american-century-investments Books

There have been several prominent books and journal articles on Japan's postwar economic success (my personal favorite is The Misunderstood Miracle: Industrial Development and Political Change in Japan (Cornell Studies in Political Economy)). However, understanding the true nature of this flourishing is a somewhat different matter. While Friedman addresses the ECONOMIC aspects, Fosberg ably addresses the political and diplomatic aspects.

Prior to the War, Japan had been a major industrial power, and while a stupendous amount of plant and materiel had been physically destroyed by Allied bombing, it was clear that Japan possessed the trained personnel and deepened industrial institutions to recover. What was not clear, however, was if the US political establishment had the will or vision to help out.

Political establishments are heterogenous things, with complicated networks of competing and colluding interests; and while this is something so obvious it ought to be vapid, it's a point usually overlooked by ideologically zealous historians. For those interested in a serious, well-documented treatment of how the network of myriad US interests coalesced towards a strategy of helping Japan develop, and then integrate into the US economic sphere, this is a good beginning.

Students of economics will possibly be perturbed because Forsberg does not strictly adhere to neoliberal economic orthodoxy. This book tends towards neutrality on controversial issues in development economics, and rather, deals with what actors expected to happen as a result of the policies they pursued. So, for example, for much of the period covered the US Congress wavered between accommodating Japanese home markets protection (for the purpose of defeating Communism in the region) and demanding that the Japanese authorities open their market to US goods. An orthodox economist might object that protecting domestic markets was a stupid "payout" for either Japanese or US constituencies generally, but the point is that in 1950 very few political actors anywhere thought such things.

In general, the account tends to be fairly favorable to the US polity in terms of "generosity" (in this case, willingness to sacrifice short-term regional preferences for long-term success in the project of Japanese development), and emphasizes the success of Japanese industry interests in protecting specific markets. At the same time, the difficulty of getting the US polity to support Japanese economic recovery is not ignored. The terms of the bilateral agreements with Japan were sometimes one-sided, allowing the USA bases without commitments to actually defend Japan. Partly this was an ugly byproduct of the fact that Japan had become a US client by virtue of defeat in a war; but it also reflected internal divsions in the Japanese polity over the relationship with the USA.

In any respects, the book is an outstanding companion to the above-mentioned Friedman book on the economics of Japan's development. While Friedman emphasizes the overlooked entreprenuerial aspect, Forsberg explains the institutional and diplomatic aspect that actually prevailed. Readers of varing ideological or economic dogmas may draw their own conclusions based on what actually followed.

in my world history class i was doing a project on the japanese economic miracle after world war ii. this was the main source of information i used. i thought that this book was full of information involving the japanese and their sturggle to gain economic success. this book also taught me a lot about how the americans felt about the japanese. although in war they were enemies, after the war, since the US occupied Japan, due to their help, the japanese were able to get the success they wanted. if you are working on a project or just want to know about the japanese economic miracle, then i strongly suggest this book.

It's good to welcome back this classic of U.S. mining history. Clark C. Spence's British Investments and the American Mining Frontier, 1860-1901 has been the starting place for looking at foreign investment in American mining ever since its publication in 1958, when it won the American Historical Association's distinguished Beveridge Award.

In order to progress, American mining in the West needed lots and lots of development capital. Local capitalists in the states and territories provided some of the initial upfront capital. Gold Rush enriched San Francisco stepped into the breach, but increasingly ever more capital was needed. Mining promoters turned to the East and to Europe, particularly Britain, for funding.

Bill Robbins' Colony & Empire: The Capitalist Transformation of the American West provides a good discussion of this evolution in funding resources as he explores his theme of the capitalization and globalization of the West. And this is where Spence comes in, examining the promotional efforts to engage British capital, as well as the problems associated with distant and foreign investment. Amidst the general discussion, he particularly focuses on the Emma Silver Mining Company, Ltd., in Utah as a case study. Ironically, while British capital played a key role in developing the American mining industry during these years, very few of the 500+ British companies involved made any money.

W. Turrentine Jackson's recently reissued classic Treasure Hill: Portrait of a Silver Camp, which is also wonderful to have back in print, provides further illustration of the role and problems of British investment, in this instance the Eberhardt & Aurora Mining company in the White Pines Mining District in Nevada. Jeremy Mouat's Roaring Days: Rossland's Mines & the History of British Columbia is also enlightening since it offers a comparison with British investment across the border from Washington and Idaho in British Columbia.

Spences's British Investments in the American Mining Frontier, 1860-1901 is essential to understanding the history of American mining history, as is his more recent Mining Engineers & the American West: The Lace-Boot Brigade, 1849-1933, which has also been republished by the University of Idaho Press. Now the Mining History Association offers the Clark C. Spence Award for the best book published on American mining history.

O'Brien's book on US capitalism in Latin America is only about 180 pages, but, refreshingly, he doesn't waste a word. Essentially he traces how US corporations have functioned in Latin America, how they have sought to transform Latin Americans into consumers of American goods and Fordist style workers in an effort to create new markets. He argues that US companies have been more influential in the development of Latin America than the US government, and he makes a strong case.

This book is essential for Latin Americanists in general and those interested in the relationship between US foreign policy and corporate interests abroad.

If you want to buy the book, go ahead, just be careful of superbookdeals, they take you money but don't deliver and don't answer emails. Caveat Emptor.

This SCHOLARLY work explains why "defined benefit pensions" are on the decline, and "defined contribution pensions" are on the rise. It takes you through the history of pensions so you'll really understand why there are so many different types of pensions in this country, which ones are on the way out, and which ones are on the rise. The book also takes a very interesting look at the changes the Social Security retirement benefits program is undergoing. Lastly, the FOOTNOTES ARE AMAZING!!!! After reading the footnotes, you will be chock full of really cool facts.

---Mordy Mandell, tax lawyer, New York City

Terrific explanation of a time many have forgotten, when Wall Street nearly collapsed not from scandal but from hubris, incompetence, and just plain sloppiness. Remember when the markets were closed on Wednesdays so firms could process their paperwork? How about Ross Perots adventure to conquer the street? Me neither. Unless you lived it, you'll never get closer to knowing how many times the whole ballgame nearly came undone.

This book was required as a supplemental text and so far has been a really interesting read.

This is an excellent narrative of the Roaring 1920's, penned just after in 1931. Author Frederick Lewis Allen captures the feel of the decade, with its new technology and prosperity (except for farmers), expanding cities, social rebellion, shorter skirts, flappers, Al Capone speakeasies, prohibition, bootleg alcohol, etc. The Presidency passed in 1920 from a broken Woodrow Wilson and his desire for a League of Nations, to three Republicans (Harding, Coolidge, Hoover) with laissez-faire, isolationist views. Increasing technology meant more people drove cars, had radios, watched movies, bought goods on credit, and adopted more sexually carefree, do-it-now lifestyles. Sports blossomed, as people flocked to see Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Red Grange, Bobby Jones, Bill Tilden, etc., also watching them on newreels at the movie theatre and hearing their exploits via radio. Of course, not all was perfect; farm incomes fell, wages rose too slowly, and rapid change created a backlash of new adherents to the Ku Klux Klan with its hatred of blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants. Finally, 1928-1929 saw the stock market boom via false hopes and margin buying - the disastrous crash of October, 1929 and increasing Great Depression were quite fresh as Allen penned these pages in 1931.

Frederick Lewis Allen (1890-1954) was a popular historian, magazine writer, and editor of Harper's Magazine. He gives a surprisingly informative and well-rounded look at an interesting era, one that reads just as well nearly eight decades later.

A very good, accessible history of the period from 1919 to 1931. Allen does a nice job of discussing what was on people's minds during this time. I especially enjoyed the sections on the Red Scare and the mania leading up to the stock market crash. My complaints are that this is mostly an urban, East Coast history, though there is reference to what was happening in the countryside and elsewhere in the country. I wish Allen had done a follow up or revised the edition after it first came out to include the New Deal era. Studs Terkel's Hard Times is a good supplement.

I am doing some research for a novel set in the 1920's. This book is very helpful in giving a favor of what the people in this time were thinking and some of the major events in this time.

Someone looking for a more serious work may wish to broaden their research a bit to get more depth.

Frederick Lewis Allen's book on the 1920's was first published in 1931. His informal history of this time period has withstood the test of time. He identified and described the major events and trends in that decade, without the benefit of what historians like to call a "decent interval." His writing style is lively, with a keen ability to capture the essence of broad historical trends. Once again, as Faulkner so eloquently said: "The past is not dead; it is not even the past." So many elements of the `20's have parallels today, certainly the economic bubble that burst into the Great Depression, but also the use of foreign "threats" to reduce the constitutional liberties of Americans.

Allen commences his book with the end of the "War to End All Wars," prior to the adding of a "I" after the "World War." Wilson lacked the support of the broad American people for his post-war initiatives, as they had a strong desire to return to "normalcy." Allen's chapter on "The Big Red Scare" is most illuminating, showing how readily government officials could use "fear" to void the Constitution. "It was an era of lawless and disorderly defense of law and order, of unconstitutional defense of the Constitution, of suspicion and civil conflict- in a very real sense, a reign of terror." (p39). "In Hartford, while the suspects were in jail the authorities took the further precaution of arresting and incarcerating all visitors who came to see them, a friendly call being regarded as prima facie evidence of affiliation with the Communist party." (p48). "Innumerable patriotic societies had sprung up... and must conjure up new and ever greater menaces. Innumerable other gentlemen now discovered that they could defeat whatever they wanted to defeat by tarring it conspicuously with the Bolshevist brush..." (p49).

The author is equally strong examining the changes in morals. He relies heavily on the Lynn's excellent sociological work, "Middletown." Hemlines were shortened, and numerous state legislatures tried to pass laws specifying, by inches, how much female flesh could be exposed. It was also an era of endless political scandals, and much corruption, epitomized by the Tea Pot Dome scandal. Concerning the President of the United States, Allen says: "His liabilities were not at first so apparent, yet they were disastrously real. Beyond the limited scope of his political experience he was `almost unbelievably ill-informed,'.... His mind was vague and fuzzy. Its quality was revealed in the clogged style of his public addresses, in his choice of turgid and maladroit language.... It was revealed even more clearly in his helplessness when confronted by questions of policy to which mere good nature could not find the answer." He could easily be describing George W Bush, but is actually describing Warren G Harding. Although America's Imperial reach was just in its infancy, still: "Only occasionally did the United States have to intervene by force of arms in other countries. The Marines ruled Haiti and restored order in Nicaragua; but in general the country extended its empire not by military conquest or political dictation, but by financial penetration. (p146). It was also another era that pitted fundamentalist religion against science, and Allen does a good job of describing the forces behind the Scopes trial.

Certainly one of the largest parallels was the increase in financial speculation that, as we know now, left at least a 10 year "hangover," and was only finally resolved by another "Great War." Allen devotes an entire chapter to the less well remembered real estate rush, and speculation in Florida. He also devoted a chapter to the more familiar stock market bubble and bust. "The market, as Max Winkler said, was discounting not only the future but the hereafter." And for those currently contemplating the sorry state of their "301k's", "It seems probable... that stocks have been passing not so much from the strong to the weak as from the smart to the dumb." (p269). And in his chapter entitled "Crash," another thought for our times: "Prosperity is more than an economic condition; it is a state of mind. The Big Bull Market had been more than the climax of a business cycle; it had been the climax of a cycle in American mass thinking and mass emotion." (p281)

Overall, an excellent book for our times, now that we might have more time for the simpler pleasures, like reading.

I read the book couple of years ago. It is an excellent resource for understanding Indian IT industry and some other sectors. I read the book now and then just to refresh myself, and to compare latest trends with those predicted in the book.

I found the 'one star reviews' to be funny. Author was trying to expose and counter these kind of views many times in the book. For people who are not intimately familiar with India and Indian business it will be pretty hard to understand.

Let me counter some of the oft repeated myths mentioned in these reviews.

Comparison to China, Japan and some other countries - Which country has 500 million people under the age of 25? 750 million people under 35? There is a reason why Indian IT companies are outdoing their own targets(targets set in 2002); they are on par to achieve 60 billion USD exports target by 2010. In "huge" relocation tide, scaling ability decides the fate. I respect other countries' achievements, but this is an area best suitable for India.

AIDS - as can be seen often when it comes to India related stuff, international organizations erred big time. Eventually some body analyzed their erroneous reports and predictions, and came to the conclusion that different 'sexual habits' of Indians(compared to Africans) may be the reason why number of AIDS patients did not scale up in India as fast as they have predicted. These international organizations lost credibility, I would say rightly so. That is what happens when people view India thru 'Africa lens'. Or for that matter 'Japan lens'/'China lens'.

Military - Unlike other countries who are happy to purchase F16s and what not from foreign buyers, India is exploring joint manufacturing opportunities. India recently reviewed and modernized its defense procurement/production quietly. Because of 'offset obligation' foreign manufacturers will be forced to work with domestic companies thereby scaling up production with in India. I see export possibility(parts, service, etc) in future. I was not surprised when Boeing announced recently, a tie up with Tata group for airline parts production. As the author would say, this kind of tie ups would be inevitable in future. India doesn't have a credible army? Tell that to American armed forces, who are conducting regular exercises with Indian counterparts.

Underestimating India is an oft repeated exercise among people with limited India related knowledge. Let me end with a quote -

"Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight among themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles." - Winston Churchill on the eve of Indian Independence

How ironic that the first reasoned and comprehensive effort to explain a tectonic shift in the global balance of power, which is now impacting on many lives around the world, is called "India industry propaganda". It is after all tectonic. Ask the US National Intelligence Council on their estimates of the world in 2020, or the many opinion polls (even in the Western world) on this subject ?
This is the very meaning of Rising Elephant.
That the international community means more than just winners for two centuries - with a history of only disturbing the global status quo - but many of whose people cannot accept that unexpected changes can for a change also be positive for humanity.
India is not shaking up the world order because the West likes it, or does not like it; that is irrelevant. India is fulfilling a historical mission, returning to where it was economically before the 19th century, as the source of much that is civilization - why else would half the world "discovered" by the Europeans range from the West Indies to Indonesia, and the native peoples of the Americas be mislabelled "Indians" ? And, along with China, India's rise simply means that the largest chunk of humanity are lifting themselves out of 200 years - just 200 years, one must remember, of being on the losing side of history.
This is important. India, as Rising Elephant shows, means a country with the world's first democracy (and a whole lot of other things) effected in spite of poverty. This alone is a lesson for the world. You don't have to be rich to be just, and this may mean you can be more just if (and when) you become rich (again).
I am a great fan of Ashutosh Sheshabalaya, and follow his writings with a great deal of care.
Ashutosh Sheshsbalaya does not play race. Reviewers who cannot accept his simple defense of India are themselves racist.
It is ironic that two of the key arguments held up by people who call Rising Elephant propaganda have been demolished recently by the book's author.
To learn why India is not going to have a nuclear war, read his piece in Washington's Globalist on Iran and the NPT 2.0. And keep in mind that the biggest part of world's 20,000 nuclear weapons (above all, those in Russia) are targeted not at India or even Pakistan but at the US.
And to learn why India is not succumbing to an AIDS "catastrophe", read his new article at sify.com called AIDS, Indian disasters and Apple II mindsets. Indeed, as he shows, the AIDS "problem" in India happens to be very close to that faced by the US, and 20 times lower than Africa.
Finally, the personal attacks on the author's intellectual and writing capabilities are uncalled for. It may be a good idea to see details of his 'intellectual' background and writing skills at his Website [...]. I doubt if the attackers of what is laughingly claimed to be Indian propaganda are as widely published on as many topics, reviewed in serious newspapers and by academics, and have anything like his College Board rankings or his series of academic scholarships.
To them, I suggest: Read the book again, or buy a dictionary.

Just seen someone here has recommended Clyde Prestowitz for a serious analysis rather than Rising Elephant's "laundry list". Well, Mr. Prestowitz has just endorsed the principal thesis of Rising Elephant: India and China both matter, but India will matter more.
According to a news report in the Press Trust of India at the end of February "China may be the destination for short-term investors, but if you are in it for the long haul you might want to bet on India, according to ... Clyde Prestowitz."

Where's a 6th star to rate this book?! Not only excellent (well-written, well-organized), but an eye-opening ouvrage which should be required reading at any university's economics department worthy of the name. Ditto for businessmen interested in outsourcing, an inevitable fact of modern-day economic growth. There are many oponents of outsourcing (if one sees what is happening currently in China, one understands), however what this has done to boost local growth in a positive manner in India is simply short of phenomenal.
To not have this book, if anything, simply as a reference book, would be a mistake. Highly recommended...

My oh my, does this book need some editing. It's basically a collection of quotes from newspapers that play up India's prospects in IT and software--that's all. The author conducted absolutely no original research, and resorts to hyperbole to get his point across. Poorly written, jingoistic, and poorly argued, not worth the time or money. Hard to believe Common Courage would publish such an unbalanced work.

I'd give the book five stars, except that the book became more of an argument in favor of the efficient market theory and less of a straight history of the evolution of the stock market. As long as you start the book knowing that this is his axe to grind, then you can ignore the bias and just enjoy the reading. Overall, it's well written and a relaxing weekend read, but note too that it was written before the market tops of 2000 and 2008 (precisely the kind of events which efficient market proponents have to bend over backwards to explain away).

Mark Smith, a Goldman Sachs and Wall Street veteran, takes an entire book to attempt to get across the point that stocks should be valued based on future earnings, and are (were) not overpriced in the late 90's. The book was composed during the late 90s and early in 2000, during the biggest stock market bubble of all time. He carries a major grudge against Jessie Livermore, and John Kenneth Galbraith, and takes every opportunity to throw in a "cut" on these 2 historic figures. Seems obvious why he carries a negative torch for Galbraith. Galbraith devotes a chapter in his mid 50's book The Great Crash 1929 to Goldman Sachs participation in Wall Street Chicanery though several investment trust schemes. Galbraith's treatment of Goldman was based on fact. More respect for Galbraith's views should have been shown.

Seems the overall point of the book is that no price is too high for stocks, and that you can't beat the market using technical analysis or fundamental analysis. His halting of his narrative to provide a physical description of characters are both annoying and distracting. Its an obvious attempt to bring some sort of writing style to his descriptions which are clearly not there.

Smith goes to great lengths to make a case for stocks being not overvalued in 1929, the early 70's (during the nifty fifty popularity), and before the 1987 crash. However, he fails to look back on whether the earnings and dividends produced by companies after these times would have justified these valuations. Such an analysis would have made this book valuable. Instead we get late 90's rhetoric to support his case.

He suggests that increased "productivity" through technology justifies higher p/e's. This garbage logic is coming back as the market rallies in late December 2003. Such logic was also used in the 1990s bubble era, just as productivity increases from the prohibition was used to support 1929 bubble valuations. I would suggest saving your money for now, and reading this book after the next stock market calamity which is coming to your neighborhood soon. The book will then be good for a few laughs.

While one can always quible and debate various issues, this book provides a wonderful perspective of the development of equity markets in the U.S. It is an extremely well written and well thoughtout book.

I recommend this to all who might be interested in a larger perspective of our capital markets system.

Bravo to Mark Smith

David Ikenberry
Chairman elect, Dept of Finance
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This book deals with the events shaping the modern (US) stockmarket. Although there is a chapter on the "early" days (up to 1900), the meat of the book concentrates on the 20th century.

It is absolutely fascinating to read how all of the institutions and rules that investors are confronted with on a daily basis came into existance not that long ago for very good reasons. On the way, the author argues against some well-entrenched historical myths.

The book is well-written and as such pleasant to read. It should however be borne in mind that someone who has no background in the stockmarkets whatsoever may not grasp everything being discussed here. However, this adds to a healthy academic standard of the book that is underlined by the many references to further background material.

Those who are invested in the stockmarkets will emerge from reading this book enriched by the knowledge that many things that we see today have been with us before and that many statements still heard today have been disproven twenty years ago.

Mark Smith has succeeded in writing one of the best histories of the stock market certainly in recent times and maybe of all time. The book has rich descriptions of many of the individuals and companies that have shaped the market over the years. But much more importantly, the book has a coherent, important message.

Smith argues, quite persuasively, that the history of the stock market can be seen as a continual (if sometimes bumpy) upward movement in the valuation measures applied to the market. Smith brings us back to the days when common stocks needed to YIELD more than bonds because they were riskier. He then traces the advance of P/E ratios all the way to the present. Although I am still unconvinced by his arguments that the markets of the late 20s and late 60s were not bubbles (he seems to almost make bubbles definitionaly impossible), this book is a valuable contribution to the current debates about the state of the market.

This is not a get-rich-quick book or a how-to manual, but the story Mark Smith lays out is vitally important to all investors and is an enjoyable read to boot. Highly Recommended.

Ackerman writes another accessible, informative and engaging history of the Gilded Age in his book on the Gold Ring. At a time when government regulation was nonexistent and men with deep pockets could reign financial terror; the unthinkable happened and greed ran the country. This book details from start to finish how the key players came to know eachother and plan the gold ring under Jay Gould's masterful strategy. It is a story of daring wits, bribery at the highest levels and pure showmanship that all two men to manipulate the price of gold. Utilizing resources from newspapers, to letters to congressional hearings conducted by James Garfield the reader is given a clear picture of what happened during the gold ring.

I do second what other reviewers have said that this book is full of typos that make it hard to read at times but it does not draw away from the content. Overall this is the book to read if you want to understand further the gold ring and its implications in the financial world.

This is my third book by Ackerman. The book is excellent. He simplies the details and maintains the readers attention. With the current mortgage meltdown, it's good to know that these things have happened before and the country survived and moved on. BUT . . . (you knew this was coming) I have never seen a book with so many typos. That is inexcusable. Grate arther, good stori, ect., but thos tyops---

The book was excellent - just what I was looking for to expand my understanding of this fascinating period of American history. But Kenneth Ackerman needs to hire a proofreader or find a new publisher. The copy of the book (paperback) that I received and read had hundreds of typographical errors - on some pages, there were more than a dozen errors - reversed letters, missing letters, missing punctuation, extra punctuation, duplicate lines. This was not what I expected for a serious historical study, nor for a book purchased from Amazon.com.

Ackerman manages to make the financial part of this scandal easily comprehensible. He also does a great job of sketching in the principals as living, breathing characters.

At the center of this tale sit Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, an unlikely team-- one a stiff, and tightly self-controlled, the other a flamboyant high-roller who lived openly with his mistress. How they hatched a plot which nearly trashed the entire US economy is more adventure than detective story.

Ackerman has put his tale together with a good assortment of sources (once the gold scheme blew up, lots of people had lots to say, some of it in court), and he manages to give us just enough background for understanding without wandering off down some side street. And he shows how the fallout included the beginnings of federal regulations to protect the US economy.

Originally written in 1988, this is a great piece of work and a welcome reissue (though filled with an extraordinarily large number of typos). Highly recommended.

I loved reading this account of the money game in old New York played by the masters Fisk and Gould. The story was gripping and the themes amazingly relevant to today.