Review of Merton Miller on Derivatives (Wiley Investment) (Hardcover)

Merton Miller, who died in 2001, was an outstanding figure in modern economics. He was one of three financial economists to win the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1990, in his case for his work on the capital structure of corporations - a field that, with his associate Franco Modigliani, he revolutionised if not invented. His great insight was that the value of a company, other things being equal, is invariant with regard to the mix of debt and equity that makes up its capital structure - or, to invoke one of Miller's own picturesque analogies, if I take a dollar out of my right pocket and put it into my left pocket, I am no better off.

This book is a collection of speeches given by Miller in the early to mid-1990s, largely covering the subjects of the derivatives revolution, regulation and corporate governance. The subject matter sounds dry; the speeches are anything but. Miller's jokes are exceptionally good - he has great sport in particular by satirising the convoluted German system of corporate cross-shareholdings, and reflecting ruefully on the inevitable question that is always posed to professional economists ('what will happen to interest rates?' - to which the only sensible answer is 'they will fluctuate'). But underlying the wit and engaging manner is a serious and profound point. Modern finance consists principally in the management of risk. Derivatives perform an exceptionally valuable function in a modern, complex economy by enabling economic agents to accomplish this end. Ill-conceived regulation can do harm by making it impossible for corporations to manage their business risk efficiently; this will have significant economic cost, with no compensating social benefit.

Many collections of speeches are testament merely to an author's vanity, and do not last beyond the occasions for which the speeches were written. This one is different: it is the fruit of an extraordinary intellect, a fine prose style, and a formidable technical expertise. It deserves to last, and is much to be recommended.



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Review of Everyone's Money Book (Hardcover)

Everyone's Money Book is the most comprehensive,useful book on the market if you want to improve your personal finances. The book not only tells you how to invest, cut your taxes, get the best deal on insurance, etc, but gives specific resources like websites, associations, publications, government agencies that can help you put the advice into action. If you want even more detail on all these topics, check out Goodman's Everyone's Money Book Series by the same publisher on Credit, College, Retirement Planning, Financial Planning, Investing and Real Estate.



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Review of Accounting (Hardcover)

When I said incomplete, It's means the book was supposed to include a cd (chapter exercises, etc.). I didn't receive it.



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Review of Intermediate Accounting, Update (Hardcover)

The book is huge. I didn't know the book is available in two parts to cut back on the bulk. It is the size of a dictionary. The book is also very heavy, which doesn't really come in handy when I am carrying it all over the college campus. It does not fit into my oversized school bag (or it would if nothing else was in the bag).
The book is ok. My professor tests us on questions that aren't gone over in depth within the book. Each chapter has A LOT of info and not enough ways to critically access and understand all of it. The editors should consider more problems or better explainations that go into concepts more in depth then just scratching the surface as they do now.



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