The complex relations between money, human life, and death form the central themes of Morals and Markets. The process of monetarizing life remains a perplexing phenomenon. With lively detail Zelizer chronicles the fascinating development in the second half of the nineteenth century of the life insurance industry in the United States--one of the most unusual tales in the history of American business. This book portrays the controversial origins of the life insurance industry, which was once widely condemned and denounced by newspapers and religious leaders as sacrilegious and immoral.

Since the first edition of The Financial Times Guide to ETFs was published in 2009, the number of ETFs in issue has doubled and ETFs are now common both on investor platforms and increasingly amongst financial advisors. This massive increase in demand has highlighted an urgent debate - just how dangerous are ETFs and how much do investors and advisers understand about the structure of the index tracker? The second edition of this book attempts to answer this debate and is the indispensable bible on trackers for professional advisers and serious private investors. This new edition also features a chapter based around the theme of Due Diligence and a new chapter on How to use ETFs and Index Funds for theLong-term, as well as a new Jargon busting section and a-new appendix looking at new ideas beginning to emerge.

This book provides an up-to-date overview of the development of the German financial system, with a particular focus on financialization and the financial crisis, topics that have increasingly gained attention since the crisis and the discussion on the secular stagnation started. The authors of the book-economists who have conducted extensive research in this area-offer a perspective on the financial system in the context of its importance for the overall economic system. The book not only provides detailed insights into Germany's financial system; it also takes a broader perspective on finance and connects it with current macroeconomic developments in Germany.

Explains arbitrage, hedging, and speculation from the standpoint of a participant in the foreign exchange market--whether an individual trader or an institutional trader--who possesses analytical skill, economically sound judgment, and who has access to market data. In the foreign exchange market, arbitrage involves the simultaneous purchase and sale of a currency in different markets; the profit comes from the difference in the buying and selling prices. Hedging and speculation are opposing strategies for dealing with risk; hedging is a cover, and speculation is an assumption of risk. Authors also discuss futures, swaps, forward contracts, and other strategies. For financial scholars, students, analysts, and currency traders.

A global banking risk management guide geared toward the practitioner Financial Risk Management presents an in-depth look at banking risk on a global scale, including comprehensive examination of the U.S. Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, and the European Banking Authority stress tests. Written by the leaders of global banking risk products and management at SAS, this book provides the most up-to-date information and expert insight into real risk management. The discussion begins with an overview of methods for computing and managing a variety of risk, then moves into a review of the economic foundation of modern risk management and the growing importance of model risk management. Market risk, portfolio credit risk, counterparty credit risk, liquidity risk, profitability analysis, stress testing, and others are dissected and examined, arming you with the strategies you need to construct a robust risk management system. The book takes readers through a journey from basic market risk analysis to major recent advances in all financial risk disciplines seen in the banking industry. The quantitative methodologies are developed with ample business case discussions and examples illustrating how they are used in practice. Chapters devoted to firmwide risk and stress testing cross reference the different methodologies developed for the specific risk areas and explain how they work together at firmwide level. Since risk regulations have driven a lot of the recent practices, the book also relates to the current global regulations in the financial risk areas. Risk management is one of the fastest growing segments of the banking industry, fueled by banks' fundamental intermediary role in the global economy and the industry's profit-driven increase in risk-seeking behavior. This book is the product of the authors' experience in developing and implementing risk analytics in banks around the globe, giving you a comprehensive, quantitative-oriented risk management guide specifically for the practitioner. * Compute and manage market, credit, asset, and liability risk * Perform macroeconomic stress testing and act on the results * Get up to date on regulatory practices and model risk management * Examine the structure and construction of financial risk systems * Delve into funds transfer pricing, profitability analysis, and more Quantitative capability is increasing with lightning speed, both methodologically and technologically. Risk professionals must keep pace with the changes, and exploit every tool at their disposal. Financial Risk Management is the practitioner's guide to anticipating, mitigating, and preventing risk in the modern banking industry.

Go inside the trend that spawned a multi-billion dollar industry for the top five percent Sweat Equity goes inside the multibillion dollar trend toward endurance sports and fitness to discover who's driving it, who's paying for it, and who's profiting. Bloomberg's Jason Kelly, author of The New Tycoons, profiles the participants, entrepreneurs, and investors at the center of this movement, exploring this phenomenon in which a surge of people led by the most affluent are becoming increasingly obsessed with looking and feeling better. Through in-depth looks inside companies and events from New York Road Runners to Tough Mudder and Ironman, Kelly profiles the companies and people aiming to meet the demands of these consumers, and the traits and strategies that made them so successful. In a modern world filled with anxiety, pressure, and competition, people are spending more time and money than ever before to soothe their minds and tone their bodies, sometimes pushing themselves to the most extreme limits. Even as obesity rates hit an all-time high, the most financially successful among us are collectively spending billions each year on apparel, gear, and entry fees. Sweat Equity charts the rise of the movement, through the eyes of competitors and the companies that serve them. Through conversations with businesspeople, many driven by their own fitness obsessions, and first-hand accounts of the sports themselves, Kelly delves into how the movement is taking shape. * Understand the social science, physics, and economics of our desire to pursue activities like endurance sports and yoga * Get to know the endurance business's target demographics * Learn how distance running once a fringe hobby became a multibillion dollar enterprise fueled by private equity * Understand how different generations pursue fitness and how fast-growing companies sell to them The opportunity to run, swim, and crawl in the mud is resonating with more and more of us, as sports once considered extreme become mainstream. As Baby Boomers seek to stay fit and Millennials search for meaning in a hyperconnected world, the demand for the race bib is outstripping supply, even as the cost to participate escalates. Sweat Equity, through the stories of men and women inside the most influential races and companies, goes to the heart of the movement where mind, body, and big money collide.

As the world is entering possibly the deepest recession since the 1980s, many organizations realize they should have prepared better for tough times. Thus, there is increased interest in the concept of the high-performance organization (HPO). The HPO is defined as "an organization that achieves financial and non-financial results that are exceedingly better than those of its peer group over a period of five years or more, by focusing in a disciplined way on that what really matters to the organization." Core to the HPO idea is to create such a strong internal organization that it can easily and flexibly deal with both threats and opportunities presented by the outside world. This can only be effectively achieved when all parts of the organization contribute to creating and sustaining the HPO. This means that all departments, functions, business units, and divisions must transform themselves into high-performance entities. Among the most important support functions of every organization is the finance function. The term "finance function" refers to all financial processes in an organization. The professionals responsible for financial processes usually work in the finance department but can also operate in other parts of the organization, for instance as business unit controllers. The finance function can be regarded as the spider in the organizational web, as it has relations with every part of the organization and is also represented on the executive board. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that this function takes the lead by quickly transforming itself into a high-performance finance function (HPFF), serving as a role model for other functions in the organization. An HPFF is defined as "a function that supports the organization to become and remain an HPO by ensuring that its people, processes, and systems are of the highest quality." The key question however is how an HPFF can be created. This book not only describes the development of the HPFF framework (which is based on a large literature review of current trends in finance functions and a survey among financial professionals) but also explores the experiences, lessons learned and results achieved by finance functions that have transformed themselves into "HPFFs" or high performance finance functions using the HPFF framework. The book's experiences will be abundantly illustrated by real-life case studies from finance functions from multinational and other profit companies, and governmental organizations. With this book finance professionals have a roadmap to convince the organization of the importance of becoming an HPFF. The main audience for this book is the financial professional who wants to think about and build - together with fellow financial professionals - a high performance financial function. So a financial professional who dares to dream of a better financial function, and who wants to contribute to the further development of that function. A financial person who feels that ""control"" and ""compliance"" alone are not sufficient to excel - that more must be done for that.

Macroeconomics of Climate Change in a Dualistic Economy: A Regional General Equilibrium Analysis generates significant, genuinely novel insights about dual economies and sustainable economic growth. These insights are generalize-able and applicable worldwide. The authors overcome existing limitations in general equilibrium modeling. By concentrating on tensions between green growth and dualism, they consider the global efforts against climate change and opposition by specific countries based on economic development needs. Using Turkey as their primary example, they address these two most discussed and difficult issues related to policy setting, blazing a path for those seeking an applied economic research framework to study such economic considerations.

This book presents startling evidence that state monopolies can produce better outcomes than the free market. It provides an empirical comparison of the property insurance market in five European countries: Britain, Spain, France, Switzerland, and Germany. The market and cost structures of insurers in each country are described, and particular features of each market and the outcomes for customers examined. The regulatory frameworks vary widely from country to country and so do the market outcomes, both in terms of premium level and in terms of available insurance cover. In view of the increase in major floods and other forms of natural damage (such as subsidence) over the last decades, the non-availability of insurance cover in many competitive insurance systems is likely to become a major political issue. This book shows that state monopoly is an adequate policy response. Competitive insurance systems are shown to provide incomplete cover at a substantially higher cost. In mixed systems, where the private sector can obtain reinsurance from the state (such a system is being tried in France) the state tends to end up paying most of the costs (it reinsures most of the bad risks) while the private insurance companies keep most of the premium income. The book will be of interest to academic economists interested in privatization, regulation, the theory of the firm, and insurance; Policy-makers concerned with regulation and privatization; Insurance companies, regulators, and analysts.

Congress uses the tax laws to encourage or discourage certain behaviors, and to steer the economy. Their tax incentives (or strategies) encourage conservation, economic development, charitable giving, retirement savings, real estate development, and more. That

When taxes are introduced on carbon and energy, and the revenue is used to reduce other taxes, will a positive effect be achieved both for the environment and for the economy? In 1990 Finland was the first country to introduce a tax on CO2. Later, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Slovenia, Germany and the UK followed suit with tax reforms that shifted taxation from labour to carbon and energy. Over the years, CO {2} and energy taxes have gradually been raised, so that in Europe taxes of more than 25 billion Euros a year have been shifted.
This book examines carbon-energy taxation in detail and looks at tax shifting programmes for lowering other taxes. It offers extensive analysis on the basis of historical data and seeks to answer important questions for policy-making, such as: What was the impact of tax shifting for economic performance and competitiveness? By how much were emissions of CO {2} reduced? Could energy-intensive industries cut further down on their fuel demand or did they loose market shares? To what extent was there "leakage" from Europe, so that production and CO {2} emissions were shifted to other countries or regions without CO {2} -abatement policy? The use of unique and original data, including sector-specific energy prices and taxes, as well as the use of advanced statistical techniques, such as co-integration analysis and panel-regression techniques along with the time-series estimated macro-economic model E3ME, make this a truly comprehensive volume.
On the basis of the lessons learned in Europe, this volume indicates how carbon-energy taxation could usefully be combined with emissions trading, and discusses implications for future international climate policy, including how the IPCC recommendations for a gradual escalation in carbon price could be accomplished while preventing carbon leakage.

Financial markets around the world can affect each other in a matter of seconds as financial information systems are programmed to buy or sell stocks and financial derivatives automatically when activated by sudden changes in global market trends and conditions. Information Systems for Global Financial Markets: Emerging Developments and Effects offers focused research on the systems and technologies that provide intelligence and expertise to traders and investors and facilitate the agile ordering processes, networking, and regulation of global financial electronic markets. How these systems work to manipulate, move, and provide intelligence to the stock market is still a mystery to many students, and it is the intent of this book to provide real-world cases and examples that can unveil these systems to business students interested in financial trading, the dynamics of financial electronic markets, and the tactical technologies that facilitate the trading process and trading decisions.

Beginning in the 1860s, the Russian Empire replaced a poll tax system that originated with Peter the Great with a modern system of income and excise taxes. Russia began a transformation of state fiscal power that was also underway across Western Europe and North America. States of Obligation is the first sustained study of the Russian taxation system, the first to study its European and transatlantic context, and the first to expose the essential continuities between the fiscal practices of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

Using a wealth of materials from provincial and local archives across Russia, Yanni Kotsonis examines how taxation was simultaneously a revenue-raising and a state-building tool, a claim on the person and a way to produce a new kind of citizenship. During successive political, wartime, and revolutionary crises between 1855 and 1928, state fiscal power was used to forge social and financial unity and fairness and a direct relationship with individual Russians. State power eventually overwhelmed both the private sector economy and the fragile realm of personal privacy. States of Obligation is at once a study in Russian economic history and a reflection on the modern state and the modern citizen.

This book presents interviews with 20 successful Malaysian housing developers, to provide real-world insights and practical know-how for future developers. It is designed in a way that reveals the secrets of successful developers, from their origins to their current status with the interviews conducted in a semi-structured manner so that the interviewees were able to freely share their experiences, thoughts, opinions and tips acquired throughout their business careers. Covering the developers' success stories, from their background, educational history and personal traits to their business challenges and achievements, it appeals to academics and practitioners alike.

Over the years we ve seen many changes in the real estate landscape. New business models, mergers and acquisitions on a grand scale have all had an impact, I m sure, but not so much from where I work. I am a Realtor(r). I am a streetfighter.
Real estate, like politics, is all local. While it s important to work with the very best company, my success depends almost exclusively on what my team and I do every day working the streets of our market. The mergers and acquisitions in real estate don t have much affect on those working the business at ground level. The real estate wars are won in the streets by the individual Realtor(r), the small real estate team and the local branch office or boutique company.
This book is written from the perspective of the basic DNA building blocks of the real estate business, from the individual agents and teams to branch offices. The thoughts and principles discussed are real-world and painfully field tested. They are common sense, and they work. Nothing fancy here . . . common sense and hard work.
For those owners and executives working above the street level, this book offers insights into how entrepreneurial agents businesses can excel with the support and partnership of the company. After all, we re all in this together. We re all on the same side. We just have different ro

This proceedings volume presents current research and innovative solutions into capital markets, particularly in Poland. Featuring contributions presented at the 10th Capital Market Effective Investments (CMEI 2018) conference held in Miedzyzdroje, Poland, this book explores the future of capital markets in Poland as well as comparing it with the capital markets of other developed regions around the world. Divided into four parts, the enclosed papers provide a background into the theoretical foundations of capital market investments, explores different approaches-both classical and contemporary-to investment decision making, analyzes the behaviors of investors using experimental economics and behavioral finance, and explores practical issues related to financial market investments, including real case studies. In addition, each part of the book begins with an introductory chapter written by thematic editors that provides an outline of the subject area and a summary of the papers presented.