The Political Economy of Emerging Markets: Actors, Institutions and Crisis in Latin America

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive
Review: With the search among investors for higher yield and with the asset class being one of the notable outperformers in the recent equity market upturn, Santiso's book on emerging markets (notably Latam) could not have arrived at a more opportune time. Generally speaking, it overviews the most significant empirical findings associated with emerging markets over the past two to three years, locating them within the context of a number of distinct themes. So if one is looking for a comprehensive treatment of the asset class, notably from an academic's perspective, this book is well worth the read. The editor's synopsis is accurate in terms of its overview of the main contents of the book.
The only problem I had with the piece is the editing job. There are a few spelling mistakes, misplaced uses of punctuation, and the odd sentence that must be read several times in order to realise its main import. I suspect if a proper editing job was undertaken in the main text (the footnotes are superb and very informative)the quality of the book would be enhanced significantly.
The book is probably of less use to practitioners but this was probably not Santiso's intent. In any case, thoughtful fund managers or equity strategists would clearly find the book informative, probably compelling them to conduct further readings in the literature noted in the footnotes.