The book describes: what is money; why debt monetization and the money multiplier are myths; how fiscal and monetary policy can be used effectuate full employment; deficits do not cause countries to default on their debt unless that is the decision

    With swashbuckling irreverence and devilish wit, Peter Leeson uncovers the hidden economics behind pirates’ notorious, entertaining, and sometimes downright shocking behavior. Why did pirates fly flags of Skull & Bones? Why did they create a “pirate code”? Were pirates really ferocious madmen? And what made them so successful? The Invisible Hook uses economics to examine these and other infamous aspects of piracy. Leeson argues that the pirate customs we know and love resulted from pirates responding rationally to prevailing economic conditions in the pursuit of profits.The Invisible Hook looks at legendary pirate captains like Blackbeard, Black Bart Roberts, and Calico Jack Rackam, and shows how pirates’ search for plunder led them to pioneer remarkable and forward-thinking practices. Pirates understood the advantages of constitutional democracy — a model they adopted more than fifty years before the United States did so. Pirates also initiated an early system of workers’ compensation, regulated drinking and smoking, and in some cases practiced racial tolerance and equality. Leeson contends that pirates exemplified the virtues of vice — their self-seeking interests generated socially desirable effects and their greedy criminality secured social order. Pirates proved that anarchy could be organized.Revealing the democratic and economic forces propelling history’s most colorful criminals, The Invisible Hook establishes pirates’ trailblazing relevance to the contemporary world.

    It’s not only the currency of America but much of the world as well, the fuel of global prosperity. As the superengine of the world’s only superpower, it’s accepted everywhere. When an Asian company trades with South America, those transactions are done in dollars, the currency of international business. But for how much longer? Economists fear America is digging a hole with an economy based on massive borrowing and huge deficits that cloud the dollar’s future. Will the buck be eclipsed by the euro or even China’s renminbi? Should Americans worry when the value of the mighty U.S. dollar sinks to par with the Canadian “loonie”? Craig Karmin’s in-depth “biography” of the dollar explores these issues. It also examines the green-back’s history, allure, and unique role as a catalyst for globalization, and how the American buck became so almighty that $ became perhaps the most powerful symbol on earth. Biography of the Dollar explores every aspect of its subject: the power of the Federal Reserve, the inner sanctums of foreign central banks that stockpile the currency, and the little-known circles of foreign exchange traders that determine a currency’s worth. It traces the dollar’s ascendancy, including one incredibly important duck-hunting trip and the world-changing Bretton Woods Conference. With its watermark, color-shifting inks, and a presidential portrait that glows under ultraviolet light, the dollar has obsessed foreign governments, some of which have tried to counterfeit it. Even Saddam Hussein, who insisted on being paid in euros for oil, had $750,000 in hundred-dollar bills when captured. Yet if a worldwide currency has enabled a global economy to flourish, it’s also allowed the United States to owe unbelievable, shocking amounts of money—paying hundreds of millions of dollars every single day just in interest on foreign debt; that’s raised concerns that the dollar standard may not be sustainable. Any threat to the dollar’s privileged status would do much more than hurt American pride. It would mean U.S. companies and citizens would not be able to borrow at the low rates they have become accustomed to. The dollar’s demise would impact the rest of the world, too, boosting the costs of trade and investment if no other currency was able to play the same crucial role. Ultimately the dollar system may weaken, but it should endure—a while longer, at least; it’s in few people’s interest to see it fail, and there is still no credible alternative.Biography of the Dollar is must reading for anyone who wants to understand what truly makes the world go ’round—and whether it will continue to spin the way we want it to.From the Hardcover edition.

    Starting in the early 1980s the top one percent (1%) broke away from the rest of us to become the most unstable force in the economy. An elite that had once been the flat line on the American income charts - models of financial propriety - suddenly set off on a wild ride of economic binges.              Not only do they control more than a third of the country’s wealth, their increasing vulnerability to the booms and busts of the stock market wreak havoc on our consumer economy, financial markets, communities, employment opportunities, and government finances.        Robert Frank’s insightful analysis provides the disturbing big picture of high-beta wealth. His vivid storytelling brings you inside the mortgaged mansions, blown-up balance sheets, repossessed Bentleys and Gulfstreams, and wrecked lives and relationships: • How one couple frittered away a fortune trying to build America’s biggest house —90,000 square feet with 23 full bathrooms, a 6,000 square foot master suite with a bed on a rotating platform—only to be forced to put it on the market because “we really need the money”.    • Repo men who are now the scavengers of the wealthy, picking up private jets, helicopters, yachts and racehorses – the shiny remains of a decade of conspicuous consumption financed with debt, asset bubbles, “liquidity events,” and soaring stock prices.  • How “big money ruins everything” for communities such as Aspen, Colorado whose over-reliance on the rich created a stratified social scene of velvet ropes and A-lists and crises in employment opportunities, housing, and tax revenues.  • Why California’s worst budget crisis in history is due in large part to reliance on the volatile incomes of the state’s tech tycoons.  • The bitter divorce of a couple who just a few years ago made the Forbes 400 list of the richest people, the firing of their enormous household staff of 110, and how one former spouse learned  the marvels of shopping at Marshalls,  filling your own gas tank, and flying commercial.  Robert Frank’s stories and analysis brilliantly show that the emergence of the high-beta rich is not just a high-class problem for the rich. High-beta wealth has national consequences: America’s dependence on the rich + great volatility among the rich = a more volatile America.   Cycles of wealth are now much faster and more extreme. The rich are a new “Potemkin Plutocracy” and the important lessons and consequences are brought to light of day in this engrossing book.  high-beta rich (hi be’ta rich) 1. a newly discovered personality type of the America upper class prone to wild swings in wealth. 2. the winners (and occasional losers) in an economy that creates wealth from financial markets, asset bubbles and deals. 3. derived from the Wall Street term “high-beta,” meaning highly volatile or prone to booms and busts. 4. an elite that’s capable of wreaking havoc on communities, jobs, government finances, and the consumer economy. 5. a new Potemkin plutocracy that hides a mountain of debt behind the image of success, and is one crisis away from losing their mansions, private jets and yachts.From the Hardcover edition.

    What makes Bitcoin so special? What sets Bitcoin apart from every other monetary asset that preceded it? What is a monetary asset in the first place? What is money? What is inflation? Who benefits from it? What is scarcity? Is Bitcoin's mining process wasteful? Is Bitcoin a religion or a rejection of religious beliefs? All of this and more, inside.

    He is CEO and founder of GoldSilver.com, one of the world's largest gold and silver bullion dealers, CEO and founder of WealthCycles.com, an educational website, and host of the most popular video series on the topics of monetary history, economics and economic cycles, The Hidden Secrets of Money.

     What was his secret, everyone wondered? And the answer turned out to be pretty basic. Because, besides being industrious and frugal, which you may have guessed, he had invested in the stock market throughout the years. This is actually not as surprising as it may sound. According to a recent World Wealth Report, the wealthy invest the largest part of their money into stocks and businesses. Our wise janitor had simply done what the wealthy do. So he got a similar result. That is, he grew his money into considerable wealth. And you can do this too. Now, we aren't saying you will make $8 million. After all, this is a beginners book and the janitor had an extraordinary result. But stock market investing is one of the best tools you can use to build a more secure financial future for you and your family. So are you someone who wants to make money in the stock market? And does that story make you feel excited? Have you tried to understand the stock market, only to be discouraged by how complicated it all seems? And aren't you just a little bit encouraged that an ordinary person, like our janitor from Vermont, could invest in stocks and succeed? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then this book just might be the solution you've been looking for. Because it will show you just what you need to know, and no more, to start investing in the stock market. And it will describe all of this for you in simple terms you already understand. Not complicated theory. Not a mind-numbing blitz of technical buzzwords. Just what you need to know and no more. And the few specific steps you can take to get started. Here's what you will learn: -The 5 big reasons to invest in stocks -Simple explanations of the basics of stock market investing -Great sources of recommendations to help you pick winners (no complicated research required) -The one thing you must do to get started (but you only have to do it once) -How to buy and sell stocks -3 key strategies to protect your stock investments from big losses -And many more invaluable tips on building your stock portfolio  So that by the end of this book, you will be able to buy your first stock. You will know the simple steps to grow your money in the stock market. And start on the your path to a more secure financial future.

    This comprehensive survey of microfinance seeks to bridge the gap in the existing literature on microfinance between academic economists and practitioners. Both authors have pursued the subject not only in academia but in the field; Beatriz Armendariz de Aghion founded a microfinance bank in Chiapas, Mexico, and Jonathan Morduch has done fieldwork in Bangladesh, China, and Indonesia. The authors move beyond the usual theoretical focus in the microfinance literature and draw on new developments in theories of contracts and incentives. They challenge conventional assumptions about how poor households save and build assets and how institutions can overcome market failures. The book provides an overview of microfinance by addressing a range of issues, including lessons from informal markets, savings and insurance, the role of women, the place of subsidies, impact measurement, and management incentives. and Latin America and introducing ideas about asymmetric information, principal-agent theory, and household decision making in the context of microfinance. The Economics of Microfinance can be used by students in economics, public policy, and development studies. Mathematical notation is used to clarify some arguments, but the main points can be grasped without the math. Each chapter ends with analytically challenging exercises for advanced economics students.

    This unique budgetary survival guide will enhance your instructional, technical, and managerial skills not only as the school′s leader but also as the school′s visionary, planning coordinator, and budgeting manager.

    Authors include Mario Vargas Llosa, Vernon Smith, John MacKay, Mao Yushi, Leonid Nikonov, Deirdre McCloskey and others.

    This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program.

    As he spars with the goddess who is often bemused by his demands, Sen writes of the seven changes he thinks India needs most, from improving the teaching of humanities to abolishing Article 377. Humorous in tone, yet deeply serious in intent, A Wish a Day for a Week is a marvellous essay and an important blueprint for India’s development from one of our great thinkers.

    In this classic discussion, Milton and Rose Friedman explain how our freedom has been eroded and our affluence undermined through the explosion of laws, regulations, agencies, and spending in Washington. This important analysis reveals what has gone wrong in America in the past and what is necessary for our economic health to flourish.

    Randall Lane never set out to become a Wall Street power broker. But during the decade he calls the Zeroes, he started a small magazine company that put him near the white-hot center of the biggest boom in history. Almost by accident, a man who drove a beat-up Subaru and lived in a rented walk-up became the go-to guy for big shots with nine-figure incomes. Lane's saga began with a simple idea: a glossy magazine exclusively for and about traders, which would treat them like rock stars and entice them to splurge on luxury goods. Trader Monthly was an instant hit around the world. Wall Streeters loved the spotlight, and advertisers like Gulfstream, Maybach, and Bulgari loved the marketing opportunity. To accelerate the buzz, Lane's staff threw parties featuring celebrities, premium steaks, cigars, and top-shelf vodka. Nothing was too expensive or too outrageous. Private jets in Napa Valley. Casino nights in London. And $1,000-a- seat boxing matches in New York, where traders from Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns pounded each other in front of tuxedoed throngs. Before long, Wall Street's rich and powerful trusted Lane as a fellow insider- the guy who could turn an anonymous trader into a cover model and media darling. And the rest of the world sought him out as a way to tap into Wall Street's riches. As he emptied his bank account to help keep his little company afloat, he became a nexus for the absurd. Traders who turned 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina into multimillion-dollar windfalls. John McCain closing out the craps tables during an all-night gambling binge. Pop artist Peter Max hustling hundreds of thousands of dollars by selling traders paint-by-numbers portraits. Al Gore, John Travolta, Moby. Corrupt Caribbean rulers, the mobsters from Goodfellas, the pope. And a retired baseball star turned market guru named Lenny Dykstra, whose rise and fall was a great metaphor for the decade. All played roles in Lane's increasingly surreal world. When the crash of 2008 hit, Lane's company and life savings were destroyed along with the high-flying traders and dealmakers his magazines exalted. But Lane walked away with something more lasting: an incredible true story, told by a skilled writer and reporter who sat squarely in the middle of one of the critical periods in modern financial and cultural history. People will turn to The Zeroes for many years to come, to find out what the era was really like.

    Intermediate Accounting integrates this new information throughout the chapters so they'll learn how to apply the new global accounting standards. Global examples are presented to clearly show how the information is utilised in the field. The use of various currencies is also explored, which is critical for accountants to know in today's global businesses environment.