Man vs. Markets: Economics Explained (Plain and Simple)

by Hirsch, Paddy; Archer, Dane

• ISBN13: 9780062196651
• ISBN10: 0062196650
• Edition: Original
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-08-28
• Publisher: Harpercollins

Summary

After years of media coverage, do we really understand the financial engineering that brought the global economy to the brink? The lexicon of the markets is laden with terms and acronyms like leverage, securitization, MBS, CDS, and CDO. How can the average person crack the code?Veteran journalist, senior producer at NPR's Marketplace, and Whiteboard Guru. Paddy Hirsch proves it's not impossible to understand what goes on in the glass and steel canyons of Wall Street. In Man vs. Markets, he shows how most international financial transactions are the same as those taking place in stores, car dealerships, and even playgrounds on Main Street.Bonds? They're basically just loans. Futures? You probably used one when you ordered your Thanksgiving turkey last year. Options? Ever bought a fully transferable, returnable airline ticket? It's pretty much the same thing.Using the humor and the knowledge of everyday experiences, Hirsch offers accessible explanations, anecdotes, and analogies of the instruments that power our financial system and that very nearly caused its demise. Man vs. Markets breaks down what, exactly, makes the markets tick and empowers readers, whether they are contemplating an investment, arguing for reform, or simply trying to understand events making news.

Author Biography

Paddy Hirsch is a senior producer at American Public Media's business radio program, Marketplace. He is the creator of the acclaimed and popular Marketplace Whiteboard, which was a Webby honoree in 2009, and has been featured on network and public broadcast television. He recently completed a Knight Fellowship in Journalism at Stanford University. Hirsch lives in Los Angeles, California.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Introduction: The Financial Comer Store	p. xi
Your Piece of the Action: Stocks, Shares, and Equity Trading	p. 1
Racking It Up: Debt, and Why It's Not Always a Bad Thing	p. 23
Under the Skin: How a Company Hangs Together	p. 49
Derivatives: Devilish? Destructive? Deadly?	p. 59
Your Jell-0 for My Cake: How Swaps Work	p. 71
The Folding Stuff: Money, and How It Makes Its Way Around the World	p. 87
The House Always Wins: The Banking System	p. 101
Loosening the Beltway: The Fed, the Treasury, and How Government Gets Involved	p. 115
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme: Consumer Debt, Securitization, and Shadow Banking	p. 143
Architects of Our Own Destruction: Decline and Recovery in the Financial Markets	p. 165
Afterword	p. 193
Index	p. 197
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