● The Gold Standard at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: Rising Powers, Global Money, and the Age of Empire
By Steven Bryan
Review via Economic Principles
A historian working for the moment in Tokyo as an attorney (Columbia Ph.D, Harvard Law J.D.), Bryan exemplifies a new generation of historians who cast a jaundiced eye on the market triumphalism of the 1990s. In The Gold Standard at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century: Rising Powers, Global Money and the Age of Empire, he argues that Argentina, Japan, Germany and other countries rose to power in the years before World War I following currency policies not all that dissimilar to China’s today. By adopting the gold standard, they were looking to lock in the most depreciated currency possible in order to promote industry and exports.

● Your Money and Your Life: A Lifetime Approach to Money Management
By Robert Z. Aliber
Summary via publisher, Stanford University Press
Your financial health is more than a mere collection of debits and credits on a balance sheet. In fact, the numbers on a financial statement represent a series of decisions that, if made strategically, can ensure that each of us maintains our desired standard of living at every age and stage of life. Many people think that key financial choices are too complicated to make on their own. However, with the right information and guidance, we can all secure our own financial future.
Your Money and Your Life is more than your average guide to financial planning and retirement. Acclaimed author and speaker Robert Z. Aliber helps readers to make efficient and effective financial decisions at key moments throughout their lives, such as where to go to college; if and when to buy a home; how much insurance, if any, to buy; how to manage savings and retirement; when the time is right to approach a professional advisor; and how to proceed with estate planning. With an eye toward the issues that are most pressing in today’s economy, Aliber clearly explains the sophisticated concepts that underpin everyday money management—with the goal of making this guide the go-to reference in your financial planning library, regardless of your age or wealth.
● Don’t Count on It!: Reflections on Investment Illusions, Capitalism, “Mutual” Funds, Indexing, Entrepreneurship, Idealism, and Heroes
By John C. Bogle
Excerpt via publisher, John Wiley & Sons
Mysterious, seemingly random, events shape our lives, and it is no exaggeration to say that without Princeton University, Vanguard never would have come into existence. And had it not, it seems altogether possible that no one else would have invented it. I ’ m not saying that our existence matters, for in the grand scheme of human events Vanguard would not even be a footnote. But our contributions to the world of fi nance — not only our unique mutual structure,
but the index mutual fund, the three – tier bond fund, our simple investment philosophy, and our overweening focus on low costs — have in fact made a difference to investors. And it all began when I took my first nervous steps on the Princeton campus back in September 1947.
● Money Smart: How to Spend, Save, Eliminate Debt, and Achieve Financial Freedom
By Ted Hunter
Press release for book
“The world is full of people who want to ‘help’ you get rich,” says Hunter. “Translation: They want to get their hands on your money.” Consumers can protect themselves by looking out for certain words and phrases that can be warnings, Hunter suggests. Some of the most common “magic words” used to describe an investment opportunity are: free, secret, sure-fire, anyone can do it, always, no-risk, foolproof, insider, confidential, the smart money, nothing down, easy money, magic, not a get-rich-quick scheme, become a millionaire, just a few hours of your spare time, almost nothing to do, and makes-you-money-while-you-sleep. Every one of these words or phrases should be taken as a red flag warning the consumer to walk away and refuse the offer—whatever it may be.
● Capital Offense: How Washington’s Wise Men Turned America’s Future Over to Wall Street
By Michael Hirsh
Review via New York Times
In fact, the main reason the financial crisis of 2008 occurred, the journalist Michael Hirsh argues in his provocative new book, “Capital Offense,” is that “the people in charge of our economy, otherwise intelligent and capable men like Greenspan, Rubin and Summers — and later Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner — permitted themselves to believe, in the face of a rising tide of contrary evidence, that markets are for the most part efficient and work well on their own.”
● Twenty Years of Inflation Targeting: Lessons Learned and Future Prospects
Edited by David Cobham, Øyvind Eitrheim, Stefan Gerlach, and Jan F. Qvigstad
Summary via publisher, Cambridge University Press
There is now a remarkably strong consensus among academics and professional economists that central banks should adopt explicit inflation targets and that all key monetary policy decisions, especially those concerning interest rates, should be made with a view to ensuring that these targets are achieved. This book provides a comprehensive review of the experience of inflation targeting since its introduction in New Zealand in 1989 and looks in detail at what we can learn from the past twenty years and what challenges we may face in the future. Written by a distinguished team of academics and professional economists from central banks around the world, the book covers a wide range of issues including many that have arisen as a result of the recent financial crisis. It should be read by anyone concerned with better understanding inflation targeting and its past, present and future role within monetary policy.