This book is about five separate papers written on a college level or above concerning selected Economic and Political issues of the past Century. The Paper on Options which starts the book may be relevant to today's financial markets. The other papers center on political subjects of American Politics.

This book explores the integrity of equity markets, addressing such issues as the exchange vs. customer perspective on price discovery and the ways market participants deal with key regulatory concerns. Do market practitioners pass the integrity test? How does "market integrity" play out globally? What is the overall veracity of the marketplace? These are some of the key questions considered in this volume from the viewpoints of traders, economists, financial market strategists and exchange representative. Titled after the Baruch College Financial Markets Conference, Market Integrity: Do Our Equity Markets Pass the Test?, this book is of interest to market practitioners, trading professionals, academics and students in the field of financial markets. The Zicklin School of Business Financial Markets Series presents the insights emerging from a sequence of conferences hosted by the Zicklin School at Baruch College for industry professionals, regulators and scholars. Much more than historical documents, the transcripts from the conferences are edited for clarity, perspective and context; material and comments from subsequent interviews with the panelists and speakers are integrated for a complete thematic presentation. Each book is focused on a well-delineated topic, but all deliver broader insights into the quality and efficiency of the U.S. equity markets and the dynamic forces changing them.

This book offers a look at equity markets and what they have experienced since the 1997 Order Handling Rules were instituted. Specifically, it examines the tremendous technology innovation, intensified competition between an expanding set of alternative trading venues, and continuing regulatory changes that have occurred. Who have been the key initiators? How has market quality evolved over this period in response? What further structural and regulatory changes are still needed? These are among the key questions addressed in the volume, titled after the Baruch College Financial Markets Conference entitled Rapidly Changing Securities Markets: Who are the Initiators? The Zicklin School of Business Financial Markets Series presents the insights emerging from a sequence of conferences hosted by the Zicklin School at Baruch College for industry professionals, regulators, and scholars. Much more than historical documents, the transcripts from the conferences are edited for clarity, perspective and context; material and comments from subsequent interviews with the panelists and speakers are integrated for a complete thematic presentation. Each book is focused on a well delineated topic, but all deliver broader insights into the quality and efficiency of the U.S. equity markets and the dynamic forces changing them.

Since their explosion in the mid-1990s, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have turned into a global phenomenon with growing prevalence. A large number of theoretical and empirical studies focus on cross-border deals from several perspectives, such as motives, strategic issues, and performance. Most books treat these studies as specific characteristics of M&As, paying little attention to the distinctive elements that differentiate them from domestic operations. In short, there is now a real need for a fresh review and categorization of cross-border deals. Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions is the first book to provide readers with a complete guide to understanding the main concepts, theories, and results driving cross-border M&As. Morresi and Pezzi present an original framework that ties together the growing body of theoretical and empirical studies on the topic. This work describes the relevance of the phenomenon in terms of its economical, geographical, and historical impact, and analyzes the market- and accounting-based performance of cross-border deals.

An updated revisting of the themes of Robin Marris' classic The Economic Theory of Managerial Capitalism (1964). This was widely recognised as pathbreaking as it was the first attempt by a professional economist to make a formal theory of the behaviour and growth of a large-scale 'managerial' corporation based on a realistic assessment of the sociological and institutional environment. The model determined the long-run growth rates of individual firms on the basis of the financial and market environment on the one hand and the needs, interest and aspirations of both managers and shareholders on the other. Managers in particular were shown to trade desire for growth against fear of takeover. These then novel important features of modern capitalism - mergers, takeovers and executive bonuses and the relationship between the growth of firms and the growth of the economy - have become increasingly topical. The book contains the original introduction along with reworked and updated coverage of the theoretical model, along with completely new chapters both of micro-theory and Marris' substantive response to the debate which the original book created.

The 2007-2009 financial crisis has had a worldwide impact on banks and financial systems. It has also brought about major changes in Europe's financial regulatory framework which could lead to financing problems for SMEs. The book explores the restructuring process of banking and financial systems to its impact on the financing of SMEs.

This book focuses on the analysis of financial data and innovative results of Zhongguancun NEEQ listed Firms, and objectively evaluates the growth ability of them. The book displays the overall scale, growth capacity, industry distribution, social contribution, policy subsidies, and comparison with other regions of NEEQ listed Firms in Zhongguancun from multiple dimensions, aiming at objectively presenting the growth characteristics and development status of them. Whether you're a global investor, an economic researcher, or ordinary people, this book provides an important way to understand China's scientific and technological innovation achievements and Zhongguancun outstanding enterprises.

An in-depth guide to divestiture for financial and corporate planning executives, this volume offers comprehensive information about divestiture strategies, the rationale for divestiture, the effects on employees and other corporate stakeholders, and the internal management problems that can accompany divestiture proposal and implementation. In addition, the author offers full coverage of the various divestiture techniques including direct sale, spin-offs, employee stock option plans, and leveraged buy-outs. Schmidt demonstrates that divestiture is often the best solution for a corporation faced with the need to raise cash, dispose of properties that do not fit with the firM's overall strategic plan, or remain competitive in today's global markets.

This volume offers an in-depth guide to one technique-- divestiture--which is increasingly a component of financial restructuring plans. Written for the financial and corporate planning executives who must recommend or direct divestiture operations, the book offers comprehensive information about divestiture strategies, the rationale for divestiture, the effects on employees and other corporate stakeholders, and the internal management problems that can accompany divestiture proposal and implementation. In addition, the author offers full coverage of the various divestiture techniques including direct sale, spin-offs, Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs) and Leveraged Buy-Outs (LBOs). Schmidt demonstrates that divestiture is often the best solution for a corporation faced with the need to raise cash, dispose of properties that do not fit with the firM's overall strategic plan or show unsatisfactory returns, or remain competitive in today's global markets. His book will be an important resource for anyone involved in the divestiture decisionmaking process.

Schmidt begins by tracing the major acquisition and divestiture activity of the past 30 years. He identifies the business environmental changes and regulatory actions that have fueled the current high level of divestiture activity, examines the political environment of divestiture, and explores the relationship between international expansion and divestiture. Turning to a discussion of the divestiture decision itself, Schmidt addresses such issues as divestiture segment valuation, the effects of divestiture on resources, the managerial implications and the psychological effects of divestiture. Subsequent chapters analyze the considerations that must be taken into account in any divestiture decision and present specific divestiture techniques. In his concluding chapter, Schmidt looks at future trends in corporate divestiture.

"This book analyses privatisation in Ireland, a European economy that has experienced rapidly changing fortunes over the last 30 years. It examines the effects of privatisation in terms of corporate performance, public finances and the distributional aspects of privatisation including the impact on employment and share ownership"--

Sustainable development is necessary to counteract and mitigate the impact of socially harmful forces in a globalized world. However, sustainable development and its organizations must ensure the effective management of their funds and beneficial financial frameworks in order to best realize their sustainable goals. There is a need for studies that seek to understand how to connect sustainable development and the financial world in order to maximize the economic and environmental wellbeing of the world. Social, Economic, and Environmental Impacts Between Sustainable Financial Systems and Financial Markets is a pivotal reference source that examines the funding and monetary utilization of environmental and socially-responsible entities. Featuring research on topics such as green taxes, intergenerational equity, and shadow economy, this book is ideally designed for government officials, policymakers, economists, financial managers, sustainability developers, and academicians seeking current research on the relationship between new sustainable financial phenomena and negative global externalities.

Assuming little or no background knowledge and using original examples and exercises (with answers supplied), Understanding Phonetics provides you with an accessible introduction to the basics of phonetics and a comprehensive analysis of traditional phonetic theory - the articulation and physical characteristics of speech sounds. Examples from a wide range of languages are presented throughout using symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet. To help you develop your skills in this alphabet, Understanding Phonetics includes ear-training exercises that are freely available online, along with audio files of authentic listening material, for you to download from www.routledge.com/cw/ashby. Understanding Phonetics outlines the production of consonants, vowels, phonation types, pitch and intonation, and aspects of connected speech. Reading through chapter by chapter, you will see your knowledge develop as you engage in the step-by-step phonetic study of a selected word. Understanding Phonetics is designed to be used not only as a class textbook but also for self-study. It can be read systematically or used for reference purposes.

The political and social predicates that make the large firm possible and that shape its form are not always taken into account, despite the fact that variation in the political and social environment can deeply affect which firms, which ownership structures, and which governance arrangements survive and prosper. Focusing on the US, the larger nations in continental Europe, and Japan, Mark Roe uses statistical and qualitative analyses to explore the relationship between politics, history, and business organization.

The workforce is considered to be the lifeblood within many major corporations. The ability of management to effectively utilize the knowledge and skills of their workforce is essential in ensuring the success of their corporations. Harnessing Human Capital Analytics for Competitive Advantage is a critical scholarly publication that explores the influence that workforce knowledge and skills can have on the performance of corporations and how such skills can be used to promote the success of corporations. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics including employee happiness, mind genomics, and e-commerce adoption, this book is geared toward managers, professionals, and practitioners seeking current research on the advantage of utilizing workforce knowledge and skills to promote corporate success.

This is the second of a two-part guide to quantitative analysis using the IBM SPSS Statistics software package; this volume focuses on multivariate statistical methods and advanced forecasting techniques. More often than not, regression models involve more than one independent variable. For example, forecasting methods are commonly applied to aggregates such as inflation rates, unemployment, exchange rates, etc., that have complex relationships with determining variables. This book introduces multivariate regression models and provides examples to help understand theory underpinning the model. The book presents the fundamentals of multivariate regression and then moves on to examine several related techniques that have application in business-orientated fields such as logistic and multinomial regression. Forecasting tools such as the Box-Jenkins approach to time series modeling are introduced, as well as exponential smoothing and naive techniques. This part also covers hot topics such as Factor Analysis, Discriminant Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling (MDS).

This book presents selected papers on the factors that serve to influence an individual's capacity in financial decision-making. Initial chapters provide an overview of the cognitive factors affecting financial decisions and suggest a link between limited cognitive capacity and the need for financial education. The book then expands on these cognitive limitations to explore the tendency for overconfidence in decision-making and the interplay between rational and irrational factors. Later contributions show how credit card companies benefit from limitations in consumer financial literacy, how gender and cognition intersect to play an important role in financial decision-making, and how to improve financial capacity through financial literacy and education campaigns, including those addressing developed marketplaces. This comprehensive collection of papers will be of value to all readers who seek to better understand the multi-factorial and complex nature of personal financial management in today's economic climate.

This book focuses on political connections in the United States. It contributes to the literature on the link between politics and business, and on the impact of political connections on firm value, by considering industry-level regulation as a discriminating factor in the investigation of firm value creation. Overall, the findings are consistent with the view that industry-level regulation matters.

This volume presents current developments in the fields of banking and finance from an international perspective. Featuring contributions from the 2nd International Conference on Banking and Finance Perspectives (ICBFP), this volume serves as a valuable forum for discussing current issues and trends in the banking and financial sectors, especially in light of the global economic challenges triggered by financial institutions. Using the latest theoretical models, new perspectives are brought to topics such as e-finance and e-banking, Islamic banking, international cross-border regulatory cooperation, bank fraud, the global financial crisis, microfinance, and corporate control transactions. Offering an opportunity to explore the challenges of a rapidly changing industry, this volume will be of interest to academics, policy makers, and scholars in the fields of banking, insurance, and finance.

This book is the first in a series on Chinese management based on the Global Chinese Management Conferences (from 2015 to 2017), an annual conference organized by the Sun Tzu Art of War Institute. The first volume is by FOO Check Teck, professor at Fudan and Hunan University and founding editor of Chinese Management Studies (SSCI), who encourages readers to broaden their minds to embrace the Universe as a Community. The book argues that the lives of all beings are worth preserving and urges the academic community to recognize the ideologies at heart of management and to see research as a deep, reflective thinking process that goes far beyond the testing of hypotheses - great works, lasting 2,500 years are the result of deep reflection upon experiences. It also calls for the re-framing of management integration of a variety of ideological strands, typically in topics in MBA or MPA programs: earnings, mobility of human capital, complex adaptive systems, HRM (in small high-tech firms), technology standardization, Xin (trust: labor relations), multi-leveling, re-forming (hospitals), He-Xie (doctoral work), upgrading (automobile industry). The major consequential consideration must be what it means for people.

Where institutions and individuals averagely invest the majority of their assets in money-market and fixed-income instruments, interest rate risk management could be seen as the single most important global financial issue. However, the majority of the key techniques used by most investors were developed several decades ago, and the advantages of multi-factor models are not fully recognised by many researchers and practitioners. This book provides clear and practical insight into bond portfolios and portfolio management through key empirical analysis. The authors use extensive sets of empirical data to describe the value potentially added by more recent techniques to manage interest rate risk relative to traditional techniques and to present empirical evidence of such an added value. Beginning with a description of the simplest models and moving on to the most complex, the authors offer key recommendations for the future of rate risk management.

With an insider's view of the mind of the master, Mary Buffett and David Clark have written a simple guide for reading financial statements from Buffett's successful perspective. They clearly outline Warren Buffett's strategies in a way that will appeal to newcomers and seasoned Buffettologists alike. Inspired by the seminal work of Buffett's mentor, Benjamin Graham, this book presents Buffett's interpretation of financial statements with anecdotes and quotes from the master investor himself. Destined to become a classic in the world of investment books, Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements is the perfect companion volume to The New Buffettology and The Tao of Warren Buffett.

This book highlights research-based case studies in order to analyze the wealth created in the world's largest mergers and acquisitions (M&A). This book encourages cross fertilization in theory building and applied research by examining the links between M&A and wealth creation. Each chapter covers a specific case and offers a focused clinical examination of the entire lifecycle of M&A for each mega deal, exploring all aspects of the process. The success of M&A are analyzed through two main research approaches: event studies and financial performance analyses. The event studies examine the abnormal returns to the shareholders in the period surrounding the merger announcement. The financial performance studies examine the reported financial results of acquirers before and after the acquisition to see whether financial performance has improved after merger. The relation between method of payment, premium paid and stock returns are examined. The chapters also discuss synergies of the deal-cost and revenue synergies. Mergers and acquisitions represent a major force in modern financial and economic environment. Whether in times of boom or bust, M&As have emerged as a compelling strategy for growth. The biggest companies of modern day have all taken form through a series of restructuring activities like multiple mergers. Acquisitions continue to remain as the quickest route companies take to operate in new markets and to add new capabilities and resources. The cases covered in this book highlights high profile M&As and focuses on the wealth creation for shareholders of acquirer and target firms as a financial assessment of the merger's success. The book should be useful for finance professionals, corporate planners, strategists, and managers.

In today's increasingly litigious climate, corporate directors can be held personally liable for the financial misconduct of corporate employees. In this comprehensive volume, Fertakis provides the practical information corporate board members need to correctly interpret the financial data and operating statements presented to them for review and approval. Written in a style accessible to directors who are not financial specialists, the book shows how to spot clues in financial statements to potentially serious underlying problems, how to evaluate and understand financial presentations, and how to obtain an accurate picture of a company's financial affairs.

The industrial development of emerging markets has been a powerful driver for mergers and acquisitions. The contributions collected in this book assess major M&A deals in the largest emerging capital markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and their role in shareholder value creation in the markets' specific business environments. In addition, the book explores various dimensions of M&A deals in order to summarize the main trends in corporate control markets in the largest emerging countries, and how they differ from those in developed countries; to identify deal-performance relationships and the determinants of success or failure; to reveal the drivers for the premium in M&A deals; and to capture market responses to different M&A strategies. By doing so, the book makes a significant contribution to the literature, which has to date largely focused on developed markets.