Business Cycles: From John Law to the Internet Crash

Rating:
Summary: DEUTSCHE BANK RUINED ME!
Review: In the dying days of the summer of 2002, I was walking down Quai des Bergues in Geneva when I saw a man standing outside Deutsche Bank Private Banking Headquarters. He was well dressed, in his mid-fifties, and holding a big poster that read: DEUTSCHE BANK RUINED ME. Trust me, this is not an everyday sight in calm and cool Geneva, so I was curious and went over and talked to him. He told me and everyone else who would listen, about the disastrous losses in his accounts with DB - he angrily claimed that the remaining value of the stocks was not even enough to cover the commissions if they were sold. He claimed to have a lost millions in the double-digits; probably exaggerated, but knowing the minimum account size at the private banks, I am sure it was A Lot Of Money.

Walking back to my office and reflecting on the poor mans misery, my thoughts drifted to a book that I read earlier this year: Business Cycles. From John Law to the Internet Crash. I am not sure what qualifies a book to be labeled a "classic", but this is an excellent piece of work about the history of business cycles and what they have in common: A fundamental change in the real world, such as a war or new technology, which creates new profit opportunities in some sectors. Investment expands, often fed by easy bank credit. Before long, however, investment becomes speculation, and then becomes totally detached from reality and turns into mania, sometimes spreading internationally. They ultimately end in tears, a crash and "revulsion" in which investors flee falling markets. Authorities are left to wrestle with how to stabilize and then fix the financial system.

This book is not an "I Told You So" but rather a superb piece of work that gives food for thought to anyone interested in the ups and downs of economic life.

Rating:
Summary: DEUTSCHE BANK RUINED ME!
Review: In the dying days of the summer of 2002, I was walking down Quai des Bergues in Geneva when I saw a man standing outside Deutsche Bank Private Banking Headquarters. He was well dressed, in his mid-fifties, and holding a big poster that read: DEUTSCHE BANK RUINED ME. Trust me, this is not an everyday sight in calm and cool Geneva, so I was curious and went over and talked to him. He told me and everyone else who would listen, about the disastrous losses in his accounts with DB - he angrily claimed that the remaining value of the stocks was not even enough to cover the commissions if they were sold. He claimed to have a lost millions in the double-digits; probably exaggerated, but knowing the minimum account size at the private banks, I am sure it was A Lot Of Money.

Walking back to my office and reflecting on the poor mans misery, my thoughts drifted to a book that I read earlier this year: Business Cycles. From John Law to the Internet Crash. I am not sure what qualifies a book to be labeled a "classic", but this is an excellent piece of work about the history of business cycles and what they have in common: A fundamental change in the real world, such as a war or new technology, which creates new profit opportunities in some sectors. Investment expands, often fed by easy bank credit. Before long, however, investment becomes speculation, and then becomes totally detached from reality and turns into mania, sometimes spreading internationally. They ultimately end in tears, a crash and "revulsion" in which investors flee falling markets. Authorities are left to wrestle with how to stabilize and then fix the financial system.

This book is not an "I Told You So" but rather a superb piece of work that gives food for thought to anyone interested in the ups and downs of economic life.

Rating:
Summary: it could have been a great book
Review: on a good note, this book brings a wealth of information about business cycles--historic-, economic-, academic-, and even trader-perspectives.

however, the information does not stand together--ideas jump all over the place, not connected nor well developed. careless editing--some numbers are wrong. all these make the reader long for a more careful approach.

all in all, this could be a spring-board to other titles/authors. at about half the price it could be a different story.