economics-textbook

There is no question that when it comes to informational books on trading, Schwager is the best around. This book meets his high caliber of quality and informativeness. I can recommend this book to anyone looking to broaden their knowledge of fundamental analysis and the guts of what affects supply and demand. But I can't recommend the book wholeheartedly because basing trading decisions on fundamental analysis in itself is such a flawed approach in my opinion.

I used to pay a lot of attention to fundamentals. I would spend hours each day looking at news and research to get a feel for the reasoning behind the movement. After doing this for a while, I realized the inherent futility in the approach- if a trade sets up technically I will take it, unless there is some compelling reason not to, and if there is no technical confirmation, I won't take it, period- and so fundamental analysis just doesn't play much of a role in either case. Nowadays, I still keep tabs on fundamentals somewhat, but mainly only to avoid getting hit by a train- not taking action in front of a significant report or going short coffee in the freeze season, stuff like that. Below are a few reasons why my trading has become solidly technical:

1) Most daily news is worthless, and here is why: at any given time, there are half a dozen arguments for being bearish on a market, and half a dozen reasons to be bullish. When a market has a big move up and the reason isn't clear, the news services pick a couple of the bullish reasons and talk about those. If the market has a move down, they highlight some of the bearish reasons. It's total retrofitting, and thus usally a waste of time to read because there's usually not really a way to turn that knowledge into profit. The "traders" that the newsies interview are often just run of the mill clerks or brokers who don't really know anything special- or if they do, they don't tell. The classic filler explanations on the aftermarket newswires are "profit taking," "fund buying" and "fund selling." When you read about one of those three, the general translation is that the reporter dragged out one of the old standards because "who the heck knows" just doesn't make good copy.

2) Many of the best trades are the ones where the move starts before anyone knows why. Bruce Kovner talked about this concept in the first Market Wizards. (Incidentally, Kovner was making 300 million a year in profits at one point, so he might be worth listening to). If a breakout occurs when everyone is expecting it, then everyone is in already, and the odds are not as good because a lot of the buying (or selling) is already done. But if a breakout occurs and no one knows why, then there are (1) potentially powerful hidden reasons for the move, and (2) a whole group of traders who are not in the market yet and may want or need to get in (or out if the move is against them) once the reason comes to light. So, by deduction, if some of the best trades are the ones where the fundamentals reasons are not yet clear, then by paying attention to fundamentals too much, you run the risk of keeping yourself out of the best trades. You have to be willing to say, "I don't know why this setup is occurring, but the technicals are tellling me something that the news might confirm later." Because the news often comes after the window of opportunity has already closed, you often have to be willing to act before the fundamental reasons are clear.

3) Analysts are often biased and have a hesitancy to change views. When an analyst writes down his opinion on a piece of paper and then sends it out for everyone to see, part of his pride and reputation is staked on that opinion. It is a psychological fact that writing something down, and confirming something to other people, makes a person more committed to that belief because humans have a very strong desire to be consistent. That makes him very hesitant to change his mind, even when the facts change. If an analyst is bullish one week and then the facts turn bearish the next week, the analyst should change his mind- but the odds are that he will not, because he will be thinking "well, if i was bullish last week and do a 180 to bearish this week, then I will look stupid." But often that is the right thing to do! Especially for fundamental analysis, being flexible is very important. But most analysts are too worried about their reputations to have that flexibility. This is one reason trends occur, because the masses are hesitant to change their minds even when it is rapidly becoming clear that they should.

4) Much of fundamental analysis is either incomplete or just plain wrong. Even if you have 90% of the puzzle pieces, the 10% that you are missing could be important enough to turn the whole picture upside down. Or if you somehow miraculously have all the pieces, you still have to figure out how to weight them properly and determine what the market is going to pay the most attention to. It is almost impossible to get all the facts correctly uncovered and assembled without overlooking anything. And then there is always the possibility that something could come up by surprise that you were not prepared for. Different analysts with access to the same information will often have directly contradicting opinions on a market. What does that tell you? Generally the only time that the analysts are all on the same page is when the writing on the wall is obvious- and by that time, the move is usually almost done if not over. There is simply no free lunch.

5) Price- the ultimate value judgment of all underlying fundamentals- reveals itself in the technicals. The technicals don't lie and the technicals don't have an emotional bias. They represent the opinions of the entire market, with a heavier weighting towards the bigger and smarter players, and are thus more reliable than individual opinions subject to bias and error. For a fast mover such as myself, this is what needs to be known. I'm interested in the next three days, not the next three months or years.

For the above reasons, fundamental traders caveat emptor.

This is the most comprehensive books on Fundamental Analysis that I have ever seen. This book along with Schwager's Technical Analysis book are required reading for new futures brokers that I hire to my firm.

Mr.Schwager and Mr.Turner have put a very strong mathematical spin on how fundamental analysis can be accomplished. They dissect government trade reports and analyst reports and put an empirical face on the nebulus act of fundamental analysis.

In the preface of the book Mr.Schwager admits that fundamental analysis is not quite accurate. Which begs the question, "why write such a complex book?"

This book is not for the faint of heart, nor is it light reading. It is quite indepth and for the most part above the heads of many beginning futures investors. In order to understand any of the examples you have to have solid trading reference points in your personal trading life.

I recommended it for intermediate traders primarily.

After being involved with futures for 11 years and authoring three books on the subject, I am always impressed at Mr.Schwager thoroughness in researching.

This Series "Schwager on Futures" is the biggest work has ever been written on futures trading. As a Futures Trader I advise everybody to read these books before to starts any real trading in Futures, that if not taken in the proper way can be very painfull. As a Member of IFTA(International federation Of Tecnical Analisys)I suggest you to read it joint with John Murphy's "Technical Analisys f Futures Markets" and "Intermarket Technical Analisys" this will give you a integral knowledge of Futures Environment that is what you need on your Trading philosophy. I always let these books on my desk because I need them so many times during my trading day. THEY ARE A REAL REFERENCE. The good thing of this series is that you can test your comprension by the various study guides. Reading the book about "Managed Trading" You can even get able to judge the returns of the various CTA and decide when it is better to invest in them and to whom give your money.Probably you are not be interested in the Fundamental analisys book but remember, especially in the commodities markets, EVEN IF YOU ARE GOING TO TRADE TECHNICALLY IS VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND FUNDAMENTAL ANALISYS!!! Thank you very much to have spent all this time for read me.

Growing up in the way-out country of Missouri, I spent a lot of time outside in the woods, getting to know the different plants and animals that live there. This eventually gave rise to an interest in natural medicine, and in harvesting and preparing my own herbs from the property I lived on. All the texts I could find, though, were based in the plants and knowledge indigenous to either Europe or Asia. I was delighted to come on a copy of Alma Hutchens' _Indian Herbalogy of North America_ a couple years back, thinking it would be a catalog of the plants I found growing in my own back yard, and throughout the back roads of America that I love to explore. However, the book has quite a bit of information about the herbal medicine of other cultures (Russia, Western Europe, and China, in particular), so much that it crowds the Indian lore out--which, of course, was what I really wanted. It's not a bad book, in general terms, and would make a pretty solid kernel for a new collection of herbal medicine books, but I don't recommend this as a resource for people interested specifically in Native American treatment of disease or use of herbs for health maintenance.

Indian Herbalogy of North America by Alma R. Hutchens is a helpful reference book for those desiring a greater understanding of cross-cultural applications of herbs. The title is somewhat misleading because though there is an emphasis on Native American herbalism there is also a great deal of information regarding Russian herbology and folklore.

This book is indexed by plants and by diseases. It gives descriptions of habitat so you can go and find them in the wild. It is the only book i have read to date that actually tells how to make the ointments or tea and a history of how it has been used in many cultures. It gives side effects and wonderful detailed plant sketches. Easy to read

I find Robbins's OB one of the best introductionary books for OB. Though it does not contain lots of case studies, to get started with concepts, the easy to read layout and the interesting activities that he presents makes it a very good book to get started. I personally started my OB with a much more detailed book, but after I found this one, I used this as the starting point, to get the ideas, and then used more high level books to explore further.
Why not 5 stars, well, coz as I said, I did need to look at other books to explore in detail!

This is a great book to understand the fundamentals of organizational behaviour. It is simple to understand, and the excellent layout and graphics make it enjoyable and ignite your curiosity. I read it from cover to cover in a matter of days. However, I do agree that more relevant case studies and applications should have been included.

If you're interested in organizational behavior either professionally or as a student, this is a great book to pick up. It gives a great, concise survey of the topic as it relates to each of the major components of individual, team, and organizational factors. Not laden with research details and theoretical jargon, this book is a must read for managers and students alike because of its fast pace and great coverage.

As a buyer of several years I found that this book addressed the fundamentals of purchasing quite well but is a bit old-fashioned. Obviously, since it came out in 1992, it does not contain any information about on-line buying and the computer section is rather quaint given today's business practices, software choices and skills. I would recommend it to a for an entry-level purchasing assistant or a junior buyer without formal training. I would be very interested in an updated version of this book.

As a beginner in the field of Purchasing,I found this book very
usefull and full with "gemstones" tips.
The author has alot of experience to share with us,gives us an
ideas what to do,how and why.
My only comment is on the lack of cost analysis examples.

For anyone facing the duties and responsibilities associated with developing and implementing purchasing procedures, policies, and strategies, this is the book! It is on-point for all issues related to purchasing.

My pleasure in the book was minimized when I came to the sections on telemarketing, etc. . . not what I expected. The portions of the book that were helpful, were A-1.

Not only does this book offer real-life examples of letters for every conceivable fund-raising campaign and situation, it explains the structure of successful fund-raising letters. I refer to it frequently. 5 stars I reserve for anything written by Mal Warwick, who is in a class by himself. But 4 stars means I found Mr. Kuniholm's book well worth the money, repeatedly useful, practical, educational and wise.

Chapter 15, Obtaining Substantial Financial Support with the Foundation and Corporate Request Letter, is the most dog-eared chapter of my copy. Government and non-profit colleagues whose core job and expertise is not in the area of fund raising, love this book.

Even if you are just starting out at real estate, as I am, you could get away with not reading this book. Barbara Nash-Price does a very basic job explaining some techniques and ideas for selling real estate, finding buyers, and getting listings. She spends FAR too much time, however, using long, useless lists that include: what to give your 'personal assistant' to do (that's almost two pages - and WHO can afford a personal assistant??), how to organize your daily planner (this takes up nearly a chapter), and even a list of sample "ads", which is nice, but do we really need pages and pages and pages and pages of that?

The book is written probably at a 6th grade reading level, and is punctuated with lots of double spaced text, lots of quotation marks (which she uses LIBERALLY), lots of CAPITAL LETTERS, and plenty of red text. You can read this book in one day if you sit still for a couple of hours. This book also includes an utterly useless guide to purchasing a computer. It is evident that Ms. Nash-Price has no computer knowledge (to be fair, she does state this in the book) since she boldly tells us that a 286 with a 20-40 MG hard drive should be sufficient. If you can find a 286 for SALE these days, I would be shocked. Despite the age of this text, I would think that anyone using a computer on a daily basis would be able to suggest something more sensible. She also gives completely useless names of vendors and software programs to use. Again, she is too specific. Instead of suggesting purchasing a high power word processor, she boldly suggests Microsoft Word 5.5. Is that even for SALE now? Because of this, her text dates dramatically. Perhaps she is writing to an older, less computer literate crowd, but there's no excuse for these kind of mistakes! If Ms. Nash-Price had the lack of knowledge she claims in her book, maybe she should have skipped that chapter alltogether, or at best, passed it along to someone who could write meaningfully on the subject.

This book, although it was written in 96-97, mentions NOTHING about the internet and its valuable uses. The book does go into some detail about self promotion, but it doesn't really go far enough, leaving the reader asking more questions.

Finally, it is evident that the author believes full well in HER techniques, and HER TECHNIQUES ONLY.....if you don't use RED TABS for listings and WHITE TABS for buyers, you can't "WORK EFFECTIVELY"! If you don't like color-coding your life, forget it! These are nice suggestions, but it would be nice if she suggested things that are adaptable to different work styles.

This is not a total waste of reading, but be prepared for VERY trite text and only basic ideas. Still, some are worthwhile and a few, even interesting. Try to get the book used, like I did, however....I wouldn't pay the price for new.

I read this book the night I got it and found it very well laid out and easy to follow. I am just about to start a career in real estate and I would recomend this book to anyone that may be in the process of beginning their career as well.

Wonderful book for starters like myself at the real estate profession. True guidness. I read the book in two days, and inmediately I started to use the tips Barbara gives to make an appointment with a FSBO, and it worked every word she said. I encourage to buy this book, is an investment you will never regret!

After ploughing through too many dry, long texts its really refreshing to find a book that is not only useful and informative but really easy to read - when you as busy as most of us are it is of paramount importance to get some real value and memorable tips and tricks QUICKLY!

As a student of marketing at the University of NSW in Sydney where co-author Dr Chris Styles lectures I was fortunate enough to get a first hand insight into the ideas behind this most worthwhile text. I remember asking Dr Styles if his course was one through which I might pass but ultimately take nothing from like so many other "theoretical" subjects. He recommmended I read the book and needless to say, I enrolled after reading the first few chapters. It is always a great challenge to find a book that synthesises well researched argument with those gems of practical advice that make a difference over and over again in 'real life'. Definitely one for the library of perspectives that you will refer to in your head on countless occasions in the future.

The authors claim that business success comes, in part, from getting the human side right: emotions, relationships etc. When doing business across borders and cultures, whether directly with consumers or with business partners, this becomes all the more important. Those who have lived it (like me), will immediately understand - those who haven't, should read this book before they do.

But the bottom line is that the authors seem to get it. And they explain this with examples, as well as analysis, and also give out some practical tools which should help pretty much anyone involved in international marketing.

The book also has a few novel ways of thinking about issues - whether one precisely agrees with them or not, they are very thought provoking (and in my view) at least generally correct and insightful. The concepts of "social learning" (where the SILK acronym in the title comes from) and of the "impact of biology" on marketing are quite intriguing.

..... leaves you with a new (and better) perspective on international marketing issues.

A great read for a dull flight ! And the people who should really read this book, probably fly a lot.

Easy reading, text flows from subject to subject really well. I have no accounting background and found the information easy to assimilate.

Provides a foundation for analyzing a country's conceptual framework of accounting. The authors have a wealth of international experience; Mueller has recently been appointed to the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Unfortunately, the book lacks full financial statement analysis problems

Great book to use for English language learners that have been in the country for many years but lack the literacy skills needed for a business environment. The letter samples give great ideas for phrases and tone. The section on usage is an excellent overview to clear up any questions on grammar. I have recommended this book for my students at BusinesSpeak to keep on their desks as a reference guide.

As a teacher of ESL at the private college, I found Barron's ESL Guide to American Business English an excellent source for newcomers to American business practices. Unfortunately while the book targets the ESL population, it still requires significant English literacy skills to read and understand. Given the complexity of the subject matter, it's probably as simplified as possible. Includes eighty different documents covering a wide range of correspondence with concise instructions; "Words to Watch For", a vocabulary word listing provides definitions for key words at the beginning of many chapters; extensive table of contents and index, makes it relatively easy to locate particular areas of interest.

This is a collection of theories from the business literature about the behavior of people in organizations and the organizational forms it engenders. In addition, a gentle introduction to economic concepts from choice theory and game theory is given. The book does not really achieve a synthesis of the different ideas presented, even though the authors attempt to tie the approaches together in the chapter introductions and the (weak) conclusion. Deeper insights are perhaps not possible at this level of presentation. Redeeming features are the clear and readable exposition of each theory, and the well-chosen examples. The book works well as an initial primer for economists about business research on organizations and strategic management. For this purpose, I would recommend it, since the coverage is fairly complete and, though not formal, cogent and to-the-point.

This book covers the different economic approaches to organizations, such as behavioral theory, agency theory, transaction cost economics, economic contributions to strategic management and evolutionary theory. It's a great, not too technical economic work. This book assumes no previous knowledge of economics, which makes it ideal for students. It is backed up by clear examples from day-to-day business life. The only minor point to this work is its rather dull outlook. Still, I would recommend it!