First published in 1986. The free market is often associated with liberty and individualism, and this connection has been made for more centuries than is generally realised. This essays collected in this book trace the development, importance and influence of the market as a dominating component of the shared human life from classical antiquity to the present. The authors, from various backgrounds, keep constantly in view the moral and political questions raised by the role of markets, as well as laying out succinctly what can be known or deduced about the actual operation of the market in Western and other cultures. This book will be of interest to students of economics and history.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, a resurgence of interest in economic and financial history has occurred among investment professionals. This book discusses some of the lessons drawn from the past that may help practitioners when thinking about their portfolios. The book’s editors, David Chambers and Elroy Dimson, are the academic leaders of the Newton Centre for Endowment Asset Management at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

Resource added for the Financial Institutions Management program 101144.

"Early in 2000, the Nasdaq stock market surpassed 5,000, the highest level in its 30-year history. Experts yelled, "Buy!" Pundits predicted the Nasdaq's value would surpass that of the Dow Jones. Blue chips were dead. Tech was in. And everybody seemed to be making money." "Then, the bottom fell out." "Since then, the Nasdaq has taken investors on a rollercoaster ride full of exuberant peaks and heartbreaking valleys, floundering around lows that haven't been seen in years. Wealth was accumulated, and then it vanished. Companies sprang up, then folded. Lives and livelihoods were changed forever. But it wasn't the first time." "The full history of the Nasdaq teems with boom-and-bust stories. What started as a Depression-era organization designed to combat stock market fraud - and struggled for decades as the black sheep of Wall Street - is now vying with the venerated New York Stock Exchange as the global icon of corporate wealth and success. Today, it faces new challenges in a murky and unpredictable economy."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This exciting new volume examines the development of market performance from Antiquity until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Efficient market structures are agreed by most economists to serve as evidence of economic prosperity, and to be prerequisites for further economic growth. However, this is the first study to examine market performance as a whole, over such a large time period. Presenting a hitherto unknown and inaccessible corpus of data from ancient Babylonia, this international set of contributors are for the first time able to offer an in-depth study of market performance over a period of 2,500 years. The contributions focus on the market of staple crops, as they were crucial goods in these societies. Over this entire period, all papers provide a similar conceptual and methodological framework resting on a common definition of market performance combined with qualitative and quantitative analyses resting on new and improved price data. In this way, the book is able to combine analysis of the Babylonian period with similar work on the Roman, Early-and Late Medieval and Early Modern period. Bringing together input from assyriologists, ancient historians, economic historians and economists, this volume will be crucial reading for all those with an interest in ancient history, economic history and economics.

The financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent Great Recession demolished many cherished beliefs—most significantly, the theory that financial markets always get things right. Justin Fox's The Myth of the Rational Market explains where that idea came from, and where it went wrong. As much an intellectual whodunit as a cultural history of the perils and possibilities of risk, it also brings to life the people and ideas that forged modern finance and investing—from the formative days of Wall Street through the Great Depression and into the financial calamities of today. It's a tale featuring professors who made and lost fortunes, battled fiercely over ideas, beat the house at blackjack, wrote bestselling books, and played major roles on the world stage. It's also a story of free-market capitalism's war with itself.