Money - Brossura

Lonergan, Eric

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1844652033 ISBN 13: 9781844652037

Casa editrice: Routledge, 2009

Riassunto

Over the past year, we have seen banks tumble, City firms collapse and the advent of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. At the heart of these events lies the pursuit of money. But just what is this thing that seems so powerful and omnipresent and yet is physically worthless - a piece of paper, or a digit on a computer screen? How does it work? And, more importantly, how far can we control the power it has over our lives? Eric Lonergan explores our complex relationship with money. In a provocative and insightful analysis, Lonergan argues that few things seem to matter more to us, but few things are as poorly understood. Economists have long worked with the theory that our relationship to money is rational, but not all our reactions to it make sense. Lonergan shows that many of our views about money, credit and saving are little better than prejudices. The same social and emotional forces that affect quant traders in the world's financial markets can be seen in the mania of Pokemon card trading in the school playground. This fascinating book reveals the tension between money's capacity to assist us in our lives and its propensity to cause instability and to distort our values. We are limited in our ability to control money's power, says Lonergan, but only by understanding money better, and thinking about it less, may we get on with enjoying what we have.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

'Towards the end of Eric Lonergan's considered treatise on money, he recounts how Pokémon cards, a baffling craze from Japan, spontaneously turned into currency in his daughter's school playground. Whatever form it takes, the use of money as a means of exchange seems to be hardwired; so too does its capacity continually to distort human behaviour.
How can money simultaneously make the world go round and be the root of all evil? Mr Lonergan, a thoughtful hedge-fund manager in London, points out that money is greatly misunderstood. It is widely believed to loosen social bonds, yet it fosters interdependence. It enables people who may never meet to trade with each other. It is useless in a world without laws, property rights or trust in institutions. Money depends on society, and strengthens it.
It is equally nonsensical to see saving as an intrinsically virtuous activity and borrowing as an essentially dubious one. One person's saving represents another person's borrowing ... But his most interesting ideas are those that run against the grain of post-crisis soul-searching. Credit cards are not just a call to excess, but also a form of insurance against shortfalls in cash. Teaching a few offenders a lesson in order to prevent moral hazard--by letting banks fail, say--is idiotic if the costs are imposed on everyone. Printing money and transferring it directly to people's bank accounts is a perfectly sensible way of tackling the risk of deflation. Mr Lonergan concludes ... that money would cause less damage if people did not think about it so much. With this slender but stimulating book, he provokes the opposite reaction.'
--The Economist, November 26th 2009

"An informed, readable and timely work. . . thought-provoking . . . challenging preconceptions from an informed position, he made me reassess my own attitudes. He shines a concise but intellectually satisfying light on elements of the financial system. The value of the analysis appears to have grown as events have unfolded." --The Business Economist

L'autore:

Eric Lonergan is a macro hedge-fund manager at M&G Investments, London.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Routledge
• Data di pubblicazione: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1844652033
• ISBN 13: 9781844652037
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 160