This timely analysis of today's economic realities relates the headlines to the long term causes from which they spring. Why did we have a worldwide financial crisis in 2008? Is stimulus the answer, and what are its risks and potential returns? Why are our investments so unprofitable? Why are our citizens struggling to find work? Why do we repeatedly confuse effort with results? The author finds the answers to these questions in the dysfunctions of the welfare state.Economics is the science of the creation and exchange of value, but Gross Domestic Product (GDP) confuses value with the creation and exchange of "goods and services." Along the way, GDP has become a measure not of value created, but of effort expended and of costs incurred. This confusion has become the cornerstone of policy manipulation of "the economy," because it is very easy to incur costs, though not so easy to create value. Policymakers are not eager to correct this discrepancy because it is easier to manufacture costs through brute force than to produce results that have real value.This book pins down the major contributors to these distortions in a number of specific areas, including education, science and engineering, hospitals and other medical facilities, the public utility transmission grids, and in the trade deficit. It also pursues the distortions caused by short-sighted public policy in the capital markets. The book concludes with a discussion of market efficiency and inefficiency leading to the conclusion that policy intervention into the capital markets reduces their capacity to allocate capital productively. The author addresses this broad topic from the unique perspective of someone who has contributed both to the theoretical analysis and to the actual practice of markets.
This book presents a novel approach to characterizing markets in quantitative terms. The examples cut across the world of interest rates, price of gold, stock market and corporate worlds that the stock market rests on, and the pricing of options on financial instruments. The emphasis is on methods of inquiry, methods that can just as easily be applied to other markets and other economic phenomena as well. The goal is to make the methods available to the widest possible audience of quantitative analysts and to the trading desks and investment plans they feed.Quantitative research and modeling in finance and economics have a long history going back to Frank Ramsey, mathematician, logician, and economist, who pioneered the application of dynamic models in economics in the 1920s, and to his theory of the Ramsey Tax, which is a rule for apportioning tax rates in a way that raises the maximum tax revenues while impacting the decisions of taxpayers as little as possible. The opposite would be a tax so inefficient that it causes people to avoid doing whatever it is that subjects them to the tax.These experiments yield valuable insight into economic affairs, but they are only a stepping-stone for others—a starting point for discovery. Foremost among them is locating usable statistical findings to the investment world. Gibbons' intention is not to provide investment advice, it is to provide education. These data are subject to changing results, but that should not diminish their educational value. This is a proactive fusion of business economics and sound social science methods.
For many, perhaps most, the title Early Celtic Art summons up images of Early Christian stone crosses in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, or Cornwall; of Glendalough, lona or Tintagel; of the Ardagh Chalice or the Monymusk Reliquary; of the great illuminated gospels of Durrow or Lindisfame. But as Stuart Piggott notes, the consummate works of art produced under the aegis of the early churches in Britain or Ireland, in regions Celtic by tradition or language, have an ancestry behind them only partly Celtic. One strain in an eclectic style was borrowed from the ornament of the northern Germanic world, the classical Mediterranean, and even the Eastern churches. Early Celtic art, originating in the fifth century b.c. in Central Europe, was already seven or eight centuries old when it was last traced in the pagan, prehistoric world, and the transmission of some of its modes and motifs over a further span of centuries into the Christian Middle Ages was an even later phenomenon. This volume presents the art of the prehistoric Celtic peoples, the first great contribution of the barbarians to European arts. It is an art produced in circumstances that the classical world and contemporary societiesunhesitatingly recognize as uncivilized. Its appearance, it has been said by N. K. Sandars in Prehistoric Art in Europe: "is perhaps one of the oddest and most unlikely things to have come out of a barbarian continent. Its peculiar refinement, delicacy, and equilibrium are not altogether what one would expect of men who, though courageous and not without honor even in the records of their enemies, were also savage, cruel and often disgusting; for the archaeological refuse, as well as the reports of Classical antiquity, agree in this verdict." This book comprises the first major exhibition of Early Celtic Art from its origins and beginnings to its aftermath, and was assembled by Stuart Piggott who taught later European prehistory to Honors students in Archaeolog
The Empire Strikes a Match in a World Full of Oil is a book about justice and about history. The history is a history of American expansionism which has evolved into a plan for world domination, seemingly a plan to make the world safe for American democracy. The plan isn't new. Nearly fifty years ago our text book on American history, taught at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown U. by a close Kennedy advisor, was entitled Empire for Liberty. Before we proceed further however we, as Americans, need to ask 'at what price?' The price is too high, because unlike successful empires that dominate and exploit their backward neighbors, America shares world power with other nations. Even though we tower over any one of them, we cannot dominate them all. This book concludes by defining the choice America faces at this moment -- the choice between endless war against large and growing powers on the one hand and a world that has submitted to the rule of law on the other. But it is not an appeal to world government either; not a call for another layer of administration and invasive rules. It is an appeal for a world legal system in which free nations freely interact.
The News Media Yellow Book provides detailed breakdowns of media organizations by news desks, departments, bureaus, and sections. Users will find accurate listings from nine types of media outlets: news services, newspapers, networks, television stations, radio stations, programs, periodicals, non-U.S. media, and publishers, including complete contact information for over 38,000 reporters, writers, editors, and producers in the leading national news media. All mailing addresses, titles, assignments, telephone and fax numbers, biographical data, and emails are verified by Leadership Directories in-house editorial staff.
From the author of Unlikely Allies and Indivisible comes the remarkable story of John Marshall who, as chief justice, statesman, and diplomat, played a pivotal role in the founding of the United States. No member of America's Founding Generation had a greater impact on the Constitution and the Supreme Court than John Marshall, and no one did more to preserve the delicate unity of the fledgling United States. From the nation's founding in 1776 and for the next forty years, Marshall was at the center of every political battle. As Chief Justice of the United States—the longest-serving in history—he established the independence of the judiciary and the supremacy of the federal Constitution and courts. As the leading Federalist in Virginia, he rivaled his cousin Thomas Jefferson in influence. As a diplomat and secretary of state, he defended American sovereignty against France and Britain, counseled President John Adams, and supervised the construction of the city of Washington. D.C. This is the astonishing true story of how a rough-cut frontiersman—born in Virginia in 1755 and with little formal education—invented himself as one of the nation's preeminent lawyers and politicians who then reinvented the Constitution to forge a stronger nation. Without Precedent is the engrossing account of the life and times of this exceptional man, who with cunning, imagination, and grace shaped America's future as he held together the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and the country itself.
This illustrated version of performer Billy Joel's popular song showcases the sights and landmarks of New York City, as seen through the eyes of a plucky little dog.
Often working under severely restricted academic and social conditions, the Latvian scholar Joel Weinberg has made a unique and important contribution to biblical studies. Influenced by Soviet work in ancient Near Eastern history, Weinberg's distinctive approach is in dialogue with scholarship in both Eastern and Western European traditions. This translation brings together seven essays originally published in Russian, then translated and expanded by Weinberg into German. The essays form the basis of what was originally Weinberg's dissertation. Publication of these essays in English will not only allow students and scholars easier access to Weinberg's thought, but will allow scholars to evaluate the studies together, and thus facilitate the current dialogue on the Babylonian exile, and the postexilic period.
This book was written to develop the link between the history of the Judges and the letters of Christ to the seven churches in Asia in Revelation 2-3 as well as to suggest practical teaching applicable to every local assembly today. "Portman has skillfully handled this subject. He takes the reader into deep truths, but yet provides practical and challenging applications of scriptural doctrine that should determine our behaviour. Serious believers will fi nd this helpful, enlightening, and encouraging in these perilous times."- Mark VanDerHart "What a refreshing contrast to the "feel-good" books surrounding us. In "No King in Israel" Portman links the times of the Judges in Israel with the letters of Christ to the seven churches (Revelation 2, 3). Within these pages is real help, strong encouragement, and even a stiff challenge for the serious believer. Shepherds will be glad to fi nd clear, sound instruction and guidance in leading God's people in obedience to His explicit directions. But there are also strands of gold woven throughout this volume which lovingly draw the heart toward a more unhindered and undivided devotion to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. It is this Lord Jesus Christ who wrote the seven letters to the seven churches. His words of commendation and condemnation speak to the spiritual direction of the church as a whole and to the local assembly. The touchstones may be appropriated as written to us today. Included is an easy-to-understand synopsis of each of the judges providing encouraging admonitions, and instructive warnings. Many cause-and-eff ect parallels between those often-tested, sometimes failing Old Testament judges and the church's elders are applicable even today. You will want to highlight, to meditate, even to dog-ear these pages, as you ponder insights which skillfully aim each concept at the heart. May the Lord bless each reader who embarks on this worthwhile spiritual journey "- Jim Brown
Paul’s foundational letter to the Romans is placed within the commonly accepted scripture structure as the initial letter from one of the apostles to the churches in the first century, BC. Paul, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus, was by his own account one of the most prominent Jewish scholars, thoroughly versed in the history of his nation, as well as the particulars of the Law of Moses. In the early days of church history, immediately following the crucifixion and ascension of Jesus Christ, Saul of Tarsus was one of the fiercest opponents of the sect known as Christians, initially known by that name in the ancient city of Antioch. The Lord dramatically saved Saul as he approached Damascus in Syria with orders from the Jewish Sanhedrin to capture and return Christians for trial in Jerusalem. Knocked to the ground, and blinded, Jesus instructed him to continue on to Damascus to be prayed for by a Christian, Ananias, at which time he would recover his sight, receive his new name, and begin his new career as the apostle to the nations. Paul was perfectly suited to fulfill his new role. His letter to the Romans laid out the basic doctrines of faith for all believers. In Chapters 9-11, of which this manuscript describes, Paul provides a detailed status report on Israel, including their temporary fall from grace, followed by the wondrous time when they will return to God when All Israel Shall be Saved.
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