while importing very little from the outside, "Small Is Possible" is an interesting read which offers something new from an oft-overlooked source - the past.



5. I had originally grabbed this book from the local library "new books" shelving thinking that anything with small in the title might be worth my time... and some relevance to www.small-house-building.com. Lyle Estill does talk about housing, and his attempt to foster a real estate development that focused more on offering a chance for people to build their own affordable housing. They named their development "Abeyance" and had a vision of attracting young families with children that would play in the woods and migrate from household to household in their play time. They even offered a covenant with NO minimum square footage. For awhile it worked, but over the years it devolved into the usual neighborly squabbles as families grew up and ownerships changed. It would be interesting to see it today.
   
   "Small is Possible" is an example of all the local economic and social interaction in Mr. Estill's Chatham County, NC. You could almost look at it as a biography of a community that has succeeded in building that elusive sense of community, but displays all the warts along the way. Surely not a smooth process, but one with great rewards. As Lyle says "forget homeland security... we need homeTOWN security". Keep your dollars, time, and energy in your local economy... what better way to build local security?
   
   Also check out Lyle Estill's Energy Blog at Piedmont Biofuels for his latest essays. A good read!

5 comments about Managerial Economics And Business Strategy.

1. Very fast delivery, great price (for a textbook- all of which are rediculously overpriced anyway)and arrived in excellent condition. Thanks.



2. I ordered the book and requested to receive it on the next day. I recieved it the next day!! It doesn't get any better than that!! Thanks Amazon!



3. Product arrived quickly and in the condition advertised. Seller also included extra study material for no additional cost. I would recommend purchasing from this seller.



4. The book was brand new just as described and had absolutely no flaws. The only problem I had was the slow delivery. The book was not sent out within two or three business days as promised and this caused a delay in getting the book.



5. I had to get this book for an Economics class I took in pursuit of my MBA. It is an easy read with good problems. It really helps understand economics in a simple way.

4 comments about Study Guide for Mankiw's Principles of Microeconomics, 4th.

1. I thought that the delivery time could have been a little sooner because it took a week and i paid for expedited shipping. I needed it for school but I got along without it. The book was in great condition and it was exactly what I needed. The price was great. For this book and the other book that it came with, the school was charging $175.00 so i got a great deal. i am definitely buying my books from amazon again.



2. The exams had many similar questions that were provided in this study guide. This guide also summarized the important things from each chapter, but the text book was still needed to get an A.



3. I never received the study guide I ordered. I emailed the seller twice and did not receive a response.



4. I did not get the book, I am waiting for the refund. I can not rate it.
   
   Sorry

5 comments about The Economics of Microfinance.

1. After reading "Banker to the Poor," I was interested in getting a bit more of an unbiased view of the subject of microfinance. The authors' views are clear and concise about each topic, plus they offer lots of other sources for the information. While it is obviously intended as s textbook, this book is a great way to teach yourself about the theory and empirical studies about microfinance.
   I could not have chosen a better book than this one.



2. To those that, as i am, have an Economics background and are just grasping the all immense universe that microfinance is becoming, this book opens perspectives and clears some very important issues. Issues such as the value of interest charging or the many different ways there actually are to build a microfinance initiative or the value of professional dedication to make it an effective and efficient working and sustainable intervention ... A must have!



3. This book provides a splendid overview of what economists have learned so far about micro-finance. The book requires some knowledge of economics and econometrics, but most of it can be read and understood even with just the kind of background a good econ undergraduate will have.
   
   The field is developing quickly, and so there are already several contributions which are not covered (see e.g. work that folks such as Dean Karlan and coauthors are doing), but overall the coverage is excellent for what had been done until the publication date.
   
   Those who think that micro-finance is "clearly" the way ahead, and that its history has been only a history of great successes, will find some surprises here. I do love the idea underlying micro-finance, but it turns out that some of the media hype is not supported by careful studies.
   
   Still the field deserves to be studied, and this book is a highly recommended overview, which will also give you plenty of references to deepen your knowledge and to identify area that need research.



4. Microfinance is most famous as microlending, whose most famous representative is Bangladesh's Grameen Bank. Grameen, and its founder Mohammad Yunus, won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their aid to the poor. The idea, with which most people are probably familiar, is that the bank loans some of the world's most destitute people small amounts of money -- $100 or less, typically -- for some vital bit of capital. Borrowers might use the money to buy a sewing machine, for instance, which they can then use to produce far more clothing than they had produced by hand. Grameen's default rate has been remarkably low -- "the poor always pay back", to use the phrase from Grameen II.
   
   The economic logic here is actually revealing as a study of what's unspoken in economic logic, hence how misleading economic postulates are. "All else being equal" (such a magical phrase), the first bit of capital that I get will yield more benefits to me than the second bit. Assuming I'm rational, I will spend the first money I get on more-productive capital, then spend subsequent bits on less productive capital. That is, the marginal returns to capital are decreasing (or at least nonincreasing). Hence, if I'm a rational bank and all else is equal, I should be more willing to lend to the poor than to the wealthy: I'll get a greater return from lending that little bit of capital.
   
   Needless to say, that's not how it works: Citibank is in no rush to lend to Bangladeshi farmers. Why not? Obviously it's because all else is not equal. Among many other things, Citibank relies on the vast infrastructure provided by advanced capitalist economies: before they loan to me, they check with credit-reporting agencies that have a special competence validating people's reputations. Those credit-reporting agencies can follow me around because I was born with a number, namely a Social Security Number, which I can't escape from without some work. Hence the infrastructure beneath me makes it hard for me to default on a loan without other banks noticing. This infrastructure is missing from Bangladesh. Consequently, the cost of gathering all the necessary information about a loan applicant is much higher -- transaction costs per dollar of loan are astronomical if the loans are administered in the way that Citibank specializes in.
   
   Grameen handles this in a novel way, for which they're justly famous. It's called "group lending": in Classic Grameen, they loan to groups of five people. If any one of the applicants defaults, the others are forbidden from ever receiving loans again. The informational burden is transferred from the bank onto the applicants.
   
   Can't those five people conspire to default on loans together? Yes, they surely can, and here we run into another difficulty of the classic economic picture. If they cut and run on a loan, they could run to another microlender and get another loan -- and so on for as long as they want, so long as the microlenders don't share information. The more microlenders that service a given area, the more challenging this problem becomes. So competition actually works against microlenders here, by making collusion possible. To solve this problem, microlenders need a set of institutions that make validating reputations less costly. Credit-reporting agencies would help, as would the whole arsenal of Western identity policies. Which isn't to say that those are the only systems that will solve microlenders' problems, by any means; just as group lending is a novel approach to the developing world's specific problems, so we might expect them to land on different solutions to the reputation problem.
   
   The Economics of Microfinance is filled with interesting discoveries like this. It starts with a less-developed form of microlending, namely the Rotating Savings and Credit Association, evolves through group lending, and discusses where Grameen and its ilk (BRAC et al.) are today. Most interesting for me was microsaving, as opposed to microlending. The poor often need savings accounts more than they need loans. Indeed, they are willing to receive negative interest rates on their money, just to ensure that the money stays in a safe place. Armendáriz and Morduch give a remarkable example: in certain rural villages, savings collectors will offer to take money out of the villagers' hands, hold it for a time, take a fee, and return the now-smaller pile of money. Presumably this negative interest rate is less negative than the alternative, namely theft or neighbors begging for a loan. Microsaving is most often used to keep money away from husbands, according to Armendáriz and Morduch. Indeed, microfinance generally is most associated with rural women; they constitute an overwhelming percentage of Grameen's (and other microbanks') client base.
   
   By the end of the book, however, it's not clear that anyone can quantify the value of microfinance programs. Would those who participate in microfinance have done just as well without it? To gauge the actual impact of microfinance, one needs to answer that sort of counterfactual -- which is, for obvious reasons, difficult if not impossible. There's also a problem of what we're modeling: if we're trying to quantify, say, small-business growth before and after the introduction of a microfinance program, that's one thing, and is relatively easy to answer. If we're trying to measure empowerment of women, that's quite another, and it's not at all clear that we even know how to start measuring that. Should we measure it, for instance, by the rate of reported domestic violence? Empowerment may increase reporting rates. It may also cause a shift in the balance of power at home, which may increase violence.
   
   The difficulties are manifest, as Armendáriz and Morduch are well aware. The great virtue of this book is that it doesn't shy away from pointing out areas of ignorance and future challenges. Anyone interested in how microfinance actually works -- and how one would actually measure its success -- cannot avoid reading this book.



5. It is well-written in a way that it present the materials clearly in words and in mathematical formula. If you don't have much apetite for quant, you can still skip those formula and won't get lost in between chapters.
   
   The questions raised at the end of the chapter is inspiring. It really let you think beyond what you've just read.

5 comments about Beating the Business Cycle.

1. This book is nothing more than a marketing pamphlet for the author's services that cost an exorbitant amount of money. They repeatedly tell you how other forecasters and economists fail where they succeed. How other forecasters and economists continually suffer from "attribution bias" blaming their failures on uncontrollable events while taking full credit for their successes. However, they also attempt to explain away the failure of their indexes to successfully predict economic shifts, and therefore also suffer from attribution biases.



2. "Beating the Business Cycle" is very interesting, informative, practical and extremely helpful book to read, not only for policymakers or investors but also for individuals. It gave tools and guidelines that anybody can use to have a better understanding about business cycle and economic trends
   
   Highly Recommended!!!



3. This book is a bargain because after two hours of reading, I had a new way to look at the economy and markets, and it only cost $16.00. If anything, that is too cheap! The text is in ENGLISH, not jargon, which I liked very much. Some economic books seem about as readable as the fine print on my mobile phone bill. Sure, ECRI spends time telling how their indexes have worked in the past, but I don't read that as a marketing pitch. Who else is going to ever tell a small fry like me what's been going on? Not any of the pundits from Wall Street on TV, etc, that's for sure. From what I gather, they'd be quite happy if ECRI went away. I've recommended the book to many people who now feel the same way.



4. I bought this book assuming I would learn tools and techniques to do my own forecasting, and really hoped it would delve into the details of how individual business sectors fare relative to each other throughout the cycle.
   
   None of the above is included in the book. There's plenty of examples showing how a proprietary ECRI indicator made an accurate call at just the right time. They don't give any details of how that indicator is calculated. Initially this was very frustrating and I kept reading, thinking they'd eventually get to the details. Toward the end of the book I realized the book is actually an advertisement for their subscription forecasting services. I should have read these reviews and I'd have saved time and money by not buying this book.
   
   I must commend them for coming up with this innovative marketing approach of writing a book that's really an advertisement. Their subscription service is very expensive so they can afford to sell the book cheap. Lots of people buy the book becasue it's cheap, and that brings in a few more customers for the real product.



5. There is nothing new or interesting in this book that other books will not give you. I agree with other reviewers, this is basically an expensive marketing brochure for their paid ECRI services.
   
   There is almost no meaningful content in this book. Since I do not intend to subscribe to their service, this book is worthless to me.
   
   Anyone want a slightly use copy? I plan to re-sell it on Amazon soon...

1 comments about Bailouts or Bail-Ins: Responding to Financial Crises in Emerging Markets.

1. I don't know where to begin with this review, but I just wanted to say this is one of the best books on the subject and anyone interested in global economics and markets should read this book.

No comments about Cracking the AP Economics Macro & Micro Exams, 2009 Edition (College Test Prep).

5 comments about Microeconomics, 6th Edition.

1. I currently use this book to teach at the University of Michigan. (I chose it because it's what has been used here before.) The book is written in an accessible, reader-friendly style. It has many examples and pictures, which make it attractive -- a feature, I suppose, that is necessary to hold an undergrad's attention in these times we live in.
   
   But what annoys me is the absence of conceptual rigor/detail and the sudden jumps in explanation. I want my students to be able to see what is going on and appreciate the simple elegant logic of microeconomic theory. Instead the book reads like it's delivering information to you, but isn't really explaining why it makes sense.
   
   Here's an example. In Section 4.2 on Income and Substitution Effects, the effect of a price change is decomposed into income and substitution effects using constant utility. But as many of us know, there's an alternative way to do this too, which is holding purchasing power constant. For some reason that approach isn't mentioned. Instead, the text reads as though we were interested in the constant purchasing power approach, but then suddenly switches to a constant utility approach by saying "This substitution is marked by a movement along an indifference curve." But why? Wouldn't any intelligent student at this point start wondering how we went from purchasing power to utility? Flip back to Section 4.1 and find that the word utility has been quietly introduced there in a sentence that's in parentheses: "(Because the price of food has risen, the consumer's purchasing power -- and thus attainable utility -- has fallen.)"
   
   Pooh. I don't like books that sneak important ideas into parentheses in order to avoid answering the all important question -- i.e. "Why?"



2. I used the 6th Edition in my executive MBA class at Wharton. It is a good book if you are looking for an introductory level description of the subject. The authors did a great job explaining the intuitions behind the concepts and effectively used graphs as an illustration tool. Authors took the effort to link key definitions back to where they were first introduced throughout the book. I found it very useful, whenever I am not so sure about the definition, I could easily go back to the original discussion to remind myself. The cases used in the book help to ground the theoretical discussions in economical reality. I enjoyed most of them.
   However, this book is not for readers looking for advanced rigorous treatment of the subject. The mathematical treatment is very basic -- no differential equation is used in the analysis. All of the supply and demand curves are assumed to be linear. These choices do not necessarily represent a comprmise in learning as long as the readers know what the book has to offered.



3. It arrived on time and the condition is just what I expected from the description online.



4. If you have to purchase it for your class - sure, go for it, however, I would never recommend it a bedside reading for people interested in microeconomics - the content is very dry and puzzling at times...



5. Brand new book, awesome pricing, and excellent delivery time. Perfect alternative to buying over-priced books at your College Student Store. This was about $50 less even including tax and s&h.

3 comments about Microeconomics.

1. This is probably a very, very good book. However, it turns out that this is simply one-half of the authors' book "Economics" and, currently, the complete book seems to sell for about the same price as this one piece of it! So, be economical -- buy "Economics" instead.



2. Samuel Weber's review implies this book is an excerpt; it's not. Microeconomics and macroeconomics are completely different subjects; the courses share only a few introductory chapters (e.g., supply and demand; production possibilities).
   
   Since they're different subjects, in most universities, they're taught by different professors, and students DON'T have the luxury of buying the big "Economics" book and having it last for two courses. I use K/W for micro; I think only one fellow prof uses K/W for macro.
   
   So Mr. Weber's comment is no more true for this book than any other mainstream text.
   
   Some good features of this book:
   (1) a separate chapter on decision-making, differentiating discrete from marginal (yes/no from "how much") choice;
   (2)choice under uncertainty, including discussion of risk tolerance and insurance;
   (3) situations when buyers know more about the product than sellers, or vice versa (issues: "lemons," supervision of workers, warranties);
   (4) a chapter on the economics of technology;
   (5) interesting stories to start each chapter (such as London's pre-sewer "Great Stink of 1858")
   (6) a mainstream focus in spite of Krugman's role as a political/econ



3. It took several days until I get it, but the book was clean and I was satisfied.