1 comments about Mastering Repos Markets: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Products, Applications & Risks (Financial Times Series).

1. This is an excellent book for both practitioners and students. The book is clearly written and contains some very good examples on calculations. As a portfolio manager, I find that this book is best used establishing basic knowledge of transaction mechanics. You can combine this reading with Fabozzi's book to get a better feel for the market. Although the Fabozzi book is not as well organized, it contains more industry perspectives. This book is very highly recommended.

1 comments about Money What it is How it works: Second Edition.

1. William Hummel has written a book that explains the money system in a readable form. Technical and not political, it is accessible to any intelligent reader. The only alternatives are difficult academic texts with obscuring economics theories or popular books that are incorrect if not crackpot. This is the book to read to learn the money system.

5 comments about Money Magnetism : How To Attract What You Need When You Need It.

1. There's one way of attracting money that Donald Walters leaves out: write a little pamphlet, then lay out each page in large font and surround it with lots of white space. This way, only a few paragraphs make an entire page, and you can call your pamphlet a book and charge a lot more! For the perfect example of this, see this book.



2. An enjoyable read. I found this book to reveal the simplicity of the laws of attraction and abundance. Life doesn't have to be complicated with regard to being happy, it's generaly our perception of events. I liked his reflection that we are all part of a greater, intelligent reality. Also, the methods of concentration and affirmation are very "doable" for anyone.



3. Money Magnetism is one of the best guides to attracting what you need when you need it that I have ever read. Although there are many thousands of books that discuss the techniques and theories for picking stocks, buying insurance, or building your career, there are very few that actually discuss--or even understand--the more subtle energetic and spiritual principles behind finding true wealth. But it is these underlying principles, of course, that form the true basis of all success. Money Magnetism explains these principles and gives simple, easy-to-follow techniques to magnetise the resources you need to lead a rich and fulfilling life. Even if you think you are looking for a book on hard-core financial management--buy this book, too. Understanding these principles will help you to more wisely and efficiently implement whatever investment or career strategy you choose. An amazing value for only 7.95!



4. This is a small book, but packed with powerful information that has the ability to change your life. You will find techniques and keys for attracting the power and success that everyone seeks in life.
   
   But please don't make the mistake that too many people make and assume that because it is a small book, just read it once and toss it aside. Read and reread this great book regularly and it will change your life.



5. A friend sent me this book to read.
   
   The author, Walters, seems to be of the self-help school and uses a lot of literary license.
   
   from page 1 of the book:
   ....Perhaps, then, that ancient saying should be amended to read, "The love of money is the root of all evil."
   
   Too bad Mr. Walters Bible knowledge isn't as good as his knowledge of the Bhagavad Vita, because the Bible says exactly what he is saying "the ancient saying should be amended to say".
   
   (It says it in 1 Timothy 6:10)
   
   Like I said, that was page 1.....it kind of goes downhil from there.

No comments about A Program For Monetary Stability.

5 comments about Series 7 Securities Licensing Review Questions Exam Cram (Exam Cram 2).

1. First thing I did after the exam was check the copyright date because I was certain I had purchased an outdated version - Nope it was dated 2005. Setting aside the numerous editing errors and software glitches, the book falls meaningfully short of the scope of material covered on the test.



2. You can read the other reviews for the "why" but I just had to add my voice to theirs in saying that this is the worst study aid I have ever encountered. Now I know why it was the only one left in the bookstore when I purchased it. I didn't think you could publish something with so many errors or blatantly wrong answers.



3. So many of the questions and answers are incorrect - just blatently wrong. It would probably be more misleading to read this then to not.



4. After missing the mark on the Series 7 by only one question (yes, one lousy question), I bought this book to provide me with additional practice. Yes, there are many errors and it is quite frustrating. But, the other problem is that the book covers what my STC instructor deems "untestable items." In other words, don't waste your time. The Dummies Guide is a much beter supplement.



5. I was going over the options chapter, a very critical part of the series 7 and there were mistakes...on repeating questions and wrong explainations, also the explainations are not sufficient enough.

1 comments about Money and Banking: A Policy-Oriented Approach.

1. Amazon sent me the wrong book twice! Instead of sending me the book they sent the study guide. After a month of ordering and returning wrong books they said they can not fulfill the order and refunded me.

2 comments about Solomon's Treasure: The Magic And Mystery of America's Money.

1. I'm starting to think that Tracy is on her way is on her way to being the Far Western answer to Julius Evola. This book not only offers great insight into the Occult principles behind the American dollar bill but goes further in showing the direct occult lineage that goes back to the economic/esoteric practices of Knights Templar. Absolutely fascinating and hard to put down.



2. The real secret of Alchemy was discovered by the Knights Templar and this knowledge has been kept by Freemasons who used that knowledge to build America.
   
   But, the secret is not in turning base metal into gold; the secret is to turn a paper note (with a lot of "magic" symbology) into a representation of wealth that is accepted by everyone.
   
   The success of this trick lies in getting everyone to believe in the magic.
   
   Tracy Twyman explains the way this all works out. You'll think about it every time someone hands you a dollar.

5 comments about Monetary Theory and Policy, 2nd Edition.

1. This great book helped me to get a better understanding of modern monetary theory, and so I thought I'd make a few comments on that, perhaps couched in easier to understand language and more mundane examples than in this much more sophisticated and technical book.
   
   Basically, the question is what really is the value of money in a country's economy, and how do fluctuations in the value of the currency and the amount of the currency in circulation affect the overall economy? That might seem simple at first, but consider the following.
   
   You may know the story of the hyperinflation that occurred in Germany in the post-WWII years. Germany was saddled with some serious war debts and reparations, and so the government started printing money in order to pay them off. There's even some suspicion that they did this deliberately in order to pay them off faster with inflated dollars, which royally annoyed the French, who were basically getting stiffed. Very sneaky, if true. And clever--if you can make it work. However, it's also very risky, because there are few things more ruinously inflationary than the government printing money, and eventually those pigeons usually come home to roost, which they did in the case of the German economy with a vengeance. So the situation got out of control, and soon it almost took wheelbarrows full of money to buy a loaf of bread.
   
   However, the most interesting thing is how the German monetary authorities stopped the hyperinflation and got things back to normal. What they did was start buying back the worthless paper Deutschemarks with gold. This reduced the supply of Marks, and when people saw that they could get real gold for the paper money, they cashed in in droves. Eventually, the German Deutsche Bank, basically their Federal Reserve, pulled enough money out of circulation to get the inflation under control.
   
   This brings up the interesting question of whether one needs gold backing for your currency. Well, in the modern world, it's no longer necessary, since countries like Japan have very little gold backing for their currency, and yet the Yen is one of the so-called "hard currencies." Contrast that with the former Soviet Union, which at least in the past had a lot of gold backing for their currency, and yet it wasn't worth much. What really determines the value of your currency in the modern international economy is it's value on the international monetary exchanges, which is basically what people will pay to buy it in order to buy your goods and exports and so on, and to do business with you, not how much gold backing it has.
   
   But getting back to the German situation, something very similar happened here back in the early 80s when the prime interest rate hit 21%, because the government was printing money due to the Vietnam war and the deficit spending of the late 60's and 70's. With that level of inflation per year, funny things start happening. For example, it's in the interest of capital-intensive industries or businesses requiring large on-hand inventories-- such as retail stores or firms selling big-ticket equipment items and so on--to buy as much inventory as possible on credit, and then to pay the debt off with increasingly inflated dollars, which reduces your overall cost-- essentially, not so different from what the Germans were doing.
   
   This might sound strange since you're talking about the "price" or cost of money and how inflation affects it, but inflation has the interesting effect of making future money payments less expensive to the borrower, so they have a vested interest in loading up on goods on credit and then paying it off over time. The longer the horizon or loan term the better they make out as long as inflation continues.
   
   In other words, with inflation running at 21%, in two years, the business paying back the loan gets a 42% discount on their cost of capital, assuming the interest rate is fixed, which is usually the case in business loans or at least businesses with good credit. Of course, lenders such as banks and savings and loans know about these tricks but surprisingly, there's very little they can do to hedge and protect themselves. This is one reason so many savings and loans went out of business back in the 80's.
   
   Now all of this might make inflation sound like the ultimate economic evil, but actually, and here's another odd fact about monetary economics--the reverse situation is actually worse--which is known as deflation. Recessions usually don't go into serious deflation, but a real bona fide depression will. This is what is really happening in a depression.
   
   In the case of a serious depression or deflationary spiral, the money supply contracts to the point where the total amount of money circulating isn't enough to keep the economic wheels of the country greased and operating smoothly thru what is known as the bank reserve ratio and negative multiplier effect. In other words, there is a systemic shortage of liquidity. Unfortunately, this situation is extremely difficult to correct, much more so than the inflationary situation.
   
   That's because with interest rates falling and/or very low, no-one has any incentive to lend dollars since, as in the case during the Great Depression, banks get their money from private depositors, and with banks failing, and interest rates at almost zero, no one has any incentive to put the money in the bank if the bank might fail, or if the business that took out the loan could go bankrupt and fail, as many do during depressions. So people stuff it in the proverbial mattress. Hence, there's no money to lend, and so businesses which depend on loans and outside financing (which is about 99% of big and medium size businesses in the U.S.) can't get the money to operate and the economy grinds to a standstill. The government can even print all the money it wants, but nothing happens, since the prime lenders don't want to borrow the money at the so-called Federal Reserve Discount Window and pass it on to borrowers and risk losing it for some measly return and interest rate. In other words, the risk/reward ratio just isn't worth it.
   
   To give you a better perspective on this, I can give you a fascinating fact. The average person tends to think of the stock market as synonymous with the overall economy, because it gets all the press and publicity, and that's true to some extent, but the truth is the bond markets operating behind the scenes which get much less press and attention (well, bonds are pretty boring compared to stocks) are actually ten times the size of the stock market and have a much greater impact than even the stock market on the overall economy. With no money to lend for loans and bonds, the economy grinds to a stop, until someone like the government "primes the pump" to restart it, the policy mechanism that the great economist, John Maynard Keynes, became famous for explaining, among other things. That's what happened back in the 1930's, but we really had to wait for the huge government spending of WWII to turn the situation around.
   
   So during deflation, money is tight and scarce, but the value of the currency keeps going up--just the reverse of inflation. So those who have money have more than they had before. But since deflation causes serious unemployment and underemployment and poverty, most people don't have excess dollars, so they're still poor. So you just can't win. That's why economics is sometimes called "the dismal science." :-)
   
   If this all sounds strange, just think of what happens with a resource or a commodity when there's a shortage of supply--such as with oil right now--it goes up in price, right? That's just normal supply and demand. Same thing in deflation. With a shortage in the supply of greenbacks, the value goes up just like in the case of any material good, except it's confusing to think of lots of money causing a lack of purchasing power as in the case of inflation, and a lack of money creating more purchasing power as in the case of deflation. In practical terms, the dollar's worth more--but no-one is spending them! Hence, paradoxically, money is worth more in a stagnant economy where no one has any incentive to spend it. You might wonder how something can be worth more when no one wants it, since, in most cases, what determines the value of something is the demand for it, but this is where monetary theory parts with normal intuition and common sense about how supply and demand should work, and that's just the way it is.
   
   Anyway, that's not a bad little summary of monetary economics. If you understand that you actually have most of the important points. As you can see, it's strange stuff in some ways, but fun once you get the hang of it since it is powerful and explains some puzzling issues.



2. One of the best books about Monetary Theory and Policy.



3. If this book were a car, its selling would long have been forbidden! The "typos and corrections" offered by Carl E. Walsh's homepage have by now reached 10 pages. Chapter 6.5 "A Basic Open-Economy Model" has this way been completely revised by the maître. So, in case you are determined to read this book, start with a download of those typos and corrections! The publisher does not give the slightest hint of this problem within the book (Maybe, because the standard "errata-note" would have become an "errata-booklet"). This is really annoying, since you may lose a lot of time by trying to understand mathematical derivations, which are simply wrong. Weak consolation: the "typos and corrections" of Michael Woodford's supposed to be classic "Interest and Prices" sum up by now of 8 pages (Or should we say 38 pages, since "certain equations" of Woodford's chapter 5 are corrected in a separate paper? Unfortunately, I'm not kidding). However, Walsh's book does also suffer from contents-related problems: Throughout the book he derives all results based on the social planner solution of his models. He never even discusses the problem of this approach in the presence of the "wedge of inefficiency" that the usage of money can introduce in such models (Lucas, 1987, Models of Business Cycles). So after having yourself worked through Walsh's book and his typos and corrections, you cannot be sure that the conclusions and policy recommendations he draws will also hold for the market solution of his models.



4. If you want to find the book about the theory of monetary or finance, this is the one you should have it.



5. i like this book..
   Good detail, easy to understand, and nice examples..
   well written... for all readers...
   You even get to read a little about Mr. B.B.

No comments about An Introduction to Financial Markets and Institutions.

4 comments about Argentina: An Economic Chronicle. How one of the richest countries in the world lost its wealth.

1. An outstanding book that blends very well a traveler's description of this beautiful and outstanding country, together with important glimpses of recent and important political events as well as a thorough analysis of the history of Argentina's poor fiscal policies, that ultimately lead to its economic decline. An easy to read book that should not be limited to economists, by to all of those interested in what has happened to Argentina in the last few decades.



2. This is a special book for a number of reasons. It is an excellent account of how bad policies and politicians can destroy wealth. The problem is much deeper than just the lack of fiscal discipline, though the observations on the continuous deterioration of the Argentine fiscal system are really enlightening. But Vito Tanzi offers much more than just a pure "narrow-minded" economic analysis, he describes a society that lost the most important element of success, social coordination. A fascinating reading for everyone, economists and non-economists alike. I cannot resist pointing out that there is another beautiful country in Europe Vito frequently visited in the past four decades that would certainly benefit from a book like this.



3. This book captures the inside political economy of the Argentine fiscal recent history. Tanzi added to his traditional solid economics and well-written prose a thoughtful inside angle of Argentine politics of fiscal policy. This is a nice reading which teaches about the process of policy making on public finance and lessons learned to better frame fiscal reforms.Argentina: An Economic Chronicle. How one of the richest countries in the world lost its wealth



4. Vito Tanzi has written a compact, highly readable account, of the causes and consequences of Argentina's economic decline since the early Twentieth Century, providing valuable lessons for Argentina, for other countries, and for the International Monetary Fund. According to Mr. Tanzi, a persistent lack of fiscal discipline led to economic disaster, and the International Monetary Fund fed, prolonged, and intensified the process. In telling this compelling account, he also provides an appealing introduction to Argentina, with its beautiful tourist attractions and rich cultural heritage. I highly recommend this book both to economists and non-economists alike.