What happens when advances in technologg allow mang things to be produced for more or less nothing? And what happens when those things are then made available to us for free? In his groundbreaking new book, The Long Tail author Chris Anderson considers a brave new world where the old economic certainties are being undermined by a growing flood of free goods - newspapers, DVDs, T-shirts, phones, even holiday flights. He explains why this has become possible - why fast-evolvingtechnologies, particularly the Internet, have caused production and distribution costs in many sectors to plummet to levels unthinkable even a decade ago. He shows how the flexibility provided by the online world allows producers to trade ever more creatively, offering items for free to make real or perceived gains elsewhere. He pinpoints the winners and losers in the Free universe. And he demonstrates the wags in which, as an increasing number of things become available for free, our decisions to make use of them will be determined by tw

Published in 1778, The Wealth of Nations was the first book oneconomics to catch the public's attention. It provides a recipe fornational prosperity that has not been bettered since, based onsmall government and the freedom of citizens to act in their bestinterests. It reassuringly assumes no knowledge of its subject, andover 200 years on still provides valuable lessons on thefundamentals of economics. This deluxe, selected edition is astylish keepsake from the Capstone Classics series. This edition includes: An abridged selection of all 5 books for the contemporaryreader An original commentary offering new research and analysis byclassic literature guru Tom Butler-Bowdon A biography and chronology of Adam Smith's life and the eventssurrounding the original publication of the work Today, The Wealth of Nations is still essential reading for anybusiness or self-development library, reminding us that it is theingenuity and drive of people, not governments, that remains thesou

Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot. Call it what you like, it matters now more than ever. In "The Ascent of Money", Niall Ferguson shows that finance is the foundation of all human progress and the lifeblood of history. From the cash injection that funded the Italian Renaissance to the stock market bubble that sparked the French Revolution, from the bonds that fueled Britain's war effort to the Wall Street Crash and today's meltdown, this is the story of boom and bust as it's never been told before. Whether you're scraping by or rolling in it, there's no better time to understand the ascent of money.

In this inspiring and encouraging book,author and trader Eva Diaz reveals the life and experiences of some of Australia's profitable contracts for difference(CFD)and foreign exchange(FX)traders-ordinary people who have put their own money on the line,pitted themselves against the markets and been successful.It tells the stories of their profits,explains the secrets to their success and reveals what it is actually like to trade these instruments in a practical sense.

Globalization is here to stay, and companies that avoid investing in emerging markets won't remain competitive for long. But doing business in developing regions presents unique challenges. Venture into this realm unprepared, and you may imperil your company. Packed with advice and real-world examples, this volume helps you mitigate the dangers. For example, you'll discover: How to assess four types of risks of doing business in or with a particular developing country Strategies for capturing fast-growing consumer markets in emerging economies Ways to adopt a truly local marketing mind-set How to collaborate with social activists in developed and emerging markets to create innovative local businesses that drive new growth while also making the world a better place

Will the sun set on the greatest currency in the history ofthe world? For decades the dollar has been the undisputed champ. It’s not onlythe currency of America but much of the world as well, the fuel ofglobal prosperity. As the superengine of the world’s onlysuperpower, it’s accepted everywhere. When an Asian company tradeswith South America, those transactions are done in dollars, thecurrency of international business. But for how much longer? Economists fear America is digging a holewith an economy based on massive borrowing and huge deficits thatcloud the dollar’s future. Will the buck be eclipsed by the euro oreven China’s renminbi? Should Americans worry when the value of themighty U.S. dollar sinks to par with the Canadian “loonie”? Craig Karmin’s in-depth “biography” of the dollar explores theseissues. It also examines the green-back’s history, allure, andunique role as a catalyst for globalization, and how the Americanbuck became so almighty that $ became perhaps the most po

An updated look at what Fischer Black's ideas on business cyclesand equilibrium mean todayThroughout his career, Fischer Blackdescribed a view of business fluctuations based on the idea that awell-developed economy will be continually in equilibrium. In theessays that constitute this book, which is one of only two booksBlack ever wrote, he explores this idea thoroughly and reaches somesurprising conclusions.With the newfound popularity of quantitativefinance and risk management, the work of Fischer Black has garneredmuch attention. "Business Cycles and Equilibrium"-with its theorythat economic and financial markets are in a continualequilibrium-is one of his books that still rings true today, giventhe current economic crisis. This "Updated Edition" clearlypresents Black's classic theory on business cycles and the conceptof equilibrium, and contains a new introduction by the person whoknows Black best: Perry Mehrling, author of "Fischer Black and theRevolutionary Idea of Finance" (Wiley). Mehrling goes inside

赵景波编著的《荒漠化与防治教程(普通高等教育规划教材)》主要包括荒漠化地区的自然环境、风蚀荒漠化、水蚀荒漠化、蒸发盐渍荒漠化、石漠化和亚热带的红土退化、冻融荒漠化、生物动力荒漠化和荒漠化监测与评价，共十章内容。在各类荒漠化动力类型中，主要包括了荒漠化的分布、发生动力、条件、影响因素、形成的地表景观和物质组成类型、等级划分、治理技术与措施等。《荒漠化与防治教程(普通高等教育规划教材)》吸收了国内外新的研究成果，增加了生物动力荒漠化新类型，区分了荒漠化的动力和第二动力，内容全面系统。 本书为大专院校本科生教材，也可作为研究生教材，并可供地理、生态、水土保持、农牧业与环境科学研究人员和大专院校教师参考。

In the summer of 2003, the New York Times Magazine sent Stephen J. Dubner, an author and journalist, to write a profile of Steven D. Levitt, a heralded young economist at the University of Chicago. Levitt was not remotely interested in the things that interest most economists. More... Instead, he studied the riddles of everyday lifefrom cheating to crime to child-rearingand his conclusions turned the conventional wisdom on its head. For instance, he argued that one of the main causes of the crime drop of the 1990s was the legalization of abortion twenty years earlier. (Unwanted children have a greater likelihood of becoming criminals; with so many unwanted children being aborted in the 1970s, the pool of potential criminals had significantly shrunk by the 1990s.) The Times article yielded an unprecedented response, a deluge of interest from thousands of curious, inspired, and occasionally distraught readers. Levitt and Dubner collaborated on a book that gives full play to Levitts most compelling ideas.

An expos? on the delusion, greed, and arrogance that led toAmerica's credit crisis The collapse of America's credit markets in 2008 is quitepossibly the biggest financial disaster in U.S. history. ConfidenceGame: How a Hedge Fund Manager Called Wall Street's Bluff is thestory of Bill Ackman's six-year campaign to warn that the $2.5trillion bond insurance business was a catastrophe waiting tohappen. Branded a fraud by the Wall Street Journal and New YorkTimes, and investigated by Eliot Spitzer and the Securities andExchange Commission, Ackman later made his investors more than $1billion when bond insurers kicked off the collapse of the creditmarkets. Unravels the story of the credit crisis through an engaging andhuman drama Draws on unprecedented access to one of Wall Street's best-knowninvestors Shows how excessive leverage, dangerous financial models, and ablind reliance on triple-A credit ratings sent Wall Streetcareening toward disaster Confidence Game is a real world "Empero

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is David S. Landes's acclaimed, best-selling exploration of one of the most contentious and hotly debated questions of our time: Why do some nations achieve economic success while others remain mired in poverty? The answer, as Landes definitively illustrates, is a complex interplay of cultural mores and historical circumstance. Rich with anecdotal evidence, piercing analysis, and a truly astonishing range of erudition, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is a "picture of enormous sweep and brilliant insight" (Kenneth Arrow) as well as one of the most audaciously ambitious works of history in decades.

During a 1999 protest of the World Trade Organization, Rivoli, an economics professor at Georgetown, looked on as an activist seized the microphone and demanded, "Who made your T-shirt?" Rivoli determined to find out. She interviewed cotton farmers in Texas, factory workers in China, labor champions in the American South and used-clothing vendors in Tanzania. Problems, Rivoli concludes, arise not with the market, but with the suppression of the market. Subsidized farmers, and manufacturers and importers with tax breaks, she argues, succeed because they avoid the risks and competition of unprotected global trade, which in turn forces poorer countries to lower their prices to below subsistence levels in order to compete. Rivoli seems surprised by her own conclusions, and while some chapters lapse into academic prose and tedious de*ions of bureaucratic maneuvering, her writing is at its best when it considers the social dimensions of a global economy, as in chapters on the social networks of African used-clothin

Heading to China on business? Then it's worth considering the skills needed to manage business operations there, the secrets to forming successful joint ventures and business partnerships, and the best ways to manage employees on the mainland, where staff turnover is now at a record high. But that's not all both multinationals and aspiring entrepreneurs need to think about how they can attract China's fickle consumers, and how expatriates and their families can lead a satisfying life in the world's most populous country. Juan Antonio Fernandez, a professor at the China-Europe International Business School, and Laurie Underwood of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai, have collaborated on a book offering a number of insightful answers to these pressing questions. China CEO: Voices of Experience is required reading for those ready to take the plunge. But instead of speaking from their own experiences, the authors have interviewed 20 top international executives working in China for Fortune 5

The classic introduction to economic thought, now updated intime for the publication of New Ideas from Dead CEOs This entertaining and accessible introduction to the greateconomic thinkers throughout history— Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill,Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and more—shows how their ideasstill apply to our modern world. In this revised edition, renownedeconomist Todd Buchholz offers an insightful and informedperspective on key economic issues in the new millennium:increasing demand for energy, the rise of China, internationaltrade, aging populations, health care, and the effects of globalwarming. New Ideas from Dead Economists is a fascinating guide tounderstanding both the evolution of economic theory and our complexcontemporary economy.

Unrivaled in its unique combination of analytical rigor and accessibility, Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach has garnered one of the broadest adoption lists in the market. Now appearing in its Sixth Edition, Professor Varian's hallmark text is better than ever, featuring new treatments of game theory and competitive strategy, and a variety of new illustrative examples. Modern, authoritative, and above all crafted by an outstanding teacher and scholar, Intermediate Microeconomics, Sixth Edition will expand students' analytic powers and strengthen their understanding of microeconomics. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

How can your name affect how well you do in life? What do estateagents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common? Why do drug dealerslive with their mothers? The answer: Freakonomics. It’s at theheart of everything we do and the things that affect us daily: fromsex to crime, parenting to politics, fat to cheating, fear totraffic jams. And we can use it to get to the heart of what’sreally happening under the surface of everyday life. This cultbestseller will show you how, by unravelling your life’s secretcodes, you can discover a totally new way of seeing the world.

From Wall Street to the West Coast, from blue-collarbillionaires to blue-blood fortunes, from the Google guys tohedge-fund honchos, All the Money in the World gives us the lowdownon today richest Americans. Veteran journalists Peter W. Bernsteinand Annalyn Swan delve into who made and lost the most money in thepast twenty-five years, the fields and industries that haveproduced the greatest wealth, the biggest risk takers, the mostcompetitive players, the most wasteful family feuds, the trophywives, the most conspicuous consumers, the biggest art collectors,and the most and least generous philanthropists. Incorporating exclusive, never-before-published data from Forbesmagazine, All the Money in the World is a vastly entertaining,behind-the-scenes look at today's Big Rich.