● Hedge Fund Analysis: An In-Depth Guide to Evaluating Return Potential and Assessing Risks
By Frank Travers
Excerpt via publisher, Wiley
I recently read an article printed in the financial press that questioned the viability of hedge funds as an asset class. Following the bear market decline and the corresponding volatile market environment, the article suggested that investors had begun to question whether or not hedge funds actually hedge and whether or not the asset class was doomed. Managers responded that it had become too hard to find profitable shorts, as all the best shorts quickly become crowded trades—which can lead to short squeezes.
The author of the article suggested that many hedge fund managers had become overconfident going into the market decline and had begun to invest outside of their core mandates and, even worse, did not do a good job of matching the liquidity of their fund’s underlying investments with that of their underlying investors….
What is most striking about the article (titled ‘‘Hard Times Come to the Hedge Funds’’) is that it was written by Carol Loomis and was published by Fortune magazine in June 1970.

● 3 Steps to Investment Sucess: How to Obtain the Returns, While Controlling Risk
By Rory Gillen
Excerpt via author’s web site
Building an asset base from which you can earn income gives you choices later in life. My aim is that, when you close this book, you should be able to implement an easy-to-follow approach to investing in the stock markets, whilst minimising risk. No matter what level of experience you are starting from, this book is aimed at assisting you to obtain the returns on offer from the markets over time.
● Rethinking Valuation and Pricing Models: Lessons Learned from the Crisis and Future Challenges
Edited by Carsten Wehn, Christian Hoppe, and Greg Gregoriou
Summary via publisher, Academic Press/Elsevier
It is widely acknowledged that many financial modelling techniques failed during the financial crisis, and in our post-crisis environment many techniques are being reconsidered. This single volume provides a guide to lessons learned for practitioners and a reference for academics. Including reviews of traditional approaches, real examples, and case studies, contributors consider portfolio theory; methods for valuing equities and equity derivatives, interest rate derivatives, and hybrid products; and techniques for calculating risks and implementing investment strategies. Describing new approaches without losing sight of their classical antecedents, this collection of original articles presents a timely perspective on our post-crisis paradigm.
● Understanding the Culture of Markets
By Virgil Storr
Summary via publsher, Routledge
Although most social scientists recognize that culture shapes economic behavior and outcomes, the majority of economists are not very interested in culture. Understanding the Culture of Markets begins with a discussion of the reasons why economists are reluctant to incorporate culture into economic analysis. It then goes on to describe how culture shapes economic life, and critiques those few efforts by economists to discuss the relationship between culture and markets. Finally, building on the work of Max Weber, it outlines and defends an approach to understanding the culture of markets.
● The Handbook of Organizational Economics
Edited by Robert Gibbons and John Roberts
Summary via publisher, Princeton University Press
In even the most market-oriented economies, most economic transactions occur not in markets but inside managed organizations, particularly business firms. Organizational economics seeks to understand the nature and workings of such organizations and their impact on economic performance. This landmark book assembles the leading figures in organizational economics to present the first comprehensive view of both the current state of research in this fast-emerging field and where it might be headed.