With more than 80,000 copies sold worldwide in multiple languages, The Wall Street Journal Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators that Really Matter is a must-have guide for investors. WSJ columnist Simon Constable and respected financial historian Robert E. Wright offer valuable tips and insight to help investors forecast and exploit sea changes in the global macroeconomic climate. Unlike other investment handbooks, Constable and Wright's guide explores the not widely known economic indicators that the smartest investors watch closely in order to beat the stock market--from "Big Macs" to "Zombie Banks." Not only valuable and informative, The Wall Street Journal Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators that Really Matter is also wonderfully irreverent and endlessly entertaining, making it the most fun to read investors' guide on the market.

The WSJ Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators That Really Matter: From Big Macs to "Zombie Banks," the Indicators Smart Investors Watch to Beat the Market (Wall Street Journal Guides)

Wright, Robert E.

Constable, Simon

Reference

Harper Business

Like its current citizens, the United States was born in debt-a debt so deep that it threatened to destroy the young nation. Thomas Jefferson considered the national debt a monstrous fraud on posterity, while Alexander Hamilton believed debt would help America prosper. Both, as it turns out, were right. One Nation Under Debt explores the untold history of America's first national debt, which arose from the immense sums needed to conduct the American Revolution. Noted economic historian Robert Wright, Ph.D. tells in riveting narrative how a subjugated but enlightened people cast off a great tyrant-“but their liberty, won with promises as well as with the blood of patriots, came at a high price.” He brings to life the key events that shaped the U.S. financial system and explains how the actions of our forefathers laid the groundwork for the debt we still carry today. As an economically tenuous nation by Revolution's end, America's people struggled to get on their feet. Wright outlines how the formation of a new government originally reduced the nation's debt-but, as debt was critical to this government's survival, it resurfaced, to be beaten back once more. Wright then reveals how political leaders began accumulating massive new debts to ensure their popularity, setting the financial stage for decades to come. Wright traces critical evolutionary developments-from Alexander Hamilton's creation of the nation's first modern capital market, to the use of national bonds to further financial goals, to the drafting of state constitutions that created non-predatory governments. He shows how, by the end of Andrew Jackson's administration, America's financial system was contributing to national growth while at the same time new national and state debts were amassing, sealing the fate for future generations.

One Nation Under Debt: Hamilton, Jefferson, and the History of What We Owe

Business & Money

Economics

McGraw=Hill

When Americans think of investment and finance, they think of Wall Street—though this was not always the case. During the dawn of the Republic, Philadelphia was the center of American finance. The first stock exchange in the nation was founded there in 1790, and around it the bustling thoroughfare known as Chestnut Street was home to the nation's most powerful financial institutions. The First Wall Street recounts the fascinating history of Chestnut Street and its forgotten role in the birth of American finance. According to Robert E. Wright, Philadelphia, known for its cultivation of liberty and freedom, blossomed into a financial epicenter during the nation's colonial period. The continent's most prodigious minds and talented financiers flocked to Philly in droves, and by the eve of the Revolution, the Quaker City was the most financially sophisticated region in North America. The First Wall Street reveals how the city played a leading role in the financing of the American Revolution and emerged from that titanic struggle with not just the wealth it forged in the crucible of war, but an invaluable amount of human capital as well. This capital helped make Philadelphia home to the Bank of the United States, the U.S. Mint, an active securities exchange, and several banks and insurance companies—all clustered in or around Chestnut Street. But as the decades passed, financial institutions were lured to New York, and by the late 1820s only the powerful Second Bank of the United States upheld Philadelphia's financial stature. But when Andrew Jackson vetoed its charter, he sealed the fate of Chestnut Street forever—and of Wall Street too. Finely nuanced and elegantly written, The First Wall Street will appeal to anyone interested in the history of the United States and the origins of its unrivaled economy.

The First Wall Street: Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, and the Birth of American Finance

University of Chicago Press

When you think of the founding fathers, you think of men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin—exceptional minds and matchless statesmen who led the colonies to a seemingly impossible victory over the British and established the constitutional and legal framework for our democratic government. But the American Revolution was about far more than freedom and liberty. It was about economics as well. Robert E. Wright and David J. Cowen here chronicle how a different group of founding fathers forged the wealth and institutions necessary to transform the American colonies from a diffuse alliance of contending business interests into one cohesive economic superpower. From Alexander Hamilton to Andrew Jackson, the authors focus on the lives of nine Americans in particular—some famous, some unknown, others misunderstood, but all among our nation’s financial founding fathers. Such men were instrumental in creating and nurturing a financial system that drove economic growth in the nascent United States because they were quick to realize that wealth was as crucial as the Constitution in securing the blessings of liberty and promoting the general welfare. The astonishing economic development made possible by our financial founding fathers was indispensable to the preservation of national unity and of support for a government that was then still a profoundly radical and delicate political experiment. Grand in scope and vision, Financial Founding Fathers is an entertaining and inspiring history of the men who made America rich and steered her toward greatness.

Financial Founding Fathers: The Men Who Made America Rich

Biographies & Memoirs

Cowen, David J.

Historical

Modern financial theories enable us to look at old problems in early American Republic historiography from new perspectives. Concepts such as information asymmetry, portfolio choice, and principal-agent dilemmas open up new scholarly vistas. Transcending the ongoing debates over the prevalence of either community or capitalism in early America, Wright offers fresh and compelling arguments that illuminate motivations for individual and collective actions, and brings agency back into the historical equation.
Wright argues that the Colonial rebellion was in part sparked by destabilizing British monetary policy that threatened many with financial insolvency; that in areas without modern financial institutions and practices, dueling was a rational means of protecting one's creditworthiness; that the principle-agent problem led to the institutionalization of the U.S. Constitution's system of checks and balances; and that a lack of information and education induced women to shift from active business owners to passive investors. Economists, historians, and political scientists alike will be interested in this strikingly novel and compelling recasting of our nation's formative decades.

Hamilton Unbound: Finance and the Creation of the American Republic (Contributions in Economics and Economic History,)

Biography & History

Praeger

A lively history of one of America's oldest publishing houses, published in conjunction with Wiley's bicentennial Founded in New York City when Thomas Jefferson was president, Wiley has been a significant player in the publishing industry for two centuries. Now, on the occasion of Wiley's bicentennial, a distinguished team of authors brings Wiley's rich history to life, showing how the company has reacted to trends within the publishing industry as well as to larger economic, social, and cultural forces. Knowledge for Generations sheds light on the long-term strengths and weaknesses of Wiley's business, illuminates the continuities and changes over time, and shows how family ownership has influenced the company's strategies, values, and corporate culture. Drawing on unrestricted access to company archives and interviews with key executives, the authors capture a story of sustained business success, intriguing personalities, and dramatic changes in the industry. Illustrated throughout with illuminating photographs and graphics, Knowledge for Generations is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of publishing.

Knowledge for Generations: Wiley and the Global Publishing Industry, 1807 - 2007

Smith, George David

Jacobson, Timothy C.

wiley

Robert E. Wright portrays the development of a modern financial sector--including a central bank, a national monetary system, a network of financial intermediaries, and efficient capital markets--as the driving force behind America's economic transition from agricultural colony to industrial juggernaut. He applies the economic theory of information asymmetry to understandings of early U.S. financial development, expanding on recent scholarship of finance-led economic growth. The book builds upon many of Adam Smith's lesser-known insights into financial relationships.

The Wealth of Nations Rediscovered: Integration and Expansion in American Financial Markets, 1780–1850

History

Americas

Cambridge University Press

The nature of America's early economy has been hotly contested for several decades. Historians have often focused on the question of when America became "capitalist," while economists have tried to determine when American economic growth sped up. In The Origins of Commercial Banking in America, Robert E. Wright argues that the ultimate causes of American economic development and transformation into a modern society can be reduced to the causes of American banking. In the first full analysis of the origins of American commercial banking since Bray Hammond's monumental study forty-five years ago, Wright skillfully examines the political and economic forces that contributed to the origins and rise of banks in cities such as Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, as well as in smaller towns servicing rural America. Wright expertly assesses the impact of the war for independence, Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris' policies under the Confederation, the economic and political effects of the postwar depression of 1784-86, the attempts of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to address the country's economic problems, and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton's financial program under the new Constitution. Wright looks at both the macro and micro sides of issues―how state and national governments addressed problems and chartered (and sometimes unchartered banks) as well as how private individuals tried to cope with the need to obtain capital and the effects on them of early bankruptcy laws. He describes the varied and sometimes arcane financial and commercial instruments that existed both before and after the establishment of banks, and how they fostered economic development. We are introduced to an emerging capitalist system struggling to provide capital needed by America's voracious economy. The Origins of Commercial Banking in America is essential reading for anyone interested in the political and economic origins of the early republic.

The Origins of Commercial Banking in America, 1750-1800

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

The nature of America's early economy has been hotly contested for several decades. Historians have often focused on the question of when America became 'capitalist,' while economists have tried to determine when American economic growth sped up. In The Origins of Commercial Banking in America, Robert E. Wright argues that the ultimate causes of American economic development and transformation into a modern society can be reduced to the causes of American banking. In the first full analysis of the origins of American commercial banking since Bray Hammond's monumental study forty-five years ago, Wright skillfully examines the political and economic forces that contributed to the origins and rise of banks in cities such as Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, as well as in smaller towns servicing rural America. Wright expertly assesses the impact of the war for independence, Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris' policies under the Confederation, the economic and political effects of the postwar depression of 1784-86, the attempts of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to address the country's economic problems, and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton's financial program under the new Constitution. Wright looks at both the macro and micro sides of issues―how state and national governments addressed problems and chartered (and sometimes unchartered banks) as well as how private individuals tried to cope with the need to obtain capital and the effects on them of early bankruptcy laws. He describes the varied and sometimes arcane financial and commercial instruments that existed both before and after the establishment of banks, and how they fostered economic development. We are introduced to an emerging capitalist system struggling to provide capital needed by America's voracious economy. The Origins of Commercial Banking in America is essential reading for anyone interested in the political and economic origins of the early republic.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wright, Robert E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Wright, Robert E.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wright, Robert E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The WSJ Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators That Really Matter: From Big Macs to "Zombie Banks," the Indicators Smart Investors Watch to Beat the Market (Wall Street Journal Guides)

One Nation Under Debt: Hamilton, Jefferson, and the History of What We Owe

The First Wall Street: Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, and the Birth of American Finance

Financial Founding Fathers: The Men Who Made America Rich

Hamilton Unbound: Finance and the Creation of the American Republic (Contributions in Economics and Economic History,)

Knowledge for Generations: Wiley and the Global Publishing Industry, 1807 - 2007

The Wealth of Nations Rediscovered: Integration and Expansion in American Financial Markets, 1780–1850

The Wealth of Nations Rediscovered: Integration and Expansion in American Financial Markets, 1780–1850

The Origins of Commercial Banking in America, 1750-1800

The Origins of Commercial Banking in America, 1750-1800