Competition, the drive for efficiency, and continuous improvement ultimately push businesses toward automation and later towards autonomy. If a business can operate without human intervention, it will minimize its operational cost. If Uber can remove the expense of a driver with an autonomous vehicle, it will provide its service cheaper than a competitor who can't. If an artificially intelligent trading company can search, find, and take advantage of some arbitrage opportunity, then it can profit where its competitors cannot. A business that can analyze and execute in real-time without needing to wait for a human to act, is a business that will be able to take advantage of brief inefficiencies from other markets or businesses. This trend following a thesis that is based on 100 years of proven economic theory. Short-wave economic cycles, those 5- to 10-year cycles, are driven by credit but the long-wave economic cycles, those 50- to 60-year cycles, are driven by technological revolution. We've had 5 cycles over the past 200 years with the last wave, the Age of Information & Telecommunications. We've seen evidence that a new cycle has begun. Technological revolutions come by way of a cluster of new innovations. About a decade ago, you started to see AI, robotics and IoT (sensors) delivering on automation. That's been powerful, but not transformational. It does not force businesses to fundamentally change how they do business. The last piece of the puzzle was cryptocurrency because it allows us to process and transfer economic value without human intervention. Soon, there will be a global race to build autonomous operations. Businesses and organizations without autonomous operations simply will not be able to compete with those that do because ... autonomy is the ultimate competitive advantage. Crypto is the mechanism that will accrue value from being the infrastructure for the next digital financial revolution. Crypto Asset Investing lays out a case that we've begun a new technological revolution similar to the Internet Age of the 1990's. Artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, robotics and cryptocurrency are converging to deliver on a new age, what I call the Age of Autonomy. Understanding the transformation that's taken place before anyone else can yield enormous investment opportunity. In this book, you'll learn how and why to invest in crypto assets.

In their introduction, the editors of New Ways of Doing Business assert that in retrospect, it will be apparent that today's government, that of the early years of the 21st century, "was undergoing its most significant transformation since the decade of the 1930's when direct government-delivered services grew significantly as part of the New Deal." This newest volume in the IBM Endowment for the Business of Government series is an invaluable guide to navigating the sometimes controversial changes taking place in the internal operations of government, the delivery of services to citizens, and the delivery of environmental programs. Possibly the most monumental change taking place in our modern government is the lessening allegiance to the old model of in-house, in-departmental performance of tasks. The new model asks "how and by whom can the tasks of government best be performed?" The answer sometimes lies with another inter-governmental department, leading to an in-house atmosphere of healthy competition and entrepreneurship, and sometimes with outside contractors. New Ways of Doing Business provides descriptions and guidelines for successfully navigating management under the new model. There are also dramatic new ways in which services to the public can now be delivered: via the Internet, via contracts with private organizations, and via faith-based initiatives and business improvement districts. Experts provide valuable checklists and guidelines and case studies exploring the merits and disadvantages of these new service delivery routes. Finally, New Ways of Doing Business explores what the editors call one of the most highly experimental policy arenas in government, that of the delivery of environmental programs. The authors of these articles explain via case study analysis many of the innovative programs currently in existence, and postulate that the traditional "command-and-control" stance of government to businesses will be superceded by a flexibility that will allow for incre

The average person sees about 10,000 commercial visuals a day. Yet, research shows we can only process about 1% of the visual information we encounter. If a picture is worth a thousand words, where does this excess leave us?

'Necessary reading for everyone who uses the internet' Emma Dabiri | 'This book is the new Ways of Seeing' Sharmadean Reid |'Brilliant insights ... highly recommended' Christian Busch | 'An indispensable guide' Guillaume Cerutti, CEO of Christie's | 'Very informative' Laura Whitmore | 'incredibly timely' Pippa Vosper

In The Visual Detox, art expert and businesswoman Marine Tanguy explains how the imagery we see shapes our wellbeing. She gives us new tools to think critically about images, combat information overload and participate more in the visual world around us by engaging with the art and content that improves our day-to-day experiences online, at work, in our homes and in public spaces.

Drawing on science and insightful case studies, she shows us how to:

· learn the type of thinker you are (spatial, visual, verbal?);
· understand our brains’ interpretation of visual language;
· decode the subtle negative messages in popular culture;
· devise tiny hacks to block out the online noise
· curate your surroundings to create soothing spaces.

This handy guide to visual decluttering will empower you to reclaim your focus, peace of mind and sense of wonder

Understand Up-to-Date Statistical Techniques for Financial and Actuarial Applications

Since the first edition was published, statistical techniques, such as reliability measurement, simulation, regression, and Markov chain modeling, have become more prominent in the financial and actuarial industries. Consequently, practitioners and students must acquire strong mathematical and statistical backgrounds in order to have successful careers.

Financial and Actuarial Statistics: An Introduction, Second Edition enables readers to obtain the necessary mathematical and statistical background. It also advances the application and theory of statistics in modern financial and actuarial modeling. Like its predecessor, this second edition considers financial and actuarial modeling from a statistical point of view while adding a substantial amount of new material.

New to the Second Edition

• Nomenclature and notations standard to the actuarial field
• Excel exercises with solutions, which demonstrate how to use Excel functions for statistical and actuarial computations
• Problems dealing with standard probability and statistics theory, along with detailed equation links
• A chapter on Markov chains and actuarial applications
• Expanded discussions of simulation techniques and applications, such as investment pricing
• Sections on the maximum likelihood approach to parameter estimation as well as asymptotic applications
• Discussions of diagnostic procedures for nonnegative random variables and Pareto, lognormal, Weibull, and left truncated distributions
• Expanded material on surplus models and ruin computations
• Discussions of nonparametric prediction intervals, option pricing diagnostics, variance of the loss function associated with standard actuarial models, and Gompertz and Makeham distributions
• Sections on the concept of actuarial statistics for a collection of stochastic status models

The book presents a unified approach to both financial and actuarial modeling through the use of general status structures. The authors define future time-dependent financial actions in terms of a status structure that may be either deterministic or stochastic. They show how deterministic status structures lead to classical interest and annuity models, investment pricing models, and aggregate claim models. They also employ stochastic status structures to develop financial and actuarial models, such as surplus models, life insurance, and life annuity models.

This book explores the way in which the financial crisis that began in the US spread to the economy of the European Union. It takes a critical look at the measures adopted by EU institutions in response to that crisis, seeking to explain the rationale behind them, their context, their development and why different exit strategies were not adopted. In doing this, the book makes comparisons with the measures adopted by institutions in the US and the UK. As the crisis has shown that the financial supervision frameworks prevailing in 2007 were not fully able to deal with the largest financial crisis in history, this volume also reviews the proposals that have been designed to reform the supervisory architecture in financial services in the EU. The book concludes that the EU member states under most pressure from financial markets do suffer from intrinsic problems, but that the economic effects of the crisis have been exacerbated by shortcomings in economic governance within the EU. This work will be highly relevant to policy makers and scholars looking at EU integration, finance and market regulation.

Ernesto Caravantes was among the multitudes of people who were affected by the Recession of 2008, the financial impact of which continues to be felt to this day. Rather than focus on how people can return to their former consumerist lifestyle, he decided to explore how people can trade one paradigm of conspicuous consumption for another of frugality and simplicity. The author uses a reader-friendly approach to exploring these issues, and combines both personal narrative and practical advice to make his point. With over one hundred easy-to-do fun ideas and entertaining activities that are free or very low in cost, the reader is shown the possibility of a life beyond spending. Caravantes explains that now is the time to embrace a simpler manner of living, one free of the constant need to spend and acquire. He also says that the human spirit can be nurtured by such a change. He emphasizes that it is our connection to others, to ourselves, and to the larger forces in the universe which ultimately matter the most

This book provides a perspective on a number of financial modelling analytics and risk management. The book begins with extensive outline of GLM estimation techniques combined with the proof of its fundamental results. Applications of static and dynamic models provide a unified approach to the estimation of nonlinear risk models. The book then examines the definition of risks and their management, with particular emphasis on the importance of bi-modal distributions for financial regulation. Chapters also cover the implications of stress testing and the noncyclical CAR (Capital Adequacy Rule). The next section highlights financial modelling analytic approaches and techniques including an overview of memory based financial models, spanning non-memory models, long run and short memory. Applications of these models are used to highlight their variety and their importance to Financial Analytics. Subsequent chapters offer an extensive overview of multi-fractional models and their important applications to Asset price modeling (from Fractional to Multi-fractional Processes), and a look at the binomial pricing model by discussing the effects of memory on the pricing of asset prices. The book concludes with an examination of an algorithmic future perspective to real finance.

The chapters in "Future Perspectives in Risk Models and Finance" are concerned with both theoretical and practical issues. Theoretically, financial risks models are models of certainty, based on information and rules that are both available and agree to by their user. Empirical and data finance however, has provided a bridge between theoretical constructs risks models and the empirical evidence that these models entail. Numerous approaches are then used to model financial risk models, emphasizing mathematical and stochastic models based on the fundamental theoretical tenets of finance and others departing from the fundamental assumptions of finance. The underlying mathematical foundations of these risks models provide a future guideline for risk modeling. Both static and dynamic risk models are then considered. The chapters in this book provide selective insights and developments, that can contribute to a greater understanding the complexity of financial modelling and its ability to bridge financial theories and their practice. Risk models are models of uncertainty, and therefore all risk models are an expression of perceptions, priorities, needs and the information we have. In this sense, all risks models are complex hypotheses we have constructed and based on what we have or believe . Risk models are then challenged by their definition, are risk definition defining in fact prospective risks? By their estimation, what data can we apply to estimate risk processes and how can we do so? How should we use the data and the models at hand for useful and constructive end. "

Under growing pressure from within and outside their economies, countries around the world have recently embarked upon wide-ranging programmes of financial reform. This major Handbook provides country studies of the latest developments in financial reform in a selection of both developed and developing countries from Western Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia, written by acknowledged experts in their fields. The outcome is an up-to-date, authoritative and comprehensive account of the current world-wide attempt to refashion the way in which the financial services industry (and especially the banking sector) is regulated and supervised. The contributors find that programmes of reform have embraced all or most of the following elements: * central bank reform * changes in the legal operating environment and market pressures for mergers * consolidation * demutualisation * supervisory reform * measures such as the introduction of explicit deposit insurance schemes. This comprehensive reference work contains a wealth of up-to-date knowledge, presented in an accessible manner and with a standardised format. It will be of interest to scholars of central banking and international banking reforms as well as policymakers, legislators, practitioners and organisations from the banking world.

In Hong Kong, the banking system is the primary source of financial stability risk. Post-2008 regulatory reforms have focused on financial stability policies and tools while neglecting the design of supervisory models. This book provides a comparative analysis of how supervisory models affect the management of financial stability regulations in Hong Kong's banking system. Regulatory issues discussed span prudential regulations, systemically important banks, unconventional liquidity tools, deposit insurance, lender of last resort, resolution regimes, central clearing counterparties and derivatives, Renminbi infrastructure, stock and bond connect schemes, distributed ledger technology, digital yuan, US dollar sanctions, cryptocurrencies, RegTech, and FinTech. A Regulatory Design for Financial Stability in Hong Kong elucidates the flaws and synergies in Hong Kong's banking regulatory framework and proposes conventional and innovative regulatory reforms. This book will be of great interest to banking, financial, and legal practitioners, central bankers, regulators, policy makers, finance ministries, scholars, researchers, and policy institutes.

Set against the backdrop of the recurring waves of financial scandal and crisis to hit Canada, the US, the UK, and Europe over the last decade, this book examines the struggles of securities enforcement agencies to police the financial markets. While allegations of regulatory failure in this realm are commonplace and are well documented in policy and legal scholarship, James Williams seeks to move beyond these conventional accounts arguing that they are based on a limited view of the regulatory process and overlook the actual practices and dilemmas of enforcement work. Informed by interviews with police, regulators, lawyers, accountants, and investor advocates, along with a wealth of documentary materials, the book is rooted in a uniquely interdisciplinary social science perspective. Peering inside the black box of enforcement, it examines the organizational, professional, geographical, technological, and legal influences that shape securities enforcement as a distinctly knowledge-based enterprise. The result of these influences, Williams argues, is the production of a very particular vision of financial disorder which captures certain forms of misconduct while overlooking others, a reflection not of incompetence or capture but of the unique demands and constraints of the regulatory craft. Providing a very different, and much needed, account of the challenges faced by regulators and enforcement agencies, this book will be of enormous interest to current research on enforcement, regulation, and governance both within and beyond the financial realm.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Brazil has followed a pattern of economic development inspired by Washington Consensus. This framework includes a set of liberalising and market friendly policies such as privatisation, trade liberalization, stimulus to foreign direct investment, tax reform, and social security reforms. This book assesses the determinants and impacts of financial liberalisation in Brazil considering its two dimensions: the opening up of the balance of payments capital account, and the penetration by foreign bank of the domestic banking sector. The author combines theoretical and empirical analyses. Some make use of mathematical models and/or statistical techniques; however, they are only used when they are strictly necessary to the analysis.

This book discusses the Islamic finance trading framework. It compares and contrasts conventional trading frameworks with Sharia compliant trading frameworks, explores trading under Islamic commercial law, trading practices and financial transactions prohibited under Islamic law, and profit making in Islam. In addition, it addresses related issues in government interventions, market structure, and business ethics and will be of interest to academics, researchers, and students of Islamic finance and banking.

Finance is Excel This book takes you straight into the fascinating world of Excel, the powerful tool for number crunching. In a clear cut language it amalgamates financial theory with Excel providing you with the skills you need to build financial models for private or professional use. A comprehensive knowledge of modeling in Excel is becoming increasingly important in a competitive labour market. The chapters in part one start with the most basic Excel topics such as cell addresses, workbooks, basic formulas, etc. These chapters get more advanced through part one, and takes you in the end to topics such as array formulas, data tables, pivot tables, etc. The other parts of the book discusses a variety of subjects such as net present value, internal rate of return, risk, portfolio theory, CAPM, VaR, project valuation, asset valuation, firm valuation, loan, leasing, stocks, bonds, options, simulation, sensitivity analysis, etc. Finance is Excel This book takes you straight into the fascinating world of Excel, the powerful tool for number crunching. In a clear cut language it amalgamates financial theory with Excel providing you with the skills you need to build financial models for private or professional use. A comprehensive knowledge of modeling in Excel is becoming increasingly important in a competitive labour market. The chapters in part one start with the most basic Excel topics such as cell addresses, workbooks, basic formulas, etc. These chapters get more advanced through part one, and takes you in the end to topics such as array formulas, data tables, pivot tables, etc. The other parts of the book discusses a variety of subjects such as net present value, internal rate of return, risk, portfolio theory, CAPM, VaR, project valuation, asset valuation, firm valuation, loan, leasing, stocks, bonds, options, simulation, sensitivity analysis, etc.

The Fictions of American Capitalism: Working Fictions and the Economic Novel introduces a new way of thinking about fiction in connection with capitalism, especially American capitalism. These essays demonstrate how fiction fulfills a major function of the American capitalist engine, presenting various formulations of American capitalism from the perspective of economists, social scientists, and literary critics. Focusing on three narratives-fictitious capital, working fictions, and the economic novel-the volume questions whether these three types of fiction can be linked under the sign of capitalism. This collection seeks to illustrate the American economy's dependence on fictitiousness, America's ideological fictions, and the nation's creative literary fiction. In relation to what the credit and banking crisis of 2007-2008 exposed about the "unreal" base of the economy, the volume concludes with a call to recognize the economic humanities, arguing that American fiction and American literary studies can provide a useful mirror for economists.

David Ricardo, one of the major figures in the history of economic thought, particularly in the English classical political economy, deployed his activities as economist just two hundreds of years ago. Since then his economics has been generally estimated as the culminating point of the classical economics, and his name and theory has been exerting an enduring influence up to the present. This book, consisting of articles contributed by historians economic thought on money and finance, intends to reappraise the Ricardo's monetary and financial thought on the occasion of its bicentenary and to offer historical clues to understanding today's world wide financial crisis. The book consists of eight chapters divided into three parts. The first part is devoted to the historical back ground of Ricardo's thought (Hume, Smith, Thornton etc). It serves to bring in relief the originality of Ricardo's thought in the historical context. The second and central part consists of four chapters discussing the most important aspects of Ricardo's monetary thought: Ricardo and quantity theory of money, the ideal monetary regime conceived by Ricardo very early in his career and matured till the last moment of his life, plan for the establishment of a national bank. In this part, the relation between the quantity of money and its value in Ricardo's theory is examined in a new light and Ricardo as a non-quantity theorist. The two chapters in the third and last part discuss the problems raised after Ricardo in relation to his monetary thought. Tracing Ricardo's economic thought to the early 19th century, this book may provide readers insight to help them understand the present day financial crises through his works.

This textbook integrates financial economics and management in the area of agricultural finance. The presentation of financial economics discusses how the credit needs of farmer/borrowers are met by depositors through commercial banks. The financial management content presents methods used to make farm financial decisions including farm accounting, capital budgeting, and the analysis of risk. The textbook begins by developing the farm financial market focusing primarily on the market for debt. Next, the textbook presents an overview of accounting concepts important for the credit market. The accounting section provides a detailed discussion of the Farm Financial Standards Council's suggestions for agricultural financial statements. Following the financial accounting, the book presents the use of ratio analysis applied to the farm firm. Next, the text describes capital budgeting followed by an introduction to risk analysis. Finally, the book presents the effect of debt decisions on the farm firm. In addition to the primary topics, the textbook includes a discussion of agricultural banking and monetary policy and an analysis of the choice of historical cost and market valued accounting methodologies on the farm debt decision.

This ambitious book seeks both to revive and revise the idea of 'functional finance'. Followers of this doctrine believe that government budgets should concentrate solely on their macroeconomic impact on the economy, rather than reflecting a concern for sound finance and budgetary discipline. Reinventing Functional Finance examines the origins of this idea and then considers it in a modern context. The authors explore the concept of NAIRU and argue that modern economies can operate at the level of full employment without provoking unmanageable inflation. They also contend that budget deficits do not have the deleterious effects commonly ascribed to them; the belief that they do rests on a misunderstanding of modern money. In this context, they highlight the relevance of Abba Lerner's famous dictum, 'money is a creature of the State'. The authors also debate the merits of various proposals for 'Employer of Last Resort' programs, which combine automatic stabilizers with the buffer stock principle. The book boasts an array of eminent contributors which includes, amongst others, James Duesenberry, Robert Eisner, Robert Heilbroner, Richard Musgrave, Edward Nell and Randall Wray. Financial economists, politicians, policymakers and bankers will welcome this provocative and refreshing book which challenges established economic thinking.

This edited volume presents the most recent achievements in risk measurement and management, as well as regulation of the financial industry, with contributions from prominent scholars and practitioners such as Robert Engle, 2003 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Viral Acharya, Torben Andersen, Zvi Bodie, Menachem Brenner, Aswath Damodaran, Marti Subrahmanyam, William Ziemba and others. The book provides a comprehensive overview of recent emerging standards in risk management from an interdisciplinary perspective. Individual chapters expound on the theme of standards setting in this era of financial crises where new and unseen global risks have emerged. They are organized in a such a way that allows the reader a broad perspective of the new emerging standards in macro, systemic and sovereign risk before zooming into the micro perspective of how risk is conceived and treated within a corporation. A section is dedicated to credit risk and to the increased importance of liquidity both in financial systems and at the firm's level.

This reissue, first published in 1964, describes the contemporary problems faced and solutions found by the monetary and financial authorities of six African countries: Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, the Rhodesias, the Sudan and Tunisia, from the establishment of their central banks until 1962.This study explores the special economic and social factors of these African countries and places emphasis upon the atmosphere of rapid change, growth and development. The author indicates common denominators, whilst making due allowance for the character of each individual country.

This book was first published in 1985.

Developed countries have committed to provide financial support for climate change mitigation and adaptation activities in developing countries. Current financial support is of the order of $10 to $15 billion per year, but over the past few years studies of the cost of mitigation and adaptation in developing countries have estimated the amounts as high as several hundred billion dollars per year. This Special Issue presents the first comprehensive overview of climate change finance in the peer reviewed literature, covering: ' Estimates of the cost of mitigation and adaptation in developing countries; ' The economic issues involved in estimating adaption costs; ' The link between adaptation and development; ' How funds could be raised and effective allocation of the available funds; ' Effective delivery of finance. Assembling and comparing estimates currently available only from a variety of reports, the volume provides a vital overview of the subject of climate change finance for negotiators, policymakers and researchers.

Were you looking for the book with access to MyEconLab? This product is the book alone, and does NOT come with access to MyEconLab. This European adaptation takes Mishkin's market leading text The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets a step further placing the central themes in context for European students. It provides an in-depth overview and comparison of the structures, goals, tools and strategies of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve. Mishkin's application of a unified analytical framework to the models makes theory intuitive for students whilst the rich array of current, real-world events keeps students motivated. Authoritative, comprehensive, and flexible, the text is easy to integrate into a wide variety of syllabi, and its ancillaries provide complete support when teaching the course. Frederic Mishkinstudied at MIT and has taught at Columbia Business School since 1983. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 to 2008 and has been a consultant to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, as well as to numerous central banks throughout the world Kent Matthewsis the Sir Julian Hodge Professor of Banking and Finance at the Cardiff Business School. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics, Birkbeck and Liverpool University and has held research posts at the LSE, National Institute of Economic & Social Research and Bank of England. Massimo Giuliodori took his first degree at the University of Ancona (Italy) and his MSc in Economics and Finance at the University of Glasgow. After obtaining his PhD from the Scottish Doctoral Programme, he moved to the Amsterdam School of Economics of the University of Amsterdam, where he is now Associate Professor.

The Group of Twenty book will provide a concise examination of the purpose, function and practice of the Group of Twenty (G20) summit with particular attention to its designation as a new "premier forum for international economic cooperation." Although providing a historical account of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors process, the main focus of the book will be on the conditions, events and debates that led to the formation of the permanent, expanded leaders' level forum. The historical span of the G20 Summit process is not long, but the global transformations that precipitated it are crucial for the analysis. Two central themes will guide the analysis of this book; first, an examination of "accumulating global deadlocks," which provide a framework of the functional deficiencies plaguing the global system; and second, "incremental institutional innovations," which will detail the patchwork of reforms to the institutions of global governance that led into the transformation of the G20's role. The book will explore a variety of major debates, including; governance by clubs versus multilateralism; the legitimacy of informal leadership; the issue of the G20's composition of both solution' countries and problem' countries; the role of the emerging powers; and, new conceptions of North-South relationships. It will address the array of functional challenges at the core of the global system. This book will provide insight and analysis on the G20 beyond its composition, offering a detailed examination of the ongoing shift in economic power and the momentum toward global institutional reform. This book takes into account the technical orientation of the G20 Finance and its financial agenda but will drill deeper on contextual issues. This book will also be produced very timely, following the early incarnations of the G20 at the leaders' level. It will draw from experiences of the initial four summits; Washington (Nov'08),

The Group of Twenty book will provide a concise examination of the purpose, function and practice of the Group of Twenty (G20) summit with particular attention to its designation as a new "premier forum for international economic cooperation." Although providing a historical account of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors process, the main focus of the book will be on the conditions, events and debates that led to the formation of the permanent, expanded leaders' level forum. The historical span of the G20 Summit process is not long, but the global transformations that precipitated it are crucial for the analysis. Two central themes will guide the analysis of this book; first, an examination of "accumulating global deadlocks," which provide a framework of the functional deficiencies plaguing the global system; and second, "incremental institutional innovations," which will detail the patchwork of reforms to the institutions of global governance that led into the transformation of the G20's role. The book will explore a variety of major debates, including; governance by clubs versus multilateralism; the legitimacy of informal leadership; the issue of the G20's composition of both solution' countries and problem' countries; the role of the emerging powers; and, new conceptions of North-South relationships. It will address the array of functional challenges at the core of the global system. This book will provide insight and analysis on the G20 beyond its composition, offering a detailed examination of the ongoing shift in economic power and the momentum toward global institutional reform. This book takes into account the technical orientation of the G20 Finance and its financial agenda but will drill deeper on contextual issues. This book will also be produced very timely, following the early incarnations of the G20 at the leaders' level. It will draw from experiences of the initial four summits; Washington (Nov'08),