The most devastating financial crisis since the GreatDepression has cost the jobs, homes and savings of millions ofpeople. In 2008 the US government stepped in to rescue a falteringfinancial system, propping up some of the largest and most powerfulfinancial firms on Wall Street. Two years later everyone is stillwondering what exactly prompted a calamity of such magnitude. Toanswer this question, US Congress created the Financial CrisisInquiry Commission in May 2009 and directed it to "examine thecauses, domestic and global, of the current financial and economicscrisis in the United States." Lawmakers appointed a 10-member panelwith expertise in business, economics regulation and housing toconduct an investigation and then report to the President, theCongress and the American people. Vested with subpoena power, theCommission spent more than a year conducting unprecedentedinterviews with more than 700 eyewitnesses to the crisis and itsaftermath, including current and former government officials, chiefexe

This is a book about a handful of men with a curious claim to fame. By all the rules of schoolboy history books, they were nonentities: they commanded no armies, sent no men to their deaths, ruled no empires, took little part in history-making decisions. A few of them achieved renown, but none was ever a national hero; a few were roundly abused, but none was ever quite a national villain. Yet what they did was more decisive for history than many acts of statesmen who basked in brighter glory, often more profoundly disturbing than the shuttling of armies back and forth across frontiers, more powerful for good and bad than the edicts of kings and legislatures. It was this: they shaped and swayed men's minds. And because he who enlists a man's mind wields a power even greater than the sword or the scepter, these men shaped and swayed the world. Few of them ever lifted a finger in action; they worked, in the main, as scholars -- quietly, inconspicuously, and without much regard for what the world had to say abou

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.

In the last two decades, free markets have swept the globe. But traditional capitalism has been unable to solve problems like inequality and poverty. In Muhammad Yunus’ groundbreaking sequel to Banker to the Poor, he outlines the concept of social business—business where the creative vision of the entrepreneur is applied to today’s most serious problems: feeding the poor, housing the homeless, healing the sick, and protecting the planet. Creating a World Without Poverty reveals the next phase in a hopeful economic and social revolution that is already underway.

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.

A lively, fact-packed account of China's spectacular, 30-year transformation from economic shambles following Mao's Cultural Revolution to burgeoning market superpower, this book offers a torrent of statistics, case studies and anecdotes to tell a by now familiar but still worrisome story succinctly. Paid an average of 25 cents an hour, China's workers are not the world's cheapest, but no nation can match this "docile and capable industrial workforce, groomed by generations of government-enforced discipline," as veteran business reporter (and Chicago Mercantile trading firm founder) Fishman characterizes it. Since Mexican wages were (at the time) four times those of China, NAFTA's impact has been dwarfed by China's explosive growth (about 9.5% a year), and corporations and entrepreneurs operating in China have few worries about minimum wages, pensions, benefits, unions, antipollution laws or worker safety regulations. For the U.S., Fishman predicts more of what we're already seeing: deficits, declining wages

Why trying to be the best … competing like crazy … makes youmediocre Every few years a book—through a combination of the author’sunique voice, storytelling ability, wit, and insight—simply breaksthe mold. Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods is one example. RichardFeynman’s “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” is another. Now comes Youngme Moon’s Different, a book for “people who don’tread business books.” Actually, it’s more like a personalconversation with a friend who has thought deeply about how theworld works … and who gets you to see that world in a completelynew light. If there is one strain of conventional wisdom pervading everycompany in every industry, it’s the absolute importance of“competing like crazy.” Youngme Moon’s message is simply “Get offthis treadmill that’s taking you nowhere. Going tit for tat andadding features, augmentations, and gimmicks to beat thecompetition has the perverse result of making you lik

A million copy seller, Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson"is a classic economic primer. But it is also much more, havingbecome a fundamental influence on modern "libertarian" economics ofthe type espoused by Ron Paul and others. Considered among theleading economic thinkers of the "Austrian School," which includesCarl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich (F.A.) Hayek, and others,Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993), was a libertarian philosopher, aneconomist, and a journalist. He was the founding vice-president ofthe Foundation for Economic Education and an early editor of "TheFreeman" magazine, an influential libertarian publication. Hazlittwrote "Economics in One Lesson," his seminal work, in 1946. Conciseand instructive, it is also deceptively prescient and far-reachingin its efforts to dissemble economic fallacies that are soprevalent they have almost become a new orthodoxy. Many currenteconomic commentators across the political spectrum have creditedHazlitt with foreseeing the collapse of the global economy w

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.

"Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other studyknown to man." -- Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson(1946) Every day economic claims are used by the media or inconversation to support social and political positions. Those onthe left tend to distrust economists, seeing them as friends of theright. There is something to this, since professional economistsare almost all keen supporters of the free market. Yet whilefactions on the right naturally embrace economists, they also tendto overestimate the effect of their support on free-marketpolicies. The result is widespread confusion. In fact, virtuallyall commonly held beliefs about economics--whether espoused bypolitical activists, politicians, journalists or taxpayers--arejust plain wrong. Professor Joseph Heath wants to raise our economic literacyand empower us with new ideas. In Economics WithoutIllusions , he draws on everyday examples to skewer the sixfavourite economic fallacies of the right, followed by impaling thesix

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.

The New York Times bestseller-an investment book for thecoming age of high inflation. On the heels of the most recent economic crisis, America isheaded toward another: high inflation and dollar devaluation. Thesigns are clear: Federal debt is compounding while growth hasstalled, and America's foreign creditors are questioning thedollar's reserve currency status. Meanwhile, the "hidden" federaldebt, much larger than the official debt, makes things evenworse. But the good news, according to Charles Goyette, is that thosewho are prepared can protect themselves-and even profit-in this newera. Drawing on historical examples and a clear, down-to-earthanalysis, he explains the importance of gold, silver, and otheralternative investments when inflation takes off. He also givesreaders the investing tools to protect their savings and capitalizeon the opportunities ahead. Savvy readers don't have to be leftholding the bag after decades of government irresponsibility.

Perhaps the hottest field in macroeconomics, economic growth is fascinating to theorists and critically important to policy makers. Charles Jones, a rising star in the field, explains the inroads economists have made in understanding how economies grow. The story begins with empirical evidence: how rich are the rich countries, how poor are the poor, and how fast do the rich and poor countries grow? Jones then presents major theories of growth, from the Nobel Prize-winning work of Robert Solow to the new growth theory that has ignited the field in recent years.