Crypto is red-hot right now.

Media outlets are giving crypto unprecedented airtime while the general public has been captivated by the staggering price rises seen across the board. When measured in US dollar terms, Bitcoin ballooned by over 10 times in the 2017 calendar year alone.

Beyond the tremendous increases in value, crypto has received so much attention because of the challenging questions it raises about money and the role of central authorities such as banks and governments - roles which were taken for granted in the past.Before the start of the crypto revolution, government-issued banknotes and coins seemed to be the only conceivable forms of money. We had never known any other way in our lifetime, nor in that of our parents.

Fast-forward to today, and many members of the crypto community ardently believe that crypto is destined to replace government-issued money, just as the personal computer replaced the typewriter. If this vision is even halfright, the implications are hard to overstate. At the very least, crypto promises to substantially weaken the monopoly power of centralized institutions.

But these are still early days for crypto. And most members of the public find crypto to be, well, cryptic. As United States Senator Thomas Carper said: "Virtual currencies, perhaps most notably Bitcoin, have captured the imagination of some, struck fear among others, and confused the heck out of the rest of us."1 Perhaps some readers can relate to that sentiment.

Truthfully, few people have an accurate understanding of how crypto works, and many are highly skeptical. The Crypto Intro has been written to explain everything and respond to the tough crypto questions.But we may be getting ahead of ourselves. Before taking a look at how crypto functions, let's make sure we understand what we're talking about.

'The definitive account of the history of poverty finance' - Susanne Soederberg Finance, mobile and digital technologies - or 'fintech' - are being heralded in the world of development by the likes of the IMF and World Bank as a silver bullet in the fight against poverty. But should we believe the hype? A Critical History of Poverty Finance demonstrates how newfangled 'digital financial inclusion' efforts suffer from the same essential flaws as earlier iterations of neoliberal 'financial inclusion'. Relying on artificially created markets that simply aren't there among the world's most disadvantaged economic actors, they also reinforce existing patterns of inequality and uneven development, many of which date back to the colonial era. Bernards offers an astute analysis of the current fintech fad, contextualised through a detailed colonial history of development finance, that ultimately reveals the neoliberal vision of poverty alleviation for the pipe dream it is.

George J. Benston, professor of Finance, Accounting, and Economics at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, died unexpectedly in January 2008. He was an impassioned advocate for corporate integrity and a unique scholar; his research interests were as broad as those of any recent academician. His colleagues have selected and organized his most important papers into two volumes. This first volume consists of his research in the banking and financial services industry. The editor has selected a broad range of papers from each of the major areas that are representative of Benston's work in that particular field. James D. Rosenfeld, Professor of Finance, Accounting, and Economics, Goizueta Business School, Emory University, serves as the editor and is assisted by an editorial advisory board including George Kaufman, Greg Waymire, Bob Eisenbeis, Larry Wall, Rashad Abdel-Kalik, and Lemma Senbet.

This book assesses the role of the doctrine of insurable interest within modern insurance law by examining its rationales and suggesting how shortcomings could be fixed. Over the centuries, English law on insurable interest - a combination of statutes and case law - has become complex and unclear. Other jurisdictions have relaxed, or even abolished, the requirement for an insurable interest. Yet, the UK insurance industry has overwhelmingly supported the retention of the doctrine of insurable interest. This book explores whether the traditional justifications for the doctrine - the policy against wagering, the prevention of moral hazard and the doctrine's relationship with the indemnity principle - still stand up to scrutiny and argues that, far from being obsolete, they have acquired new significance in the global financial markets and following the liberalisation of gambling. It is also argued that the doctrine of insurable interest is an integral part of a system of insurance contract law rules and market practice. Rather than rejecting the doctrine, the book recommends a recalibration of insurable interest to afford better pre-contractual transparency to a proposer as to the suitability of the policy to his or her interest in the subject-matter to be insured. Providing a powerful defence for the retention of insurable interest, this book will appeal to both academics and practitioners working in the field of insurance law.

Appointed by George W. Bush as the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 2006, Sheila Bair witnessed the origins of the financial crisis and in 2008 became--along with Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and Timothy Geithner--one of the key public servants trying to repair the damage to the global economy. "Bull by the Horns" is her remarkable and refreshingly honest account of that contentious time and the struggle for reform that followed and continues to this day.

Large infrastructure projects often face significant cost overruns and stakeholder fragmentation. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) allow governments to procure long-term infrastructure services from private providers, rather than developing, financing and managing infrastructure assets themselves. Aligning public and private interests and institutional logics to create robust, decades-long service contracts subject to shifting economic and political contexts is a significant cross-sectoral governance challenge. This work summarizes over a decade of research conducted by scholars at Stanford s Global Projects Center and multiple US and International collaborators to enhance the governance of both infrastructure projects and institutional investors, whose long term, cash flow obligations align especially well with the kinds of long term inflation-adjusted returns that PPP infrastructure projects can generate. In these pages, multiple theoretical perspectives are integrated and combined with empirical evidence to examine how experiences from more mature PPP jurisdictions can help improve PPP governance approaches worldwide. The information contained here will appeal to engineering, economics, political science, public policy and finance scholars interested in the delivery of high-quality, sustainable infrastructure services to the citizens in countries with established and emerging market economies. Officials in national, state/provincial and local government agencies seeking alternative financing and service provision strategies for their civil and social infrastructure, and legislators and their staff members interested in promoting PPP legislation will find this book invaluable. It will also be of high interest to long-term investment professionals from pension funds, sovereign funds, family offices and university endowments seeking to deploy money into the infrastructure asset class, and practitioners seeking insights into methods for enhancing stakeholder incentive alignment, reducing transaction costs and improving project outcomes in PPPs. Contributors: B.G. Cameron, G. Carollo, C.B. Casady, E.F. Crawley, K. Eriksson, W. Feng, M.J. Garvin, K.E. Gasparro, R.R. Geddes, W.J. Henisz, D.R. Lessard, R.E. Levitt, T. Liu, A.H.B. Monk, D.A. Nguyen, C. Nowacki, W.R. Scott, R. Sharma, A.J. South

Gain a strong understanding of the three primary aspects of finance -- financial institutions, investments and corporate finance - and how they relate to one another with the reader-friendly approach in BASIC FINANCE 13E.

Brief chapters in a modular format let you focus on areas of the most interest to you as you master core concepts, usually in a single class or lesson. Individual chapters work together to give you a cohesive, complete view of finance today. Comprehensive coverage of the time value of money uses equations, interest tables and financial calculator keystrokes to ensure you understand this key topic that permeates finance. You see the importance of finance in daily life with examples, from cryptocurrencies to meme stocks.

Hands-on problems, step-by-step financial calculation illustrations, an Excel appendix let you practice and reinforce what you learn.

As the spectrum of the internet of things (IoT) expands, artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted agile IoT is the way forward for sustainable finance. The depth of agile IoT has changed the financial market, and it may quickly evolve as a powerful tool in the future. The convergence of AI and IoT techniques will significantly extract valuable financial information and offer better services to customers. Some of the potential benefits of AI-assisted agile IoT for FinTech include prompt customer support, in-door client navigation, on-site queue management, improved customer experience, security and authenticity, wireless payments, increased business efficiency, self-checkout services, and business automation. There is no doubt that leveraging the complete potential of AI-assisted agile IoT will result in the creation of a new and innovative financial system. AI-Enabled Agile Internet of Things for Sustainable FinTech Ecosystems presents the advances in AI-assisted agile IoT for financial technologies (FinTech). It further explains the new applications, current issues, challenges, and future directions of the field of AI-assisted agile IoT for FinTech applications and ecosystems. Covering topics such as consensus algorithms, IoT-based banking, and secure authentication, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for business executives and managers, IT managers, librarians, students and faculty of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

This thought-provoking book introduces a financial economics perspective to the topic of eco-innovations and, more generally, sociotechnical transitions. It develops a model that illustrates how financial constraints can prevent the development of eco-innovations within companies and hinder the transition process towards a more sustainable regime. Edgardo Sica presents a review of the state of the art, as well as new data from original surveys aimed at testing the impact of financial constraints on eco-innovative decisions at radical and niche levels. He proposes a definitive conceptualisation of eco-innovations while stressing the relevance of the environmental performance of innovations, rather than the environmental motivation of the innovators. Through the use of a unique multilevel perspective model, the book critically analyses the extent to which financial constraints can hinder eco-innovative decisions, thereby crucially filling a gap in the current literature on eco-innovations. Firms, Finance and Sustainable Transitions will prove a stimulating read for academics, researchers and experts within the fields of eco-innovations, sustainable development, financial and environmental economics, and green finance.

Master the most important areas of today's tax law with Whittenburg/Gill's best-selling INCOME TAX FUNDAMENTALS 2023. This concise, practical introduction to tax preparation uses a unique, step-by-step workbook format that integrates real, current examples and uses the most recent actual tax forms. You learn the complexities of the U.S. income tax code as this edition's clear, up-to-date presentation walks you through the most recent tax laws, revisions and changes. Updated end-of-chapter problems and online exercises let you practice completing tax return problems using real source documents identical to those of actual clients. You also learn to use professional Intuit (R) ProConnect (TM) tax preparation software that accompanies each new book. In addition, study tools and helpful resources within the CNOWv2 online homework tool help you further refine your knowledge and practical skills to become a successful tax preparer.

As the COVID-19 pandemic comes to a close, inflation has revealed itself to be a major problem for all countries of the developed world. The problem has been exacerbated in developing nations, which had problems even before the pandemic. Energy prices have increased, and with the increase in transportation costs, it has been more difficult for many retailers to stock shelves as they did before the pandemic. It is understood by many that the rising prices and supply chain disruptions will likely not be temporary and must be managed by future executives. Managing Inflation and Supply Chain Disruptions in the Global Economy uncovers the many ways businesses can manage this new phenomenon. It discusses global crises and their effects on the global economy in terms of inflation and supply chain. Covering topics such as inflationist impact, crisis leadership, and deglobalization, this premier reference source is an essential resource for economists, supply chain specialists, government officials, consultants, business leaders and executives, logistics professionals, IT managers, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.