The exploding cost of health care in the United States is a source of widespread alarm. Similarly, the upward spiral of college tuition fees is cause for serious concern. In this concise and illuminating book, well-known economist William J. Baumol explores the causes of these seemingly intractable problems and offers a surprisingly simple explanation. Baumol identifies the "cost disease" as a major source of rapidly rising costs in service sectors of the economy. Once we understand that d...

The exploding cost of health care in the United States is a source of widespread alarm. Similarly, the upward spiral of college tuition fees is cause for serious concern. In this concise and illuminating book, well-known economist William J. Baumol explores the causes of these seemingly intractable problems and offers a surprisingly simple explanation. Baumol identifies the "cost disease" as a major source of rapidly rising costs in service sectors of the economy. Once we understand that d...

A New York Times Bestseller and Notable Book: "A rich history of the world's most seductive investing idea." —BloombergA Library Journal Best Business Book of the YearA lively history of ideas, The Myth of the Rational Market by former Time magazine economics columnist Justin Fox describes with insight and wit the rise and fall of the world's most influential investing idea: the efficient markets theory. Longliste...

Jane Jacobs has spent years changing the way we think about economic life in general. Now, in The Nature of Economies, Jacobs proposes a radical notion that has breath-taking common sense: economies are governed by the same rules as nature itself. With the simplicity of an extremely wise and seasoned thinker, Jane Jacobs shows us that by looking to nature, we can develop economies that are both efficient and ecologically friendly.The Nature of Economies is written...

Visionary social thinker Joel Kotkin looks ahead to America in 2050, revealing how the addition of one hundred million Americans by midcentury will transform how we all live, work, and prosper.In stark contrast to the rest of the world's advanced nations, the United States is growing at a record rate and, according to census projections, will be home to four hundred million Americans by 2050. This projected rise in population is the strongest indicator of our long-...

How oil volatility is affecting the global political scene, and where the oil market is headingThe world is rapidly moving towards an oil environment defined by volatility. The Vega Factor: Oil Volatility and the Next Global Crisis takes an in-depth look at the most important topics in the industry, including strategic risk, why traditional pricing mechanisms will no longer govern the market, and how the current government approaches have only worsened an ...

The 1980s opened with the prime interest rate at an astonishing 21.5 percent, leading to a severe recession with unemployment reaching nearly 11 percent. Depression-like conditions befell the agricultural sector, a bubble burst in the energy sector, a rolling real estate recession swept the country, the entire thrift industry was badly insolvent and the major money center banks were loaded with third world debt. Some 3,000 bank and thrifts failed, including nine of Texas’ 10 largest, and C...

We are leaving the Information Age and transitioning into the Shift Age, a time of transformation and change that offers both great risk and incredible opportunity. In Entering the Shift Age, David Houle identifies and explains the dynamics and forces that have shaped our world and will continue to reshape our world for the next 20 years. He shows how the Shift Age means a world fully global yet focused on the individual, where the speed of change is so fast that change itself is ...

The activities of central banks are relevant to everyone in society. This book starts by considering how and why in general central banks evolved and specifically the special aspects of the contribution of the Northern European Central Banking Tradition. With that foundation, the book will then turn to a series of contemporary themes. Firstly, this book looks at independence, how central banks can actually influence their respective economies, goals, responsibilities and governance.

The United States has enjoyed unequaled and unrivaled prosperity for decades with seemingly no end in sight.But in the fall of 2008 a curtain briefly opened during the financial crisis, and the world saw for the first time the insiders behind the Wall Street machine: investment bankers betting the house with your money, politicians looking out after financial insiders, and an economy built on an abyss of bad debt.The 2008 financial crisis also revealed the real growth engin...

The road of the entrepreneur is a bumpy one. Full of zigs and zags, detours and dead ends, building something from scratch takes someone with drive. Wouldn’t it be great if you had a friend along the way? ...Someone who had been where you are?Life in the Driver’s Seat: Women With Drive and Beyond is a slim volume filled with bite-sized wisdom you can fit in your pocket, and read whenever you need a bit of encouragement. Author Molly Cantrell-Kraig shares s...

Understand inflation in no time! Find out everything you need to know about making informed investment choices with this practical and accessible guide.Inflation is an important consideration for anyone looking to make a smart investment, as it will affect the real value of the money involved and can also have a direct effect on interest rates. However, many investors fail to take it into account, even though the mechanisms of inflation are fairly simple to underst...