| Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds and Confusión de Confusiones Contributor(s): Fridson, Martin S. (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0471133094 ISBN-13: 9780471133094 Publisher: Wiley OUR PRICE: $40.50 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: December 1995 Annotation: The Dutch East India Company was the hot stock to watch in the early days of the Amsterdam stock exchange. But the price action became hard to unravel once speculation and treacherous deceit came into play. Market manipulation, it seems, was a factor even at the dawn of modern exchange trading. Joseph de la Vega's 1688 Confusion de Confusiones offered a firsthand account of seventeenth-century market complexities that rings remarkably true even today. Exploring the sometimes humorous, sometimes devastating impact of crowd behavior and trading trickery on the financial markets, this book brilliantly combines two all-time investment classics. Financial analyst and author Martin S. Fridson is your guide, and the result is an insightful new volume that is a quirky, entertaining, and thoroughly intriguing journey back through time. From the investment strategies of Bernard Baruch, to Japanese land prices, junk bonds, and the collapse of Baring Securities, the far-reaching influence of Mackay's and de la Vega's revered works remains potent and truly timeless. By juxtaposing Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Confusion de Confusiones, this unique book points up the interesting contrast in their respective conclusions. Mackay believed that "periodic outbreaks of mass hysteria" led to volatile market activity, while de la Vega saw "cunning behind the market's convulsions". Both interpretations are worth examining for their fascinating commentaries on market movement and investment psychology. Viewed from within the context of events of our own time, these classics are must reading for all those seeking a greater understanding of the stock exchange's frequently erratic behavior. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Business & Economics | Economics - Theory - Social Science | Sociology - General - Business & Economics | Marketing - Multilevel |
| Dewey: 001.9 |
| LCCN: 95052629 |
| Series: Marketplace Book |
| Physical Information: 0.74" H x 5.62" W x 8.71" (0.95 lbs) 224 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The market never ceases to befuddle and beguile. These twovenerable works are fixtures on the short lists for most valuablebooks on the securities markets, and investors continue to cherishthem. -From the Introduction by Martin S. Fridson ManagingDirector, Merrill Lynch & Co. Author of InvestmentIllusions Exploring the sometimes hilarious, sometimes devastating impact ofcrowd behavior and trading trickery on the financial markets, thisbook brilliantly combines two all-time investment classics.Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Confusi 3n de Confusionestake us from Tulipmania in 1634-when tulips actually traded at ahigher price than gold-to the South Sea bubble of 1720, andbeyond. Securities analyst and author Martin Fridson guides you ona quirky, entertaining, and intriguing journey back throughtime. Chosen by the Financial Times as Two of the Ten Best Books EverWritten on Investment Critical Praise . . . This is the most important book ever written about crowdpsychology and, by extension, about financial markets. A seriousstudent of the markets and even anyone interested in the extremesof human behavior should read this book -Ron Insana, CNBC In combining 'Extraordinary' with 'Confusion, ' the result is notextraordinary confusion. Instead, with clarity, the book sears intomodern investor minds the dangers of following the crowd. -GregHeberlein, The Seattle Times You will see between its staid lines (written in ye olde Englishand as ponderable as Buddha's navel) that, despite what the mediasays, nothing really important has changed in the financial marketsin centuries. -Kenneth L. Fisher, Forbes |