Reviews (3)

Great macro text but very G7 centric
Barry Eichengreen's book Gold Fetters is a classic on the Gold Standard and the Great Depression. The cover of this one claims that it will become a classic on the international monetary system. While it's good, it certainly isn't a classic. It's a great book, but spoilt by its lack of breadth. Clearly-written classic on the world monetery system.
This book is not for the casual reader.However, we do recommend it strongly to anyone interested in understanding the relationship between global politics and international economics. Our consulting staff uses it often when discussing pricing policies and long-range financial planning with experienced and sophisticated exporters. John R. Jagoe, Director, Export Institute.

Crucial for understanding today's global financial crisis.
Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System isbetter described by its subtitle than its title, but even that fails tosuggest just how up-to-the-minute it is. This book really provides acrucial key for unlocking the puzzles of today's global financial crisis.It tells the whole story of how the gold standard worked, how the BrettonWoods system worked -- and why and how they stopped working. If you wonderwhat the differences between floating and fixed exchange rates really are,this book will tell you, in all dimensions. It shows very clearly that theinternational financial crisis we see today is a great deal like what hashappened at some times in the past, and it explains what worked, whatdidn't, and why in the past in dealing with similar crises. The author'sentirely non-ideological -- where there are two intellectually-respectablesides to an issue, he presents both, explains why he comes down as he does,and tells you where to look for more information. The book is brief (about200 pages), well and clearly written, and doesn't assume that you know muchabout economics or banking. There's a nice glossary in the back whichexplains all those mysterious terms you hear about these days. I understandthat the new paperback edition has been updated to carry the story right upthrough the Asia crisis. Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Economic History    5. International - Economics    6. International Finance    7. Money & Monetary Policy    8. 20th century    9. Business & Economics / Economic History    10. Economics    11. Finance    12. International economics    13. Monetary economics    14. Political Science and International Relations    15. c 1800 to c 1900   

Reviews (1)

Easy reading
This book was great because it read like a novel.It contained a wealth of knowledge while being easily accessable.Two mistakes in the first couple of pages caused some hesitation in granting 5 stars.Read more

Subjects:  1. Banks & Banking    2. Banks and banking, Internation    3. Banks and banking, International    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Finance    8. International - Economics    9. Business & Economics / Economics / International   

Reviews (34)

Mr. President, tear down your wall.
I read this book a little after digesting Londonistan and almost as a coincidence we find both authors talking about the same thing but from differing perspectives. As one born in the baby boom years dominated by the cold war between two superpowers and living in a nanny socialist state of Great Britain, the last thirty years have been little short of revolutionary.
One of the best books on globalisation
This book is one of the best available books on globalisation. There is a historical perspective on the history of world trade from the high point of the 19th century through the nadir of the interwar years. The author explains the economics of globalisation clearly in non-technical language. He takes the criticisms of the various opponents and demolishes almost all of them. In many cases he shows the contradictions embedded in the critics positions. There is a wonderfully cruel but accurate demolition of Naomi Klein's ideas which he shows are both shallow and authoritarian. He is a lucid writer but the material can be heavy going (lots of numbers and laying out of economic ideas) but stick with it - you'll come out with a good grounding in the issues. As he makes clear in the book, ignorance and misunderstanding of economic ideas is distressingly widespread and impoverishes public debate. Read Jagdish Bhagwti's book before or after and if you don't understand the benefits of globalisation heaven help you!

Globalization endangered?
Martin Wolf is worried that the combination of anti-globalists and the ambiguous attitudes of governments towards globalisation in developed and developing countries can halt even reverse globalisation. Martin Wolf is convinced that globalisation so far has only delivered a fraction of the potential benefits and that globalisation is the only way to maintain prosperity and solve the poverty problem of the world. The book covers globalisation comprehensively. After reading the book one has a framework to be able to judge which criticisms are groundless and which ones are justified. The book concentrates on economic policies and the role of government, the impact of globalisation and the causes of that impact. The book also contains a large number of very interesting statistical tables and charts to illustrate conclusions and recommendations.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. General    3. Globalization    4. International - Economics    5. Political Science    6. Politics/International Relations    7. Public Policy - Economic Policy    8. Business & Economics / Economics / International    9. International economics   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Credit cards    5. Law and legislation    6. Management - General    7. Business & Economics / Management    8. Credit & credit institutions    9. International trade   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Case studies    5. International - Economics    6. International economic relatio    7. International economic relations    8. International trade    9. Business & Economics / Economics / International    10. Economics   

Reviews (32)

A Journal of Competitive Excellence
Essential reading for the practitioner and even more critically required reading for the academically baked student of the markets. From living with frustrating ideas of Utopian equilibrium found in well-stocked university libraries this is a voyage of reading that changes lucidly the thought process into understanding the perpetuity of change in the markets.
Demonstrates Soros' Ledgerdemain
Soros is perhaps history's greatest manipulator of markets. His actual quantitative analysis does not stand up to any rigorous testing, nor have his trading techniques withstood anomalous shocks or the simple resistance of pure market forces.
All that is solid melts into air
The only thing I'd like to add to this discussion is to highlight out tendency to assume that the status quo will continue.It's by exploiting this assumption that has allowed me to make some money in the equity markets.As an example of our tendency, I'd like to offer a quotation from one of the previous reviews of Soros' book (put up in 1999):
Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Financial Markets    6. Investments    7. Investments & Securities - General    8. International finance    9. Investment & securities   

Reviews (1)

A well done book
A fine book, one that give a rich understanding of what happened and why. Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Contemporary Economic Situations And Conditions    6. Development - Economic Development    7. Economic Conditions    8. Economic Development    9. 20th century    10. Development economics    11. Economic history    12. History / Modern / 20th Century    13. Singapore    14. Singapore--Economic conditions   

Reviews (6)

Poorly worded and poorly organized.
There are far too many examples of confusing wording in this book so I will focus my rantings for the atrocious chapter structure. Chapter introductions will begin laying out a few main points that will be discussed, the first few points are covered and then it will jump to other somewhat related topics (i.e. Chapter 20 on Financial Crises...give it a closer look).
GREAT BOOK
Doesn't get too technical, but explains everything clearly. This book is one of the best economic books that I ever used.

Good Intro to International Economics
I used this book for my international economics undergraduate course and found it easy to understand; it doesn't use lengthy mathematical formulas but utilizes basic macroeconomic theories. The authors organized this book well; the later chapters build upon the beginning ones. However, it would be best to have taken Intermediate Macroeconomics before using this book because the last few chapters rely heavily on a good understanding of intermediate level material. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Commercial policy    5. Economics - General    6. Exports & Imports    7. Foreign exchange    8. International - Economics    9. International - General    10. International Economics (General)    11. International economic relatio    12. International economic relations    13. International economics   

Reviews (2)

The Definitive Work
No sane person reads about INCO terms for fun, and if your work requires that you understand the details of international quotes & shipping then this is a required reference work.The author, who sat on the international drafting committee, is perhaps as knowledgable on this subject as any American.He also teaches an excellent seminar on the subject.

Technical topic made easy to understand
After I first read Mr. Reynold's predecessor book on Incoterms I felt I finally understood this technical topic. The new book, fully revised for Incoterms 2000, follows the same format. Each chapter is devoted to one of the 13 Incoterms so it can be easily digested. Each chapter contains an easy to read scenario of how the Incoterm may be used in a real international trade transaction and how it affects all other phases of the transaction including the ability or inability to collect payment. Read more

Subjects:  1. Business    2. Business & Economics    3. Business & Economics / International    4. Business & Economics / Sales & Selling    5. Contracts    6. Incoterms 1990    7. International    8. International Business    9. International business enterpr    10. Sales    11. Sales & selling    12. Commerce    13. Export sales contracts    14. Freight and freightage    15. Incoterms 2000    16. Terminiology    17. Terminology   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (39)

Great for entertainment value...
...but that's all it is.The book makes a lot of amusing arguments as to why you don't need to pay tax and you may find it funny if you are a tax attorney (as I am), accountant, enrolled agent or any other kind of tax practitioner.Considering Mr. Schiff is in prison for tax evasion now, I'd consider this book to be completely bogus.A good laugh, yes; good advice, definitely not.

To be read with a grain of salt
While I agree that Schiff makes some interesting points in his claims such as paying the income tax is voluntary, that 'income' does not include wages, that it is okay to file a zero 1040 return, etc., following such advice will be fine until the IRS comes knocking at your door.
The Truth Can be Costly
Irwin Schiff is correct and amazon is brave for still having a link to this book still up. This book is banned material in all forums and this includes amazons selling of it. read the court order banning the book at www.paynoincometax.com . Schiff is under is prosecution (persecution is more like it) by the Feds because they of course want to keep us all slaves. And we are slaves no matter how you want to justify it. (paying a "fair share" is a socialist term) Serfs in feudal England were considered slaves and they got to take home more than we do now. The Federal Government operates outside the Law and the courts are clearly simply ignoring the facts. Go to his site and read the motions and decisions rendered so far and see for your self how the court behaves. There is of course one reviewer here who is clearly a Federal Agent. Do note that according to the Patriot Act, once you purchase this book, the government will know about it and you will be on thier hit list. So if you can get it through other means. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Income Taxes    3. Politics/International Relations    4. Taxation - General   

Reviews (1)

Truly a good primer
This is the only book I found that actually explained everything in its table of contents in a way that I could understand.This is an excellent book for a total beginner just trying to understand the basic issues of thin capitalization rules, deductions vs. exemptions vs. credits, double taxation, tax sparing, tax havens, etcetera. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. General    4. International    5. International - Taxation    6. International business enterpr    7. International business enterprises    8. Law and legislation    9. Legal Reference / Law Profession    10. Taxation    11. Business & Economics / Public Finance    12. International economic & trade law    13. International economics    14. Taxation law   

Reviews (4)

Poppycock
This is political `poppycock', as each party in the USA continue to `blackmail' their opponent by any means possible, to the consternation and shocking surprise of millions of people who have not yet been nourished with this sort of `democratic civility'.(!!!!)
Jaded Tasks; Brass Plates,Black Ops & Big Oil
Excellent, insightful, eyeopening
must read
this book is a must read if we are to survive as a democracy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Conspiracy & Scandal Investigations    2. Criminology    3. Government - Executive Branch    4. Government - U.S. Government    5. History & Theory - General    6. International - Economics    7. International Economic Relations    8. Political Science    9. Politics - Current Events    10. Politics / Current Events    11. Politics/International Relations    12. U.S. Political History    13. Terrorism, freedom fighters, armed struggle    14. USA   

Reviews (15)

Not such an easy read
Okay book, not the best read, but better than the Mas-Collel green books. This book gives a lot of info on theory but I thought it lacked wrt practical (applied examples). Used for a graduate level course in Micro Econ. My particular course is very hard (this class serves both graduate and PhD Finance students) so needless to say, I am ordering the workbook to help me survive!

Needs work
I used this text in an intermediate microeconomic theory course, but have a math background. The first half of the text is acceptable - concepts are presented well, and there are a good number of examples. The biggest problem is that the author or typesetter seems to not understand the correct use of parenthesis - many of the formulae are not correct! The section on game theory, which is the second half of the book, is quite poor. Greater depth is needed, and crucial theory is glanced over. It would be fine for a course which doesn't get past chapter 12 or so, but look elsewhere for game theory.

Good microeconomics book
I have used this as a textbook for my second year microeconomic theory course. I think this is definitely a good reference for mathematical approach to economics. This book definitely assumes some exposure to beginning microeconomics, so this is not a beginners text. It is a nice book because it has a lot of interesting info beside standard micro topics, such as risk aversion. Exaples and graphs are helpful to illustrate the concepts. Excercises are hard (at least some of them), so get the solution manual. I also found this textbook interesting because it has a lot of footnotes with additional details, and "extensions" in the end of each chapter which take the topics a bit futher. Another helpful feature was the list of recommended literature for each topic. Even though I am not sure if I will continue in economics, I am still keeping this book for myself because I had a good experience with it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Economic Conditions    5. Economics - General    6. Economics - Microeconomics    7. Microeconomics   

Reviews (16)

Pioneering work
This is a pioneering book, which provides a generalist approach to dealing with cross-cultural issues with many excellent examples. Hofstede was one of the first to bring the study of how culture affects human interaction in the field of business. The quantifying approach is very similar that cultural anthropologists use.As with all pioneering works there is some criticism about conflict resolution as other reviewers have pointed out. Another central criticisms of this model has been that nation state and culture are always presumed to be the same. Local culture does not follow political boundaries.Some readers might be tempted to think of people in simple categories, which is precisely what Hofstede counsels that we should attempt to avoid. Cultures and organizations gives good insights on how "Groupthink" controls our lives and how we could improve interaction. This is a good book for international managers and students of culture.

Science or Dogma?
Is this book scientific or dogma? Science employs unambiguous concepts, does not ignore data that contradicts; and revises in the light of valid critique. This book fails all these tests. For a comprehensive critique of its many flaws see Professor Brendan. McSweeney's widely cited paper in Human Relations(2002) 55.1. To take an example from the Hofstede's book: they state that "the masculinity-femininity dimension affects ways of handling industrial conflicts. In the United States as well as in other masculine cultures such as Britain and Ireland) there is a feeling that conflicts should be resolved by a good fight ... the industrial relations scenes in these countries is marked by such fights. If possible management tries to avoid having to deal with labor unions at all." (p.143). This claim first appeared in Hofstede (1991) and later in Hofstede (2001). Test 1: a national culture does not affect national managers but only national labor. Inconsistent. Test 2: according to the Hofstede's own ranking (p. 121) Japan is the second most masculine country and Germany is more masculine than either the US or Britain. And yet for over fifty years the industrial relations in Japan and Germany have been the least conflictful. The Hofstede's claim is contradicted even by their own data. Test 3: In 2002 McSweeney published a second paper in which he showed that mascluninity-femininity has no predictive or explanatory power in relation to industrial relations. His data showed that sometimes such relations in feminine countries are more aggressive than in masculine countries, sometimes they are less. Despite this data the Hofstede's repeat a claim that is clearly contradicted by the data (others and even their own). A company which believed the Hofstede's claim would be discouraged from considering investing in Britain, Ireland, or the US and would be encouraged to invest in feminine countries such as the Hofstede's Netherlands which they claim is the third most feminine country in the world. Hopefully, not too many are misled by the dogma in this book which bears no relation to reality.

It's good. For a textbook.
I'm a grad student working on an international MBA and this was one of our required texts. I admit to being rather intimidated by all of the buzzwords in it when I first got the book, but after sitting down and actually churning through it, it's not bad at all. It didn't exactly drastically alter my perspective with regards to international/intercultural communications, but it definitely provided some 'hmmm... neat' points to think on.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. General    5. Intercultural communication    6. International - General    7. International Business Administration    8. Organizational Behavior    9. Organizational Behavior In Business    10. Pluralism (Social sciences)    11. Workplace Culture    12. Business & Economics / General    13. Social, group or collective psychology   

Reviews (2)

Unveiling the links.
The way corporates do governance is linked to the political makeup of their home countries, argues Peter Gourevitch and James Shinn in their important new book. Practices can't be imposed successfully from the outside or homogenized to some global standard; they bubble up from politics and pressures on the ground. Gourevitch, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego and Shinn, ex-CEO of Dialogic and now visiting professor at Georgetown University, uncover complex relationships between key market players. Are workers and investors natural allies, for instance? Well, in markets where job protection laws are widespread, safeguards for investors are weak. On the other hand, global capital moves like a magnet to companies and markets that feature the most minority shareowner protection-thus creating jobs. Read this to find the web of ties to political power that promises global diversity in governance practices for years to come.

Groundbreaking Guide on the Direction of Corporate Governance and Society
According to Gourevitch and Shinn, "corporate governance - the authority structure of a firm - lies at the heart of the most important issues of society"... such as "who has claim to the cash flow of the firm, who has a say in its strategy and its allocation of resources."
Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business and politics    4. Business/Economics    5. Corporate governance    6. Corporations    7. Government & Business    8. Government - Comparative    9. Industries - General    10. International - General    11. International Relations - General    12. Investor relations    13. Business & Economics / Government & Business    14. Business law    15. Economics    16. Finance    17. Management & management techniques    18. Ownership & organization of enterprises    19. Political Science and International Relations    20. Sociology   

Subjects:  1. Aliens    2. Corporations, Foreign    3. Foreign income    4. Income tax    5. International    6. Law    7. Law and legislation    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Taxation    10. United States   

Reviews (2)

Fighting Poverty in the Trenches, One Borrower at a Time
More than just a casual pass through Bangladesh to investigate Grameen Bank, the micro-credit phenomenon started a quarter century ago by Muhammad Yunus, The Price of a Dream fills in gaps left by other writings. It puts a human face on the poor of this impoverished Asian country, formerly known as East Pakistan. It brings poverty-stricken Bangladeshis into your livingroom as factual, not fictional, folks. Capitalism for the Landless Poor
I am a junior in highschool.I chose this book from an AP Economics reading list I received this year.When I started reading this book, I expecting a monotonous mass of numbers, terms, and theories.However, I was soon captivated by the story.Bornstein beautifully integrated the story of the Grameen Bank, the lives of its members, and the economic principles behind it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bangladesh    2. Banks & Banking    3. Banks and banking    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Development - Economic Development    8. Economic Conditions    9. Public Policy - Social Services & Welfare    10. Rural poor    11. Women    12. Banking    13. Business & Economics / Economic Development    14. Economics | Developmental | Transitional   

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Energy policy    3. Gas industry    4. Geopolitics    5. Government - General    6. Government policy    7. Industries - Energy Industries    8. International - General    9. Political Science    10. Politics/International Relations    11. Gas industries    12. Management of land & natural resources    13. Political Science / General   

Reviews (21)

Don't Waste Your Time and Money
While I appreciated and generally agreed with the thesis Richard Florida puts forward that creativity is important for society, there were many times when I found his writing `style' to be annoying.I had almost put the book down after completing the first third of it.Mr. Florida's sensitivity to criticism and unabashed need to respond to every negative comment he received from his first book made me wonder just how narcissistic this man was.His ego flows onto each page and sometimes, in my view, gets in the way of his work and feeds a perception that he is not completely objective.
False Dichotomy between Creative and Technology Mindset
Richard Florida's work has many culturally helpful things to say. A kid's review - well argued by the way - has pointed out that Florida's work has a right brain bias. I agree, and I don't mind.
Florida's work is based on a fundamentally flawed assumption
Richard Florida divides people into two groups, those in the creative class such as artists, musicians, and engineers and those not in the creative class, mainly people not engaged in so called "creative work". Based on his research into the characteristics of these groups he concludes that India and China are not the real threat in terms of high tech competition and it is the smaller European nations with more open political climates that are the real threat.Obviously, Florida is not an engineer or a real scientist since anyone in the high tech field knows that India and China are the main competition for high tech jobs and the massive offshoring of engineering jobs is even lowering the number of students in college pursuing these fields.The main problem is that Florida doesn't realize that an engineer with a 4 year university degree is not the same as a writer, musician or artist that may have no education at all especially in difficult math and science courses.He mistakenly believes these two separate groups to be equal and the same in terms of contributing to high tech innovation and development.For writers an open political climate is necessary to make a living writing controversial books.However, for an engineer an open political climate is not essential in most cases but a stablemodern environment where he feels confortable living and working is needed.Furthermore, Florida makes a huge deal about the "Gay Index" where high concentration of gays indicate a high concentration of the creative class and high tech innovation.This may be true in western civilization but in China and India it is irrelavant.Florida also seems to have given up on his "Technology" element of economic development for America because in his latest article for USA Today he states something to the effect that high tech innovation can be outsourced anywhere and America can only maintain its lead if it concentrated on "culture", "art", "music" and "improving retail service" jobs. In conclusion, Richard Florida's creative class theory where "Talent", "Technology", and "Tolerance" is needed for economic development is fundamentally flawed.Florida's writings lack the rigor and unbiased analysis of a real engineer or scientist but is designed to sell books to a socially liberal audience. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Creative ability    5. Economic aspects    6. Economics - General    7. Economics Of Special Subjects    8. Emigration And Immigration    9. Intellectual capital    10. Knowledge Capital    11. Sociology - General    12. Technological innovations    13. United States    14. Business & Economics / General    15. International economics    16. Labour economics    17. Work & labour   

Editorial Review

Conventional wisdom has it that John Kenneth Galbraith's