They say John Maynard Keynes called gold a "barbarous relic."
They say there isn’t enough gold to support finance and commerce.
They say the gold supply can’t increase fast enough to support world growth.

They’re wrong!

In this bold manifesto, bestselling author and eco­nomic commentator James Rickards steps forward to defend gold—as both an irreplaceable store of wealth and a standard for currency.

Global political instability and market volatility are on the rise. Gold, always a prudent asset to own, has become the single most important wealth preserva­tion tool for banks and individuals alike. Rickards draws on historical case studies, monetary theory, and personal experience as an investor to argue that:

• The next financial collapse will be exponentially bigger than the panic of 2008.
• The time will come, sooner rather than later, when there will be panic buying and only central banks, hedge funds, and other big players will be able to buy any gold at all.
• It’s not too late to prepare ourselves as a nation: there’s always enough gold for a gold standard if we specify a stable, nondeflationary price.

Providing clear instructions on how much gold to buy and where to store it, the short, provocative argu­ment in this book will change the way you look at this “barbarous relic”

In the early 2000s, Chinese demand for imported commodities ballooned as the country continued its breakneck economic growth. Simultaneously, global markets in metals and fuels experienced a boom of unprecedented extent and duration. Meanwhile, resource-rich states in the Global South from Argentina to Angola began to advance a range of new development strategies, breaking away from the economic orthodoxies to which they had long appeared tied. In China's Wake reveals the surprising connections among these three phenomena. Nicholas Jepson shows how Chinese demand not only transformed commodity markets but also provided resource-rich states with the financial leeway to set their own policy agendas, insulated from the constraints and pressures of capital markets and multilateral creditors such as the International Monetary Fund. He combines analysis of China-led structural change with fine-grained detail on how the boom played out across fifteen different resource-rich countries. Jepson identifies five types of response to boom conditions among resource exporters, each one corresponding to a particular pattern of domestic social and political dynamics. Three of these represent fundamental breaks with dominant liberal orthodoxy-and would have been infeasible without spiraling Chinese demand. Jepson also examines the end of the boom and its consequences, as well as the possible implications of future China-driven upheavals. Combining a novel theoretical approach with detailed empirical analysis at national and global scales, In China's Wake is an important contribution to global political economy and international development studies.

Want to take the financial journey to a new investing philosophy that might very well affect the rest of your moneymaking life? No one can guarantee the yellow brick road, but Michael Covel promises the red pill will leave you wide freaking awake. Trend Following reveals the truth about a trading strategy that makes money in up, down and surprise markets. By applying straightforward and repeatable rules, anyone can learn to make money in the markets whether bull, bear, or black swan by following the trend to the end when it bends. In this timely reboot of his bestselling classic, Michael Covel dives headfirst into trend following strategy to examine the risks, benefits, people, and systems. You ll hear from traders who have made millions by following trends, and learn from their successes and mistakes insights only here. You ll learn the trend philosophy, and how it has performed in booms, bubbles, panics and crashes. Using incontrovertible data and overwhelming supporting evidence, with a direct connection to the foundations of behavioral finance, Covel takes you inside the core principles of trend following and shows everyone, from brand new trader to professional, how alpha gets pulled from the market. Covel s newest edition has been revised and extended, with 7 brand new interviews and research proof from his one of kind network. This is trend following for today s generation. If you re looking to go beyond passive index funds and trusting the Fed, this cutting edge classic holds the keys to a weatherproof portfolio. * Meet great trend followers learning their rules and philosophy of the game * Examine data to see how trend following excels when the you-know-what hits the fan * Understand trend trading, from behavioral economics to rules based decision-making to its lambasting of the efficient markets theory * Compare trend trading systems to do it yourself or invest with a trend fund Trend following is not prediction, passive index investing, buy and hope or any form of fundamental analysis. It utilizes concrete rules, or heuristics, to profit from a behavioral perspective. Trend Following is clear-cut, straightforward and evidence-based and will secure your financial future in bull, bear and black swan markets. If you re finally ready to profit in the markets, Trend Following is the definitive treatise for a complex world in constant chaos.

Emerging markets have received a particular attention of academic researchers and practitioners since they decided to open their domestic capital markets to foreign participants about three decades ago. At the same time, we remark that theoretical and empirical research in emerging stock markets has been particularly challenged by their fast changes in nature and size under the effects of financial liberalization and reforms. This evolving feature has particularly led to a commensurate increase in sophistication of modeling techniques used for understanding financial markets. In this spirit, the book aims at providing the audience a comprehensive understanding of emerging stock markets in various aspects using modern financial econometric methods. It addresses the empirical techniques needed by economic agents to analyze the dynamics of these markets and illustrates how they can be applied to the actual data. On the other hand, it presents and discusses new research findings and their implications.

More than 50 developing countries depend on three or fewer commodities for more than half of their exports and, in fact, many rely on a single commodity for a large share of export earnings. This reliance inevitability exposes countries to the risk of export earnings instability as a result of price shocks and, perhaps even more significantly, the falling purchasing power of exports over the long run due to declining real prices. Presenting for the first time a complete analysis of the issues surrounding commodity prices and development, this book is the culmination of three years of research commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat to look at various aspects of commodity prices.
The problems faced by commodity dependent developing countries are formidable. Although diversification is the most appropriate response to the problem of the secular decline in commodity prices, long-term transformation in the economy can be a slow process and its success will depend on a host of factors such as the development of human resources, institutional capacity building, poverty alleviation, and appropriate domestic policy and environment. By granting increased aid flows and debt relief, and providing assistance to encourage production of non-traditional export items, the international community can play a proactive role in the development of the commodity dependent poor countries. Only concerted efforts both at the domestic fronts of these countries and via co-operation extended by the international community can help mitigate the problems of the world's most vulnerable economies.

"This is the book on porcelain we have been waiting for. . . . A remarkable achievement."-Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes A sweeping cultural and economic history of porcelain, from the eighteenth century to the present Porcelain was invented in medieval China-but its secret recipe was first reproduced in Europe by an alchemist in the employ of the Saxon king Augustus the Strong. Saxony's revered Meissen factory could not keep porcelain's ingredients secret for long, however, and scores of Holy Roman princes quickly founded their own mercantile manufactories, soon to be rivaled by private entrepreneurs, eager to make not art but profits. As porcelain's uses multiplied and its price plummeted, it lost much of its identity as aristocratic ornament, instead taking on a vast number of banal, yet even more culturally significant, roles. By the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it became essential to bourgeois dining, and also acquired new functions in insulator tubes, shell casings, and teeth. Weaving together the experiences of entrepreneurs and artisans, state bureaucrats and female consumers, chemists and peddlers, Porcelain traces the remarkable story of "white gold" from its origins as a princely luxury item to its fate in Germany's cataclysmic twentieth century. For three hundred years, porcelain firms have come and gone, but the industry itself, at least until very recently, has endured. After Augustus, porcelain became a quintessentially German commodity, integral to provincial pride, artisanal industrial production, and a familial sense of home. Telling the story of porcelain's transformation from coveted luxury to household necessity and flea market staple, Porcelain offers a fascinating alternative history of art, business, taste, and consumption in Central Europe.

Very few books published so far have touched upon commodity finance and fewer still have provided a systematic explanation and analysis of the subject. It is however a subject that is relevant throughout almost every corner of the world From food to gold, commodities are ubiquitious. In this book, Dr. W. Huang, a practitioner and a trainer, covers commodities, commodity markets, commodity trade and the finance of commodity trade. As such, practitioners such as bankers and traders in commodity finance, and those institutions operating in this field, or planning to be active in this field, will all benefit from this book. This revised and updated second edition is a hands-on summary of commodity finance, with a special chapter dedicated to real-life case studies of commodity finance. Topics covered include: - High-level overview of commodity trade and finance. - The three major sectors of commodity finance: soft commodities, hard commodities and energy - Commodity finance and emerging markets, as most commodity export countries are emerging markets countries. - The special mechanisms and products of commodity finance, from plain vanilla products to more complicated structures. The concept of Supply Chain Finance is also covered in detail. - Bank and country risk. - Risk management principles, with practical case studies. - The organization of a typical commodity finance bank. The key benefits of the book are: For bankers - how to do business and what risks should be watched for? For traders, brokers and institutional investors - how commodity finance is done and what bank instruments can be used. For students - how is commodity finance handled and developed by banks? Each chapter can be read independently. The content has been reviewed by both experts and newcomers, incorporating their comments on style and content, to ensure it is as useful and clear as possible.

A Handy Road Map To Making Moneyin The Commodities Market

Getting Started In Commodities

"Having already proven his success as an options strategist and expert trader, George Fontanills reveals that he actually made his start in the world of commodities and futures, and presents a book that is easily digested by the novice trader yet still holds value for experienced traders. Fontanills applies the same reason and logic that has given his options analysis its distinctive edge, covering diverse topics in relation to commodities such as futures, ETFs, and fundamental and technical analysis. Pay particular attention to the distinctive risk management approach that has become his trademark."
--John-Paul Drysdale, CEO, HUBB Financial Group

"George Fontanills brings an options guru's spin to the commodities markets. This kind of 'risk managed' perspective makes this book a must-read for any commodities trader."
--Alex Jacobson, Vice President of Education, International Securities Exchange

"Since futures are a leveraged investment, it's critical to understand the risks and rewards of trading these instruments. George Fontanills applies his risk management philosophy in this must-read book for individual investors who are interested in participating in the commodities markets."
--Christopher Larkin, Vice President, E*TRADE Securities

This book is an invaluable resource of hedging case studies and examples, explaining with clarity and coherence how various instruments - such as futures and options - are used in different market scenarios to contain, control and eliminate price risk exposure. Its core objective is to elucidate hedging transactions and provide a systematic, comprehensive view on hedge performance. When it comes to hedge strategies specifically, great effort has been employed to create new instruments and concepts that will prove to be superior to classic methods and interpretations. The concept of hedge patterns - introduced here - proves it is possible to tabulate a hedging strategy and interpret its use with diagrams, so each example is shown visually with the result of radical clarity. A compelling visual pattern is also attached to each case study to give you the ability to compare different solutions and apply a best-fit hedging strategy in real-world situations. A diverse range of hedging transactions showing the ultimate payoff profiles and performance metrics are included.These have been designed to achieve the ultimate goal - to convey the necessary skills to allow business and risk management teams to develop proper hedging mechanisms and apply them in practice.

This book will present a comprehensive view of the risk characteristics, risk-adjusted performances, and risk exposures of various hedge fund indices. It will distinguish itself from other books and journal articles by focusing solely on hedge fund indices and emphasizing tail risk as a predictor of hedge fund index returns. The three chapters in this short book have not been previously published.
Presents new insights about the investability and performance measurement of an investor s final portfolio

Uses most recently developed investable hedge fund indexes to revise previous analyses of indexes

Focuses on 14 distinct types of hedge fund indices with daily data from January 1994 to December 2011 "

This book is the first to draw together the numerous different regulations which affect how commodities are traded in the EU. Having long been a largely deregulated industry, intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the global financial crisis has left commodities trading subject to a raft of harmonized regulations, many of which have yet to be finalized. Regulation of both the physical and the financial commodities markets is undergoing significant change and participants and their advisors are struggling to understand the changes in each jurisdiction as well as the cross-border implications. The book pulls together these various pieces of EU legislation and examines how they influence the way that commodities are traded in Europe. It also provides coverage of regulation at domestic level in key jurisdictions active in the marketplace, namely the UK, USA, Switzerland, and Singapore. Divided into eight sections, the book includes analysis of the commodities trading houses (including their motives and methods), the main trading venues, trading practices, and potential illicit practices and market abuses. Each section has a detailed transnational component in which the position in each specific jurisdiction is explained, drawing parallels and setting out the differences between these countries. This extremely topical publication is an essential reference work for all those advising on or researching the increasingly complex and globalized field of commodities trading.