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- Table of Contents
Description
“Entertaining and informative. Desai takes us on a journey through the fundamentals of finance, from asset pricing to risk and risk management, via options, mergers, debt, and bankruptcy."- John Lanchester, The New Yorker "A fascinating new perspective on modern finance," —Oliver Hart, 2016 Nobel Laureate in Economics "Lucid, witty and delightfully erudite...From the French revolution to film noir, from the history of probability to Jane Austen and The Simpsons, this is an astonishing intellectual feast." —Sebastian Mallaby, author of The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan Longlisted for 2017 Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year A 2017 AMAZON PICK IN BUSINESS & LEADERSHIP A WealthManagement.com BEST BUSINESS BOOK OF 2017 In 1688, essayist Josef de la Vega described finance as both “the fairest and most deceitful business . . . the noblest and the most infamous in the world, the finest and most vulgar on earth.” The characterization of finance as deceitful, infamous, and vulgar still rings true today – particularly in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But, what happened to the fairest, noblest, and finest profession that de la Vega saw? De la Vega hit on an essential truth that has been forgotten: finance can be just as principled, life-affirming, and worthy as it can be fraught with questionable practices. Today, finance is shrouded in mystery for outsiders, while many insiders are uneasy with the disrepute of their profession. How can finance become more accessible and also recover its nobility? Harvard Business School professor Mihir Desai, in his “last lecture” to the graduating Harvard MBA class of 2015, took up the cause of restoring humanity to finance. With incisive wit and irony, his lecture drew upon a rich knowledge of literature, film, history, and philosophy to explain the inner workings of finance in a manner that has never been seen before. This book captures Desai’s lucid exploration of the ideas of finance as seen through the unusual prism of the humanities. Through this novel, creative approach, Desai shows that outsiders can access the underlying ideas easily and insiders can reacquaint themselves with the core humanity of their profession. The mix of finance and the humanities creates unusual pairings: Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope are guides to risk management; Jeff Koons becomes an advocate of leverage; and Mel Brooks’s The Producers teaches us about fiduciary responsibility. In Desai’s vision, the principles of finance also provide answers to critical questions in our lives. Among many surprising parallels, bankruptcy teaches us how to react to failure, the lessons of mergers apply to marriages, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model demonstrates the true value of relationships.
THE WISDOM OF FINANCE is a wholly unique book, offering a refreshing new perspective on one of the world’s most complex and misunderstood professions.
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780544911130
Media Type: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: 05-23-2017
Pages: 240
Product Dimensions: 5.80(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)
About the Author
Mihir A. Desai was born in India and raised in Hong Kong and New Jersey. As a professor and award-winning teacher at Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School, Desai teaches finance, tax law, entrepreneurship and has recently developed an online finance course for the HBX platform. His scholarship on corporate finance, international finance and tax policy has prompted several invitations to testify before the U.S. Congress and serves as the basis of his advisory role to leading global companies and organizations.
Table of Contents
Author's Note xi Introduction: Finance and the Good Life 1 Chapter 1 The Wheel of Fortune 11 The Fliteraft Parable The Quincunx From Bottomry to Tontines We Are All Insurance Companies Wallace Stevens and Ideas of Order Chapter 2 Risky Business 35 Lizzy Bennet as Risk Manager If Isaac Newton Had Worked at Goldman Sachs I Would Prefer Not To Stephen Curry, Stringer Bell, and the Only Free Lunch in Finance The Negative Betas of Your Life Chapter 3 On Value 58 The Parable of the Talents The Cruel Logic of Value Creation Is Education Worth It? Your Terminal Values The Talents of Samuel Johnson and John Milton Alpha-Beta Soup Have You Financed? Chapter 4 Becoming a Producer 75 Biafystock and Bloom on Corporate Governance Apple and Tootsie Roll A Daisy Chain of Principals and Agents Vyse vs. Emerson Mel Brooks on Freud A Blank Sheet of Paper Chapter 5 Romance Without Finance 97 Working Girl The Dowry Fund of Renaissance Italy The M&A Pages A May-December Romance Mergers and Marriages Gone Wrong General Motors and Fisher Body Romance Without Finance Chapter 6 Living the Dream 120 Adam Smith vs. Jeremy Bentham on Leverage The Hooks of Gratitude and Obligation Jeff Koons vs. George Orwell on Leverage Mr. Stevens and Debt Overhang The Power of Commitments Popeye in Las Vegas Chapter 7 Failing Forward 142 The Man Who Could Have Been on the $10 Bill The Bankruptcy Act of 1800 An Automatic Slay A Strategic Bankruptcy at American Airlines Agamemnon, Arjuna, Hecuba, and Bankruptcy Chapter 8 Why Everyone Hates Finance 161 The Temptation of Pakhom The Lobster and the Squid More and More Is Less and Less The Asshole Theory of Finance Alexandra Bergson as Finance Hero Afterword 175 Acknowledgments 179 Notes 182 Illustration Credits 215 Index 216Table of Contents