By Paul Tucker
Review via Reuters Breakingviews
How much influence should central bankers wield in a democracy? That’s the question Paul Tucker ponders in “Unelected Power: The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State”… Central bankers are being sucked into deeply political decisions over how the government is financed, and how income is distributed. Yet these “overmighty citizens” have no electoral legitimacy. At the same time, frustrated voters in the West have turned to demagogues. As a result, central bank independence is under threat.
By John Carreyrou
Review via New York Magazine
In late September of 2015, Elizabeth Holmes, the CEO of the once-high-flying but now disgraced Silicon Valley health-care company Theranos, was in the News Corp. office of Rupert Murdoch. She had first met Murdoch in 2014 to pitch him on Theranos, and convinced him to pour $125 million into the company, making him the largest investor.
This time, Holmes was trying to get Murdoch to squash a devastating story on Theranos, soon to be published in The Wall Street Journal by reporter John Carreyrou. According to Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, Carreyrou’s chronicle of how his coverage exposed Theranos as a fraud and destroyed its $1o billion valuation, Holmes told Murdoch that she hoped he would “offer to kill it.”
By Michael Lenox and Aaron Chatterji
Summary via publisher (Stanford University Press)
Increasingly, business leaders are tasked with developing new products, services, and business models that minimize environmental impact while driving economic growth. It’s a tall order—and a call that is only getting louder. In Can Business Save the Earth?, Michael Lenox and Aaron Chatterji explain just how the private sector can help. Many believe that markets will inevitably demand sustainable practices and force them to emerge. But Lenox and Chatterji see it differently. Based on more than a decade of research and work with companies, they argue that a bright green future is only possible with dramatic innovation across multiple sectors at the same time.
● The Ethical Capitalist: How to Make Business Work Better for Society
By Julian Richer
Summary via publisher (Random House Business)
Capitalism has lost its way. Every week brings fresh news stories about businesses exploiting their staff, avoiding their taxes, and ripping off their customers. Every week, public anger at the system grows. Now, one of Britain’s foremost entrepreneurs intervenes to make the case for putting business back firmly in the service of society, and setting out on a new path to a kinder, fairer form of capitalism. Drawing on four decades of hands-on management experience, the founder of Richer Sounds argues that ethically run businesses are invariably more efficient, more motivated and more innovative than those that care only about the bottom line. He uncovers the simple tools that the best leaders use to make their businesses fair, revealing how others can follow suit. And he also delves into the big questions that modern capitalism has to answer if it is to survive and to thrive. When should – and shouldn’t – the state intervene in the workings of commercial enterprises? What does business as a whole owe back to the wider community? Is the relationship between leaders of big corporations and politicians too cosy, and, if so, what is to be done about it?
● Consulting Drucker: Principles and Lessons from The World’s Leading Management Consultant
By William Cohen
Summary via publisher (LID Publishing)
Peter Drucker is known worldwide as “The Father of Modern Management.” But he was also the world’s most famous and successful independent consultant. The methods developed by Drucker remain highly relevant and continue to be used in today’s organizations. This book, written by Drucker’s first executive PhD graduate of the program he developed, is the first book to reveal in detail Drucker’s methods and ideas as a consultant.
● Introductory Econometrics
Edited by Piers Jackson
Summary via publisher (Larsen and Keller)
Econometrics refers to a particular type of statistical models that are used to test and forecast future economic trends. The models used in this subject are logit, hazard, tobit, linear regression, etc. This textbook presents the complex subject of econometrics in the most comprehensible and easy to understand language. Such selected concepts that redefine this field have been presented in it. For someone with an interest and eye for detail, the text covers the most significant topics in the field.
