Business Money Books

bought this book for my little bro, clear enough for a 10yr old to understand, informative enough to get the message through. Great book. I'd recommed rich dad poor dad for adults, as well as rich kid, smart kid (good for teens as well; the earlier the better)

My son asked right off the bat, why the pages aren't numbered and why is it falling apart. Same old Rich Dad messages.....I thought it was worth sharing with him. Pick it up at the library.

I ordered this book with a skeptical outlook. The other financial instruction books I purchased for my teen lasted all of ten minutes. This book arrived, she opened it, started reading, and didn't put it down until finished. She was so excited, she called me at work to tell me she had learned about assets, liabilities, expenses, and income. She said the concepts were so simple, she didn't understand why they aren't teaching this in school. Now, she's pointing out investments to me! Rich Dad actually got the attention and respect of a teenager. I'm very impressed.

Although in cartoons, as is happening to me, in my journey to financial freedom I need my wife to support me (sometimes there will be things most people won't get if they haven't read Kiyosaki before), and specially if your wife doesn't read this kind of literature, buy this book...for her! In less than an hour you'll understand the main message from Kiyosaki.

This is a children's comic book that presents kids with the information that goes way beyond "Save your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." There are also subtle lessons on values and ethics, too. It shows--pictorially, using two different styles--how a youngster can put the concepts they represent immediately to work. The book goes well beyond the "save your pennies" philosophy I was raised on. The book introduces terms that some kids never hear until they take their first economics class. I liked the presentation style that looks vaguely like a Tim Allen movie--artistic washes, subtle tones. Kids will love the brightly colored segments. More importantly--for the parents at least--they are sure to absorb some sound ideas about ensuring their own futures. The purpose of the book is clear: the sooner you learn to manage your money, the more you'll have to enjoy.

This dude knows his street slang! I was sorta worried when I found out he was a Canadian cop...Mathers covers pretty much every racket and how it launders the proceeds...He is a pretty funny writer as well..I felt like I was sitting down with an old cop having a beer....If you always wanted to know about how money is laundered...This book does it in a funny way...

I've had a curiosity about money laundering for many years. I've heard about it on the news. It is often a shadowy subject, involving complex financial transactions and foreign intrigue. Here is a book that finally explains the subject to laypersons in a way that is accessible.

Mathers does an excellent job of explaining this subject to a layperson. He explains the various schemes, how they are executed, and how the criminals get caught. The explanations are backed up by examples from Mathers' long career in law enforcement. Most books about money laundering are intended for law enforcement personnel, so the authors assume some familiarity. Mathers' book is the first primer on the subject for laypersons. The jargon used by criminals and law enforcement are clearly explained as well, so those wanting to read further on the topic won't be bewildered by more advanced texts.

This is a great introduction for non-law enforcement persons to learn about money laundering. A great jumping off point.

Showing how Organized Crime uses real estate transactions to launder large amounts of cash, this volume presents the clearest explanation yet of the Republican "Ownership Society" as the premier money laundering tool of the very rich and very criminal.

The future reader should not be naive to think that this will be a book that teaches you how to launder money. Is a great book that shows the problems that crime causes to our everyday life. Chris Mathers reflects his style and way of thinking in this book, it will bring the reader down to the earth and teaches about things we all should know, it has good humor . Even if you upset that this book does not give out big secrets about police work and crime tricks , you should still read it ... it will make you see things that is not easy to see.

The book is aimed at those who legitimately handle large amounts of money. It doesn't have to be 'their' money, any supervision of cash will do. This includes bank tellers, small business owners, and corporate executives. Since they all 'handle' money, they all risk 'being nice' and going to jail for their troubles.

Mathers tries to shares some street smarts. The book doesn't try to 'explain' money laundering as much as put you 'inside' the process. The look and feel is given first priority. Thus, the author spends a lot of time toying with the lingo. You will learn about 'backstops' (a false history), 'beards' (intermediaries), 'bottoms' (what you owe), 'busting a cap' (discharge a bullet), 'Diming out' (informing), 'Dry conspiracy' (cop talk for an arrest with no contraband), 'juice' (interest rate), 'pooch' (fellow with no respect) and 'playing for shape' (willing to kill to curry favor). Mathers constantly belittles the intelligence of the crooks. Crime is easy, but getting away with it for long is difficult.

Along these lines, Mathers works hard to debunk popular perceptions. First, Hollywood doesn't do a good job of familiarizing us with 'real' crooks. Crooks don't look like Hollywood gangsters, they look like Joe average. Second, the crooks don't need high tech tricks to pull off their capers. All they need is a little, apparently harmless cooperation. For example, Mather describes the 'muffin man' method. The muffin man simply offers his bank teller a muffin every time he visits the bank. After giving away $5 worth of muffins, the recipient bank teller is likely to bend a rule. That bent rule may launder $100,000 in cash ($10,000+ profit to the crook). Additionally, it is all that is needed to put the teller in jail.

Mather makes his points by relentlessly bringing the reader down to the gutter level. Half the message is just the lingo and description of the terrain. Learn how to talk prison lingo, how to survive standing in line with a bunch of crooks, and most important, how a silly, everyday mistake can put you behind bars.

This is a book about avoiding the mistakes that have put many an otherwise innocent person in jail. Read and learn!

I can't belive how poorly written this book is. I also got angry reading it. After only one chapter I found myself unable to continue. This book is trash and the authors should be ashamed of themselves. I felt like they were trying to appeal to 5th graders.

Its a complete waste of time ,,they Just state if you want something ask God..thats the end..

OK..Here's the deal.. the book is a novelty item, with nifty mind puzzles and some interesting anecdotes about people who made millions out of adversity. Production values are high (different ink colors, graphics to make it an MTV-generation read). It tries its best to conflate greed for money with the need for spiritual fulfillment, and it may actually succeed in helping some people get there. But after reading this book (ok, 2/3 of this book, before I couldn't take any more) I was left without any concrete steps to get there. Save the $6.00 (that should tell you something right there -- $23 book down to $6.. it's one step from the remainder bin) and borrow it from your local library if you're curious still to see what's inside..

I was delighted to receive this book quickly and pleased to find that the description "like new" was accurate. Thanks a lot!!!

I have worked with Robert G. Allen Mark and Victor Hansen Neither man is a stranger to failure. Both have lost everything-=! But, independent of each other and over time, these two men came up with principles for helping both themselves and others. They began conducting their business lives along enlightened lines, and since then their joy and their wealth have grown exponentially.I have learn much more then money could buy from these men and this book is a great read!!!

Quite a bit of emphasis on how fundraising works in the UK versus the US. Has some good suggestions that are relevant in the US. Very conversational tone and quite inspiring for a fundraising book. How relevant this is to the content of the CFRE exam, I don't know.

[NB: Get the 2002 revised edition] We should all listen to Ken Burnett and what he has to say. He has listened hard for years: to donors; people stricken with and striving against hardship; professionals in the office and the people working boots-on-ground, and he knows whereof he speaks. The subject of Relationship Fundraising: A Donor Based Approach to the Business of Raising Money is fundraising, but its ideas are applicable to corporate governance, public relations, customer satisfaction, social work, politics, parenting, marketing... It is a guide to more effectively relating to and understanding our place in a Humane world. It is both "how-to" and "why we should" - clearly illustrating, in a refreshingly personal style, the good idea it is to consider the perspective of our clients: the Contributors who give so much to our lives.
Rather than duplicate the other reviews that list the chapter details of this work, I simply want to encourage you to go ahead, risk the purchase of this and Ken's "The ZEN of Fundraising"The Zen of Fundraising: 89 Timeless Ideas to Strengthen and Develop Your Donor Relationships. If you have a heart and a brain, you will benefit significantly. And as you practice living with Ken's thoughts as a companion, the World will be a better place.
Yes, he's that good.
GregRobin Smith.

Considered a hit in the 1990s with Europeans, the audience for which this book was written. That was when Europeans knew little about true philanthropy and nothing about major donor relations. They were mostly wedded to direct mail and low-end funders. The author was a significant force in lower-end donor direct mail fundraising. Thus, little was ever of true significance for US and Canadian professionals. Considering the total absence of discussion of the phenomenal advances made with online communications linked to CRMs and participatory online membership activities for nonprofits, which are developing real relationships between nonprofits and their constituents, I doubt the value of this rather quaintly old fashioned book.

I found this book to be honest about fundraising, motivating and with great ideas and experience to further the business of fundraising

I thought this was a wonderful book. It includes 14 chapters and a glossary. Although I'm not sure the glossary added to the book. I don't view the book to be a complete treatise on nonprofit fundraising, but the author says he did not expect it to be. There is no coverage of special events, grant proposals, volunteers, or local fundraising activities. What this book talks about, and does it well, is nonprofits and their development arms need to approach donors with mutual consideration, thoughtfulness, and appreciation.

The world has gotten competitive. And nonprofit fundraising exists in an environment where technology and aggressive marketing tactics are the norm in how to do business. This book points out that technology and aggressive marketing have the potential to undermine the trust and confidence that are so important to effective fundraising. Fundraisers who understand that fundraising is about "building relationships" will not be obsessed with fundraising techniques and formulas. Instead, they will merely practice the art of fundraising that is all about building relationships.

This book was first written in the early 1990s and made a substantial contribution to the UK fundraising community's library of tomes on how to practice fundraising. It presents a basic approach to fundraising that is time tested and works. Now, in the 21st century, the author has updated his book by incorporating his answers to questions he has received about the first edition, and by adding some new thoughts he has on the subject. The material covered in this book is important; everyone involved in fundraising for nonprofits should understand what is covered in this book and take that understanding with them when they do their work as fundraisers.

I would have liked the book better if there had been one more chapter included. The author is critical of technology and aggressive marketing tactics. But he doesn't provide his view as to how technology and marketing tactics should be used specifically. I think the book would benefit with a chapter that would cover some of these specifics. In my humble opinion, technology and marketing tactics are still very important and critical to fundraising success. It's just how they can be used so donors are trusting of nonprofits that could have been better explained.

This book was an easy read. Each chapter is followed by a summary called "action points." And I liked this feature. I also liked very much the summary of the book provided at page xxii of the book's Preface. At the end of the book is a lengthy bibliography. Many good books are included in that list, and the reader will probably want to search some of them out for further reading. 5 stars!

So, how does one make money as a mediator? To answer this question, Krivis has turned to consider the habits of 30 highly successful people, comprising a Who's Who of top mediators from Canada to New Zealand and across the United States, all of whom are liberally quoted in the book. Each of these people found a different path to mediation and different approaches to what success requires, yet there are also striking similarities. All the top mediators view mediation as a calling. While all love the practice of mediation, none are particularly drawn to the business of marketing, yet all realize its essential importance. Jeff Kichaven does 150 mediations a years yet finds that marketing time `far outstrips' mediating time: `You have to do it. Swim or die. Get used to it.' None achieved success immediately; most required several years of hard work to build a practice - `It takes a three-to-five year plan to make this work,' says Susan Hammer. `You need endurance,' advises Nina Meierding.

Everyone emphasizes the intensely personal nature of the business, making marketing far more a matter of making and maintaining personal contacts than print advertising. Michelle Obradovic finds it a `waste to time' to do generic mass-market advertising. `Target your specialty' insists Cliff Hendler. Yet all agree on the value, indeed the necessity, of a Web site - `They expect you to have a Web site' says Ralph Williams. `Our Web site has been very good for us,' adds Rick Russell.

The book outlines different fee structures and methods of billing, as well as different methods of using support staff. Most highly paid mediators expect payment upfront; `You get the people committed,' says Robert Creo, `and you don't spend time billing people or collecting money.' The issue of staffing is also addressed. Because `face time' is so critical, and because that includes both marketing and the mediation session, top mediators need a support staff. Only a few seem to use full-time staff; most seem to prefer `unbundled services,' that is to say, they rent space in a full-service suite which takes care of reception, additional conference rooms, mail sorting, and telephone answering. Then they use outside billing services for their bookkeeping. They organize themselves to outsource as much administration as possible. Some mediators use outside marketing services, placing advertisements in strategic magazines, but also rely heavily on obtaining speaking engagements to different groups. The clientele of top mediators is primarily, though by no means exclusively, the legal community, because, as bank robber Willie Sutton said with timeless simplicity: `That's where the money is.' However, the doyen of mediation marketing, Natalie Armstrong, finds a continuing trend towards `proactive mediation' by industries such as `hospitals, hospitality, construction, film studios,' even `linen supply companies.'

Krivis divides his book into eight accessible chapters, including `Invisible Marketing,' `How Much Money Can You Earn,' and `Weathering the Ups and Downs of a Mediation Practice.' The final chapter is particularly interesting. It's called `Looking Ahead: The Future of Mediation and Your Future in Mediation.' Krivis quotes Jeff Abrams "I see a bright future for everyone,' yet notes some not-so-hopeful trends that the profession will have to deal with, including a trend towards institutionalization, the `stale' mediator, `instant mediators' which goes to the lack of, and resistance to, any kind of accreditation, and rising business costs. There are also many hopeful trends, including the undeniable fact, as veteran Chris Moore notes: `...mediation has grown dramatically over the last fifteen years.' Krivis also approves of the increase in mentoring, almost a revival of the old apprenticeship system, or as it is still called at the English bar, `pupillage.' And he sees an increase in mediator partnering across borders, that might prove a boon to mediators with language skills, and increasing use of mediation in the public policy and non-profit sectors, and a slow trend to view mediation not as the `alternative,' but as the first choice in dispute resolution.

While sprinkling the book with the views of numerous of his colleagues, the book in all its essentials belongs to Krivis himself. From his very personal introductory chapter, `How I Found my Dharma in Mediation,' to the invaluable final chapter `The Mediator's Field Guide to a Successful Practice,' the book is a detailed account of a busy, thoughtful mediator who has watched the profession grow up around him. This little review cannot hope to do justice to a 220-page book that is crammed with practical tips and the accumulated experience of so many successful mediators. It flows well and is an easy read.

I think the book was helpful, but not as practical as I had expected for somebody starting out. The passion all of the mediators have for the field is evident, but it would have been more helpful to have nuts and bolts tips included.

There is a lot of good information about investing in real estate in this book. I feel most of the things he suggests in the book are too vague and require a much more in depth approach.

Robert Shemin gives more information and ideas in Secrets of Buying... than one very famous real estate writer gives in four books and another charges thousands of dollars for. It is not a "get rich quick" plan. Remember to get your information from those who know what they are talking about and have done what you want to do, and Shemin is that man. You will always need more information, experts in your area, and experts in different fields of real estate; and Shemin states this in his book.

One real estate book will not solve all of your problems or answer all of your questions, but the bottom line is that this one gives you more than most. I will continue to go back to this book for ideas and to fine tune my investing skills for years. The only thing missing is him taking you by the hand to take action. Take responsability, be persistant, read, educate yourself, stay positive, be careful who you take advice from, take action, and stay positive.

I have read probably twenty books in real Estate in the past six months...this is the worst so far. Whoever is writting is going at light speed and has no concept of teaching or sharing knowledge. It has no depth and he continuosly jumps from one subject to another not covering any of the real issues and questions. The bottom line...don't waste your money.There are "real good books" in real Estate but this is not one of them.
JC

Anyone who remembers that old TV commercial for Wendy's will know exactly what I mean. This book has no substance. "Find a $300,000 house, buy it for $200,000 and flip it to an investor for $250,000 and pocket the difference". Yeah, it sounds nice but I live in a place called Earth. Perhaps in some depressed areas you might find sellers motivated enough to sell at that kind of discount, but don't plan on moving that property anytime soon either. Where I live, in Northern Virginia, people pay $30,000-$50,000 OVER the asking prices for a house. My neighbor just sold her TOWNHOUSE which she put on the market. She listed it for $385K and had SIX contracts on it the first week and sold it for $430K. Good luck finding a "motivated" seller around here. Up into southern Maryland you can find properties for below "market" value, but you can't turn them quickly.

This guy may have done quite well during the real estate boom, but its a different world now and the things he is saying to do "without by the way telling you HOW to do them" are just ludicrous.

Keep your money, don't waste it on this book.

I got into real estate investing primarily due to Mr. Shemin's first two books, "Secrets of a Millionaire Landlord" and "secrets of a Millionaire Real Estate Investor." Both of these books were excellent, and I wouldn't sell my copies for the world.

However, this is simply a collection of loosely connected thoughts strung together to create a book. Here is the plan presented in the book -- Find a $250,000 that you can purchase for $190,000 from a motivated seller, and sell it to someone else for $230,000, then retire rich.

Not much of a plan if you ask me, especially when where I live, a $250,000 would be a mansion, not a 3 bedroom 2 bath starter house. A real presented plan would be, do A, B, C, D, etc.

What he is suggesting in the book is not investing, rather it is speculating in real estate. While there is nothing wrong with that, let's call it what it is.

His other book, "Unlimited Riches," which I also own, covers everything here, and is a much better written book. It at least presents a cohesive plan that a novice might be able to follow.

The book updates us on where Mr. Shemin is going in his life, and career. He lets us know that he got out of the landlord business and is now speculating in real estate and "writing paper," (hard money lending) as he calls it.

I have read many what I call "Rah Rah" books. There is nothing wrong with convincing people that they too can succeed in real estate, but this book doesn't even do that.

I always try to find 2 or 3 new ideas, even out of a bad book. While there are a few ideas that make me go, "Hmm, interesting," there are no sonic booms here. The book comes off as an advertisement for his real estate seminars and multilevel marking of some products, nothing wrong with that, but not much else for me to sink my teeth into.

I am presently reading his new book "How to Avoid the 75 Mistakes Every Investor Makes." That book should have been 50 Mistakes, but they stretched a few to get 75. Mind you, they are not bad, just that some didn't even take up half a page, and there are 250 pages in that book.

If you have the money, buy the book, but if you have to choose between this one and another one, pass this one by. However, that said, do purchase his Millionaire books. They are worth the money.

In closing, I'd like to find someone who would write a book on how to check real estate records for liens. You know, the nitty gritty work of real estate investing. Instead, they all want you to pay the $1000 for this information.

Excellent for starting up a business. This book is an invaluable asset to anyone who needs a guidepost to determine elements to consider when trying to bring a product to market. Definitely worth every cent...

This is a great book for anyone who is lost and confused like I was on a subject that was very foreign to me. It truely walks you through step by step!

Product Idea to Product Success gives a step by step approach to what you need to know to bring an idea from just an idea to reality. If you are willing to follow the steps you can become successful in every indeaver that you undertake.

I am glad I purchased the book "Product Idea to Product Success."
It is a must read for anyone considering marketing a product.
I am thankful Matt Yubas decided to share his expertise with the world.
I never imagined how much research is necessary prior to marketing an idea
or product. This book is definitely the roadmap for getting started. I will refer to this book often as I sift through the details of my project.

This is a good book for a would-be inventor, but it doesn't go into the detail or depth that I think is needed.

If you want to learn about the start and foundation of Forex, use Google! It is free and more up to date than this piece of junk. Luckily I got it from the library and did not pay for it.

I have been a Forex trader for a long time now and 80% of this book is not relevant any more.

Lots of historical perspective, but lacks specific techniques and strategies. Also pretty dated now. Lots of filler and anecdotes, too.

Of all the books I've read on Forex this has to be the least useful. There is no central theme, no "how to"....it's a collection of dis-jointed, unrelated trivia about the foreign currency market. Not worth the paper it's written on...in my view. You'll do considerably better reading nearly anything else. Don't waste your money or your time.

We recommend this book to our clients who want to learn more about global currency markets. It gives a great introductory overview and history of currency. Brief and well written.

So many editorial reviews on Amazon are so far off the mark...and this book is no exception. Poorly written, poorly edited and of course poorly priced. The author spends too much time on his personal observations, which are highly subjective of course, but devoid of the poignancy that would justify such missives. He then moves quickly from one topic to the next, explaining none in sufficient detail.

Much of what he writes isn't very important to a trader and is probably obvious to a student of financial markets. Laypeople will learn something about the world of forex, but this cursory treatment lacks focus. They are better off reading a few focused books. The few pages devoted to interviews from successful traders were informative, but I found myself disagreeing with some of the "facts" (read: opinions) offered up. If you must buy this book, take what is written here with a grain of salt. Then go buy a serious book on the stucture of the foreign exchange market, on risk management and on trading strategies.

This book will not make you a better trader and it certainly isn't worth the price.

clearly written by a pair of highly intelligent intellectuals. it is a pity they cannot comunicate.

This book is brilliantly written by obviuosly two bright intellectuals. They bring a unmatched insight into the financial market world.

The authors not only demonstrate their understanding of financial markets by way of the breadth and precision of the topics discussed, but they also present the material in a way that is understandable to even those uninitiated in finance. If you are looking to learn the basic concepts underlying the various markets (equity, bond, mortgage, etc.), and you are interested by the wide range of pricing tools available today, this book is up your alley.

The idea to have a broad but thorough overview of different financial markets is brilliant. However, the author has real talent to make relatively simple ideas incomprehensible. Overall, the book is very difficult to read, language and wording are terrible.

This is one the best introductory textbooks on the subject of financial markets and institutions. It is comprehensive and full of examples and exercises. The authors do an excellent job of presenting complex concepts in a relatively simple and straightforward style. Highly recommended.

This book has two central premises:

1. It's easier for national governments to keep their currency's exchange rate in check when they don't have to worry about voters.

2. International monetary arrangements have a way of coming unraveled if any of the parties has an incentive to back out of the arrangement; this is an instance of what's called a "coordination problem" (the prisoner's dilemma is the classical coordination problem). Consequently, the only way to keep such arrangements working is to tie nations together, in such a way that any nation's backing out of the arrangement would harm it.

The first point gets us from the start of the gold standard until its end in the early part of the 20th century. (Depending upon how it's phrased, it seems like you could make a case that the gold standard ended in the 30's when Britain left it, or in the 70's when Nixon let the U.S. dollar float. I don't follow the details well enough to explain why you'd pick the one date over the other. More on this ignorance below.) And actually, the start of the gold standard in Britain was a pure historical accident, which takes up one of the more interesting paragraphs I've ever read.

It's an application of Gresham's Law, and involves Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was the warden of the Royal Mint when Britain was on a bimetallic standard; it was using both silver and gold for its currency. A bimetallic standard is tricky to manage, because you have to set the relative price of the coins properly. For instance, suppose that on the open market, an ounce of gold is worth as much as 16 ounces of silver; gold and silver coins should then stand in approximately the same ratio. Suppose that the market price of silver then rises to 1/10th the price of gold. If the currency still stands at the old 16-to-1 ratio, then silver coins are worth more melted down into bars and traded for gold than they are as coins. Silver coins will systematically disappear and be melted down. If this ill-chosen exchange rate persists for too long, silver coins will disappear altogether from the market.

I should note something up front here: I need to think more about the economic details of this argument. Why, for instance, wouldn't the melting-down of silver coins eventually self-correct? By melting down coins and taking them out of circulation, we reduce the supply of currency, so the value of each coin goes up; likewise, the rising supply of silver bars makes the value of each bar go down. Eventually, wouldn't the two balance out again?

The answer is probably that it depends. If the difference between the commodity value and the coin value of silver is too large, all the coins could well disappear before the market has had time to equalize. One might then ask why the British government didn't continue producing more coins until the market worked it out -- or quickly realize their error and return to more sensible relative prices for gold and silver. As it happens, in any case, they didn't: they ended up accidentally with a monometallic standard. And that's how we got the gold standard: the lucky (?) confluence of a Newtonian mistake and British dominance in the 18th century.

Another historical accident kept the gold standard working for a while: most people didn't have the right to vote, and those who did were wealthier than those who didn't. In a world run by (to modern eyes) undemocratic governments, it's easy to defend your currency's gold value: if an ounce of gold buys you $35, say, and the currency devalues so that it now buys you $40, the U.S. government can just spend as many dollars as necessary to bring the currency back into line. In a more democratic world, you need to use those dollars to support your people. In a less-democratic world, the dollars can all go toward gold.

There's an important supporting fact about 19th-century less-democratic governments that makes this all work out: currency traders know exactly how the government is going to behave. Hence they have every reason to believe that the American government will keep the dollar right where it's always been. If the currency drops from $35/oz. to $40/oz., traders know that the government will make every effort to bring it back to the old level. They have no reason to bet on future currency drops; the only rational bet they could make is that the dollar would return to its old value. Consequently, the dollar *does* return to its old value.

What if, instead, traders know that the government has other obligations toward its people? If it would cost a prohibitive amount to defend the gold standard, traders rationally believe that the government will let the depreciation stand, and they will bid the value of the currency down. Now there's an even *wider* gap for the government to make up, so traders know it's even *less* likely that the government will fix it. And so on down the drain. This is a "speculative attack." In fact Eichengreen gives an example of a *self-fulfilling* speculative attack, where countries with a perfectly healthy economy (low inflation, healthy balance sheet, etc.) nonetheless find themselves with a quickly depreciating currency.

Governments can try other options to keep their currency under control. They can limit the flow of money: charge a hefty fee for every large bundle of dollars or gold that leaves the country, for instance. Other countries have to get involved to make this work: as capital gets more mobile, any country that locked down currency transfers would find itself with a massively depreciating currency as investors sold it and bought other, freer currencies. You can see why multinational agreements to lock down currency transfers would have a hard time sticking around: if I defect -- you lock down and I don't -- money flows into my country and out of yours. We need some way to tie our fates together if we're going to make this work. My understanding is that European monetary union -- the euro -- is precisely such a fate-tying mechanism: we give up flexibility in some areas of monetary policy in order to solve a larger coordination problem.

Again a question of detail comes up: suppose the currency flows from a less-open to a more-open economy. For the sake of concreteness, let's say those economies are Germany and France, respectively. Money flows from Germany to France, so now one franc buys more deutsch marks. France doesn't want this exchange rate to rise *too* far, because now Germans can't buy as many French products; export-intensive French industries are harmed by Germany's capital constraints. So it would seem that France and Germany are already quite strongly linked by self-interest, even in the absence of any agreements on capital controls.

I'm sure the answer to this, as well as to all my other questions, is within Globalizing Capital. My sense is that it is a book which can never be read, only reread. I'm really looking forward to rereading it.

a short and sweet book on the history of monetary system, packed with facts and some founded opinions. he did it again

This is a great book for readers who like economic history. In just 200 pages, Eichengreen tells the history of the modern international monetary system, from the classical gold standard of the late 19th century to the Asian financial meltdown of the 1990s. He writes clearly and his narrative never gets bogged down in historical arcana or mathematical abstractions. The book is a great example of how complex economics can be made comprehensible to ordinary readers if the writer sticks to the big picture and uses simple language.

Eichengreen's basic idea is that the rise of democracy made it impossible for central banks to continue to pursue exchange rate stability at the expense of all other economic objectives. That doomed the gold standard and made inevitable a world of floating exchange rates, even though that world would have been unthinkable to most central banks and finance ministries prior to the 1960s and 1970s.

I knocked off one star only because Eichengreen is very U.S./Europe-centric. He barely discusses Japan let alone the developing world. Huge events like the rise of OPEC and the Latin debt crisis of the 1980s are hardly mentioned. For that reason, his book never addresses the way that dependence on international capital flows now constrains policymaking in developing countries almost as much as the gold standard ever did.

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.

Globalizing Capital is full of details and gives readers a terrific account of how mainstream exchange rates were managed (or weren't) in the period from 1870 to 1997. Each of the four main chapters is self contained (1870-1914, 1918-1944, 1944-1973, 1973-1997).

Globalizing Capital has two broad threads. Firstly, the only periods in recent history when exchange rates have been stable have occurred when there have been a) high levels of international co-operation or b) periods when governments have been able to choose between high capital mobility and extending democracy. Trying to court both the masses and international traders has often been the trigger for banking and currency crises.

The second theme is the choice between fixed and floating regimes. The world nowadays is characterised by instantaneous communications and highly mobile capital. Small countries can chose to float and large groups with deep interlinks can form monetary unions, but the rest are faced with increasingly unpleasant choices. As capital becomes more mobile, the choices faced by those left in the middle will become even more perilous.

While the theoretical line is flawless, the content isn't. Globalizing Capital is extremely G7-centred and gives little if any indication that there was a world outside the North Atlantic until Japan emerged in the 1960s. There is little mention of the history of colonial currency boards prior to Hong Kong in the early 1980s, no attempt to tackle the issues thrown up by recent debt crises in Latin America and nothing on transition countries in Eastern Europe and Asia who dispensed with central planning and multiple exchange rates in the 1990s.

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.