Economics surveys the latest ideas and issues – such as the role of regulation in banking, the consequences of globalization and monetary union, and the efficacy of our current economic models. This coverage, combined with a rich array of pedagogical features, encourages students to explore our economic past and present, and to think critically about where this might lead us in the future.

    The very things done to make markets safer, have, in fact, created a world that is far more dangerous. From the 1987 crash to Citigroup closing the Salomon Arb unit, from staggering losses at UBS to the demise of Long-Term Capital Management, Bookstaber gives readers a front row seat to the management decisions made by some of the most powerful financial figures in the world that led to catastrophe, and describes the impact of his own activities on markets and market crashes. Much of the innovation of the last 30 years has wreaked havoc on the markets and cost trillions of dollars. A Demon of Our Own Design tells the story of man's attempt to manage market risk and what it has wrought. In the process of showing what we have done, Bookstaber shines a light on what the future holds for a world where capital and power have moved from Wall Street institutions to elite and highly leveraged hedge funds.

    Purchasing a small company offers significant financial rewards-as well as personal and professional fulfillment. Leading a firm means you can be your own boss, put your executive skills to work, fashion a company environment that meets your own needs, and profit directly from your success. But finding the right business to buy and closing the deal isn't always easy. In the HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business, Harvard Business School professors Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff help you: Determine if this path is right for you Raise capital for your acquisition Find and evaluate the right prospects Avoid the pitfalls that could derail your search Understand why a dull business might be the best investment Negotiate a potential deal with the seller Avoid deals that fall through at the last minuteAuthor BiographyRichard S. Ruback is the Willard Prescott Smith Professor of Corporate Finance at Harvard Business School. He has taught a variety of corporate finance courses throughout his career. Over the last few years, he and Royce Yudkoff have been developing and teaching a new second-year case course, The Financial Management of Smaller Firms, and a field course, Entrepreneurship through Acquisition, both of which are focused on the entrepreneurial acquisition of smaller firms. Ruback earned his PhD in business administration at the University of Rochester in 1980 and taught at the MIT Sloan School of Management before joining the HBS faculty as a visiting professor in 1987. He was appointed associate professor in 1988 and full professor in 1989. Ruback has served as an editor for the Journal of Financial Economics and is the author of numerous articles on corporate finance and valuation. Ruback has served as a consultant to corporations on corporate

    But a powerful new business tool - analytics - is enabling many firms to aggressively leverage their data in key business decisions and processes, with impressive results.In their previous book, Competing on Analytics, Thomas Davenport and Jeanne Harris showed how pioneering firms were building their entire strategies around their analytical capabilities. Rather than "going with the gut" when pricing products, maintaining inventory, or hiring talent, managers in these firms use data, analysis, and systematic reasoning to make decisions that improve efficiency, risk-management, and profits.Now, in Analytics at Work, Davenport, Harris, and coauthor Robert Morison reveal how any manager can effectively deploy analytics in day-to-day operations—one business decision at a time. They show how many types of analytical tools, from statistical analysis to qualitative measures like systematic behavior coding, can improve decisions about everything from what new product offering might interest customers to whether marketing dollars are being most effectively deployed.Based on all-new research and illustrated with examples from companies including Humana, Best Buy, Progressive Insurance, and Hotels.com, this implementation-focused guide outlines the five-step DELTA model for deploying and succeeding with analytical initiatives. You'll learn how to:· Use data more effectively and glean valuable analytical insights· Manage and coordinate data, people, and technology at an enterprise level· Understand and support what analytical leaders do· Evaluate and choose realistic targets for analytical activity· Recruit, hire, and manage analystsCombining the science of quantitative analysis with the art of sound reasoning, Analytics at Work provides a road map and tools for unleashing the potential buried in your company's data.

    In The Strategy-Focused Organization, Robert Kaplan and David Norton share the results of ten years of learning and research into more than 200 companies that have implemented the Balanced Scorecard. Drawing from more than twenty in-depth case studies--including Mobil, CIGNA, and AT&T Canada--Kaplan and Norton illustrate how Balanced Scorecard adopters have taken their groundbreaking tool to the next level. These organizations have used the scorecard to create an entirely new performance management framework that puts strategy at the center of key management processes and systems.Kaplan and Norton articulate the five key principles required for building strategy-focused organizations: 1) translate the strategy into operational terms, 2) align the organization to the strategy, 3) make strategy everyone's everyday job, 4) make strategy a continual process, and 5) mobilize change through strong, effective leadership. The authors provide a detailed account of how a range of organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors have deployed these principles to achieve breakthrough, sustainable performance improvements.

    Valuation provides up-to-date insights and practical advice on how to create, manage, and measure an organization's value. Along with all-new case studies that illustrate how valuation techniques and principles are applied in real-world situations, this comprehensive guide has been updated to reflect the events of the Internet bubble and its effect on stock markets, new developments in academic finance, changes in accounting rules (both U. S. and IFRS), and an enhanced global perspective. This edition contains the solid framework that managers at all levels, investors, and students have come to trust.

    This work is suitable for institutional investors, portfolio managers, financial analysts, and those requiring access to information on the global fixed income marketplace.

    Tax policies and their enforcement have become a disaster, and thanks to discreet lobbying by a segment of the top 1 percent, Washington is reluctant or unable to fix them. The corporate income tax, the estate tax, and the gift tax have been largely ignored by the media. But the cumulative results are remarkable: today someone who earns a yearly salary of $60,000 pays a larger percentage of his income in taxes than the four hundred richest Americans.Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston exposes exactly how the middle class is being squeezed to create a widening wealth gap that threatens the stability of the country. By relating the compelling tales of real people across all areas of society, he reveals the truth behind:- Middle class tax cuts and exactly whom they benefit. - How workers are being cheated out of their retirement plans while disgraced CEOs walk away with millions. - How some corporations avoid paying any federal income tax. - How a law meant to prevent cheating by the top 2 percent of Americans no longer affects most of them, but has morphed into a stealth tax on single mothers making just $28,000. - Why the working poor are seven times more likely to be audited by the IRS than everyone else. - How the IRS became so weak that even when it was handed complete banking records detailing massive cheating by 1,600 people, it prosecuted only 4 percent of them.Johnston has been breaking pieces of this story on the front page of The New York Times for seven years. With Perfectly Legal, he puts the whole shocking narrative together in a way that will stir up media attention and make readers angry about the state of our country.

    It blends practical and theoretical coverage, while maintaining an appropriate rigor and a clear writing style. Its unifying theme is that security markets are nearly efficient, meaning that most securities are priced appropriately given their risk and return attributes. The text places greater emphasis on asset allocation and offers a much broader and deeper treatment of futures, options, and other derivative security markets than most investment texts. It is also the only graduate Investments text to offer an online homework management system, McGraw-Hill's "Connect Finance."

    Self-made real estate mogul Dolf de Roos reveals why investing in property isso simple and lucrative as he gives insider secrets for getting ahead in thishigh-profit business.

    Along the way we’ll learn how selection bias can explain why your boss doesn’t know he sucks (even when everyone else does); how to use Bayes’ Theorem to decide if your partner is cheating on you; and why Mark Zuckerberg should never be used as an example for anything. See the world in a whole new light, and make better decisions and judgements without ever going near a t-test. Think. Think Statistically.

    But the pricing of any financial asset has become a more complex task in modern financial markets. Now completely revised and fully updated to reflect changing market conditions, Investment Valuation, Second Edition, provides expert instruction on how to value virtually any type of asset-stocks, bonds, options, futures, real assets, and much more. Noted valuation authority and acclaimed NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran uses real-world examples and the most current valuation tools, as he guides you through the theory and application of valuation models and highlights their strengths and weaknesses. Expanded coverage addresses: * Valuation of unconventional assets, financial service firms, start-ups, private companies, dot-coms, and many other traditionally valued assets * Risk in foreign countries and how best to deal with it * Using real option theory and option pricing models in valuing business and equity * The models used to value different types of assets and the elements of these models * How to choose the right model for any given asset valuation scenario * Online real-time valuations that are continually updated at www.damodaran.com A perfect guide for those who need to know more about the tricky business of valuation, Investment Valuation, Second Edition, will be a valuable asset for anyone learning about this critical part of the investment process.

    Giving a glimpse of the essential science of economics, this book tells the story of what has come to be called the new growth theory: the paradox identified by Adam Smith, its disappearance and occasional resurfacing in the 19th century, and the development of various technical tools in the 20th century.

    history. Confidence Game: How a Hedge Fund Manager Called Wall Street's Bluff is the story of Bill Ackman's six-year campaign to warn that the $2.5 trillion bond insurance business was a catastrophe waiting to happen. Branded a fraud by the "Wall Street Journal" and "New York Times," and investigated by Eliot Spitzer and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ackman later made his investors more than $1 billion when bond insurers kicked off the collapse of the credit markets.* Unravels the story of the credit crisis through an engaging and human drama* Draws on unprecedented access to one of Wall Street's best-known investors* Shows how excessive leverage, dangerous financial models, and a blind reliance on triple-A credit ratings sent Wall Street careening toward disasterConfidence Game is a real world "Emperor's New Clothes," a tale of widespread delusion, and one dissenting voice in the era leading up to the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression.

    His techniques have spawned countless imitators, most of whom pay lip service to the buzzword "contrarian," but few can match his performance. His Kemper-Dreman High Return Fund has been the leader since its inception in 1988 -- the number one equity-income fund among all 208 ranked by Lipper Analytical Services, Inc. Dreman is also one of a handful of money managers whose clients have beaten the runaway market over the past five, ten, and fifteen years. Now, as the longest bull market in the history of the stock market winds down, there is increasing volatility and a great deal of uncertainty. This is the climate that tests the mettle of the pros, the worries of the average investor, and the success of David Dreman's brilliant new strategies for the next millennium. Contrarian Investment Strategies: The Next Generation shows investors how to outperform professional money managers and profit from potential Wall Street panics -- all in Dreman's trademark style, which The New York Times calls "witty and clear as a silver bell." Dreman reveals a proven, systematic, and safe way to beat the market by buying stocks of good companies when they are currently out of favor. At the heart of his book is a fundamental psychological insight: investors overreact. Dreman demonstrates how investors consistently overvalue the so-called "best" stocks and undervalue the so-called "worst" stocks, and how earnings and other surprises affect the best and worst stocks in opposite ways. Since surprises are a way of life in the market, Dreman shows you how to profit from these surprises with his ingenious new techniques, most of which have been developed in the nineties. You'll learn: Why contrarian stocks offer extra protection in bear markets, as well as delivering superior returns when the bull roars.Why a high dividend yield is just as important for the aggressive investor as it is for "widows and orphans."Why owning Treasury bills and government bonds -- the "safest investments" for centuries -- is like being fully margined at the top of the 1929 market.Why Initial Public Offerings are a guaranteed loser's game.Why you should avoid Nasdaq ("the market of the next hundred years") like the plague.Why crisis, panic, and even market downturns are the contrarian investor's best friend.Why the chances of hitting a home run using the Street's best research are worse than being the big winner in the New York State Lottery. Based on cutting-edge research and irrefutable statistics, David Dreman's revolutionary techniques will benefit professionals and laymen alike.