The latest cutting-edge research on market microstructure Based on the December 2010 conference on market microstructure, organized with the help of the Institut Louis Bachelier, this guide brings together the leading thinkers to discuss this important field of modern finance. It provides readers with vital insight on the origin of the well-known anomalous "stylized facts" in financial prices series, namely heavy tails, volatility, and clustering, and illustrates their impact on the organization of markets, execution costs, price impact, organization liquidity in electronic markets, and other issues raised by high-frequency trading. World-class contributors cover topics including analysis of high-frequency data, statistics of high-frequency data, market impact, and optimal trading. This is a must-have guide for practitioners and academics in quantitative finance.

Global banking and finance is a complex and specialized field with sector-specific investment forms, subject to distinctive legal and regulatory frameworks and unique types of political risk. This comprehensive guide to international investment protection in the finance and banking sector, written by acknowledged experts in the field of investor-State arbitration, provides the first in-depth discussion of how international investment law applies to investors and investments in the sector. Featuring expert guidance on the key legal protections for cross-border banking and finance investments, with complete and up-to-date coverage of investor-State cases, the analysis crystallizes a set of field-specific legal principles for the sector. In particular, the authors address the following practical aspects of investment protection in the banking and finance sector: how sector-specific forms of investment, such as loans and derivatives, impact the dispute resolution process; types of political risk that cross-border investments in the sector are likely to encounter; distinctive adverse sovereign measures that underlie disputes in the sector, including those from sovereign debt defaults and banking sector bailouts; specific treaty provisions, such as jurisdictional carve-outs and targeted exclusions; remedies available for violations of international investment protections; how monetary damages may be assessed for injury to banking and finance sector investments; the scope of financial services chapters included in certain free trade agreements; the protections available under domestic foreign investment laws; and alternative sources of protection such as political risk insurance and investment contracts. International disputes practitioners and academics, in-house counsel in the finance and banking industries, and arbitrators addressing banking and finance disputes will welcome this book for its practical guidance. With strategies for investors as well as for sovereign States to navigate the intricacies of the investment protection system, the authors' comprehensive analysis will help ensure appropriate international protection for banking and finance sector investments, both when establishing investments and when resolving disputes. The book lays the groundwork for the future consolidation of international investment protection as a critical tool to manage the political risk confronting global banking and finance.

Inequality has drastically increased in many countries around the globe over the past three decades. The widening gap between the very rich and everyone else is often portrayed as an unexpected outcome or as the tradeoff we must accept to achieve economic growth. In this book, three International Monetary Fund economists show that this increase in inequality has in fact been a political choice—and explain what policies we should choose instead to achieve a more inclusive economy. Jonathan D. Ostry, Prakash Loungani, and Andrew Berg demonstrate that the extent of inequality depends on the policies governments choose—such as whether to let capital move unhindered across national boundaries, how much austerity to impose, and how much to deregulate markets. While these policies do often confer growth benefits, they have also been responsible for much of the increase in inequality. The book also shows that inequality leads to weaker economic performance and proposes alternative policies capable of delivering more inclusive growth. In addition to improving access to health care and quality education, they call for redistribution from the rich to the poor and present evidence showing that redistribution does not hurt growth. Accessible to scholars across disciplines as well as to students and policy makers, Confronting Inequality is a rigorous and empirically rich book that is crucial for a time when many fear a new Gilded Age.

Based on a popular class taught by a Harvard Business School professor. If you're not a numbers person, then finance can be intimidating and easy to ignore. But if you want to advance in your career, you'll need to make smart financial decisions and develop the confidence to clearly communicate those decisions to others. In How Finance Works, Mihir Desai--a professor at Harvard Business School and author of The Wisdom of Finance--guides you into the complex but endlessly fascinating world of finance, demystifying it in the process. Through entertaining case studies, interactive exercises, full-color visuals, and a conversational style that belies the topic, Professor Desai tackles a broad range of topics that will give you the knowledge and skills you need to finally understand how finance works. These include: How different financial levers can affect a company's performance The different ways in which companies fund their operations and investments Why finance is more concerned with cash flow than profits How value is created, measured, and maximized The importance of capital markets in helping companies grow Whether you're a student or a manager, an aspiring CFO or an entrepreneur, How Finance Works is the colorful and interactive guide you need to help you start thinking more deeply about the numbers.

“A treasure trove for financial and public policy geeks . . . will also help lay readers go beyond the hit musical in understanding Hamilton’s lasting significance.” —Publishers Weekly While serving as the first treasury secretary from 1789 to 1795, Alexander Hamilton engineered a financial revolution. He established the treasury debt market, the dollar, and a central bank, while strategically prompting private entrepreneurs to establish securities markets and stock exchanges and encouraging state governments to charter a number of commercial banks and other business corporations. Yet despite a recent surge of interest in Hamilton, US financial modernization has not been fully recognized as one of his greatest achievements. This book traces the development of Hamilton’s financial thinking, policies, and actions through a selection of his writings. Financial historians and Hamilton experts Richard Sylla and David J. Cowen provide commentary that demonstrates the impact Hamilton had on the modern economic system, guiding readers through Hamilton’s distinguished career. It showcases Hamilton’s thoughts on the nation’s founding, the need for a strong central government, problems such as a depreciating paper currency and weak public credit, and the architecture of the financial system. His great state papers on public credit, the national bank, the mint, and manufactures instructed reform of the nation’s finances and jumpstarted economic growth. Hamilton practiced what he preached: he played a key role in the founding of three banks and a manufacturing corporation—and his deft political maneuvering and economic savvy saved the fledgling republic’s economy during the country’s first full-blown financial crisis in 1792. “A fascinating examination of Hamiltonian economics.” —The Washington Times

Confronting Climate Uncertainty in Water Resources Planning and Project Design describes an approach to facing two fundamental and unavoidable issues brought about by climate change uncertainty in water resources planning and project design. The first is a risk assessment problem. The second relates to risk management. This book provides background on the risks relevant in water systems planning, the different approaches to scenario definition in water system planning, and an introduction to the decision-scaling methodology upon which the decision tree is based. The decision tree is described as a scientifically defensible, repeatable, direct and clear method for demonstrating the robustness of a project to climate change. While applicable to all water resources projects, it allocates effort to projects in a way that is consistent with their potential sensitivity to climate risk. The process was designed to be hierarchical, with different stages or phases of analysis triggered based on the findings of the previous phase. An application example is provided followed by a descriptions of some of the tools available for decision making under uncertainty and methods available for climate risk management. The tool was designed for the World Bank but can be applicable in other scenarios where similar challenges arise.

Entrepreneurial Finance: Venture Capital, Deal Structure & Valuation, Second Edition illustrates how the theory and methods of finance and economics can be used to guide strategic decision-making. This text prepares readers for a variety of situations that confront stakeholders in the rapidly evolving fields of entrepreneurial finance and venture capital, outlining ways to think from the investor's and entrepreneur's perspectives. Readers will find a unique and direct focus on value creation as the objective of each strategic and financial choice. The authors specifically address the influences of risk and uncertainty on new venture success and investment performance, devoting substantial attention to methods of financial modeling and contract design. Finally, they provide a comprehensive survey of approaches to new venture valuation, with an emphasis on applications. The second edition is thoroughly revised to reflect new data, research, and changes in practice in this fast-moving field. It has an increased focus on venture capital, while maintaining its hallmark coverage of the financial aspects of entrepreneurship. Updates throughout address technological changes that have the potential to dramatically change the landscape for finance, such as recent innovations in contracting for early-stage ventures, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and Internet connectivity. Lastly, the book offers a companion website with a useful suite of resources for students and instructors alike, including spreadsheets, templates, simulation applications, and interactive cases and tutorials.

An introduction to financial tools and concepts from an operations perspective, addressing finance/operations trade-offs and explaining financial accounting, working capital, investment analysis, and more. Students and practitioners in engineering and related areas often lack the basic understanding of financial tools and concepts necessary for a career in operations or supply chain management. This book offers an introduction to finance fundamentals from an operations perspective, enabling operations and supply chain professionals to develop the skills necessary for interacting with finance people at a practical level and for making sound decisions when confronted by tradeoffs between operations and finance. Readers will learn about the essentials of financial statements, valuation tools, and managerial accounting. The book first discusses financial accounting, explaining how to create and interpret balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements, and introduces the idea of operating working capital—a key concept developed in subsequent chapters. The book then covers financial forecasting, addressing such topics as sustainable growth and the liquidity/profitability tradeoff; concepts in managerial accounting, including variable versus fixed costs, direct versus indirect costs, and contribution margin; tools for investment analysis, including net present value and internal rate of return; creation of value through operating working capital, inventory management, payables, receivables, and cash; and such strategic and tactical tradeoffs as offshoring versus local and centralizing versus decentralizing. The book can be used in undergraduate and graduate courses and as a reference for professionals. No previous knowledge of finance or accounting is required.