 "Interesting" | 2009-11-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1W73D1KM2UCA3 |
| This is a quite interesting and insightful book. I very much enjoyed reading it. It takes you over a long history of finance and how various things in today's financial world have developed (e.g. equity, stock markets). This is a must for any finance scholar or with an interest in finance. |
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| "The Ascent of Money" | 2009-10-28 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1EXLKXCPDIOOO |
| This is the kind of history I like -- history that tells a story. Niall Ferguson reveals the rise of paper money, fractional-reserve banking, the bond market, the invention of the joint-stock corporation, marine and life insurance, and the housing bubble. This is a great read. I loved his words on collateralized debt obligations: "At the time, the sellers of these `structured products' boasted that securitization was having the effect of allocating risk `to those most able to bear it'. Only later did it emerge that risk was being allocated to those least able to understand it." Despite the crises, Ferguson asserts that developed financial systems are efficient and promote developed economies. Yet, he says, the human mind has an inherent capacity for fallacy. If you believe the tech bubble and the housing bubble are the last bubbles we'll ever see, then think again. |
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 "Not a view of the future as much as a look at the past" | 2009-10-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: AVFNR0RCQB8Y9 |
If you want to understand how finance affects the world, or how our current system came to be, this is a brilliant book that gives a wonderful account of the history of financial systems. In fact, I believe Mr. Ferguson makes a better historian than economist. The book is riveting when it is recounting the collapses of our economic past. But when he turns to using this history to prepare for the future, the wheels fall off.
Basically, if you want to know what this book prescribes for you to prepare for economic downturns, I'll sum it up: diversify! Shocking, I know. But, I don't want to poke too much fun at it. The history of insurance, bond markets, governmental borrowing and the profile of Chinese/American relations (he calls this Chimerica), were all very enlightening and will undoubtedly help me make wiser choices in the future. But, if you are looking for a book to help with your personal finance issues, this one is not designed for that. But if you want to know how we got to where we are, or the issues, trials and errors that got us here, then this is an awesome book.
On a rather odd note, I did notice that the author has a deep love for the work of Richard Dawkins. He used his concepts so many times that I thought he should be co-author. I found this very unusual and sad really. Why a world-class economist would use a tired, worn-out analogy as evolution is beyond me. In fact, in the last chapter of the book, Mr. Ferguson spends the majority of the time constructing the case that economics is like evolution. The craziest part of it is that the analogy does nothing to bring any clarity to finance. When one uses analogy, the hope is to build a bridge of understanding for the reader. In other words, use something familiar to bring something less familiar to light. Trying to follow Ferguson's evolution analogy brought no clarity and in fact seemed to muddy the waters. Not what one would expect from a Harvard professor.
But overall, I enjoyed this walk through the museum of finance. It gives us a greater understanding of today by brushing up against the past. While he doesn't give advice on how to recession-proof your portfolio, he does give much background to issues that you will find playing on your mind when you are deciding where to put your next investment. |
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| "Should be mandatory reading at schools" | 2009-09-08 |
| - Reviewed By User: AWX78XJM0SG20 |
| Realistic, easy to read and understand. Professor Ferguson is far away from the idealistic/utopic (even childish) positions that cloud the minds of so many writers today. |
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| "Progression of Finance: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" | 2009-08-22 |
| - Reviewed By zhoozhitsu |
Mr. Ferguson is a frequent and one of my favorite guests on Fareed Zakaria's weekly GPS program on CNN. Because of this, my review is biased as I perceive Mr. Ferguson's intellect and knowledge of the subjects he comments on to be impeccable.
In "The Ascent of Money", Mr. Ferguson identifies six pillars of the modern financial system, each with monumental events and personalities who provided the impetus for their creation:
1. Rise of banks/evolution of the banking system
2. Creation of government bonds in the 13th century
3. Advent of corporations and the 17th century allowance of equity in corporations (stocks)
4. 18th century insurance and pension funds to facilitate financial protection against risk
5. 19th century more sophisticated instruments of investments; futures, options, derivatives
6. 20th century ownership of residential real estate
Mr. Ferguson postulates economies that combine all of these innovations, allocate capital more efficiently, resulting in higher sustained economic growth.
The hook in Mr. Ferguson's book is "Chimerica"; The combination of the spectacular expansion of the Chinese economy and savings as a source for the insatiable appetite of U.S. borrowing and consumption. Mr. Ferguson cautions this intermingling of finances between the two economic leviathans should not be misconstrued as the impetus for lasting peace and security. "One important lesson of history is that major wars can arise even when economic globalization is very far advanced." (p. 330 of hardcover)
Absent from this publication is a prediction of where and when the future financial evolutions will occur, and what solutions lie at the heart of the world financial crisis that began in 2007. This is understandable as Mr. Ferguson is an historian, and "The Ascent of Money" is an historical account of the rise and importance of finance, and in that endeavor, Mr. Ferguson delivers the goods. |
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| "What an interesting book" | 2009-08-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A38IZVTPUJEP40 |
I thought that this book was going to be boring and dry especially because I never really liked history that much. However, I enjoyed reading it and found it educational. We all use money, but never think too much about it. Money is just an idea. It is something that we believe has value. This is a very good book explaining the origins of money and all the financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, derivatives, insurance, and home mortgages. I like the explanation of how these financial innovations helped our economies grow and improved our standard of living.
Listening to economists today, we don't get this type of explanation. Very few of them understand the history behind money and financial instruments. If they did, they would understand that the current financial crisis and Ponzi schemes are nothing new. I want to thank the author for doing writing this book. I don't think I will ever think of money the same way again.
- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market |
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