Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Miller provides in-depth insight into past financial market events and by doing so sheds light on what might happen today on several fronts. Three examples: His discussion of the 1998 Long-Term Capital Management debacle is relevant for understanding current risks in hedge funds. His analysis of 1980s portfolio insurance should add to concerns about the proliferation of capital guaranteed notes. His take on market circuit breakers, which he describes as regulatory folly, raises the question of what would happen today if these were triggered.
While the book reviews a large and varied body of academic research, focusing heavily on the experimental economics that the author subscribes to, it offers practical conclusions that anybody interested in finance will find worthwhile. As a financial journalist, I found it very useful.
However, because it covers a lot of ground, readers may want to pick and choose what they want to read from the index. The chapter and section headings, while entertaining, are not good guides for this purpose.
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Praise for Paving Wall Street"This is a remarkable book that weaves the deep scientific roots of modern finance and modern financial institutions with humorous perspective and considerable wisdom. Few understand the pervasive and complex economic principles that govern our world of finance. Few are aware of the academic and scientific origins of financial practices and market instruments that are commonplace today. Ross Miller uses his experience and talents acquired as an experimental economist to help us understand a world that is contradictory, potentially dangerous, and paradoxical. He entertains us while doing it." --Charles R. Plott, Edward S. Harkness Professor of Economics and Political Science, California Institute of Technology"Decisions by millions of individuals produce the fierce tides and churning seas of Wall Street. Miller wields his microscope in the laboratory of experimental economics to provide a sprightly and insightful analysis of investor behavior." --Richard Zeckhauser, Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University"Dramatic new ways for buying and selling-spectrum auctions, e-commerce, derivatives-are the economics profession's contribution to the Information Revolution. This book explains how many of these innovations began with simple experiments at Caltech. The style is a refreshing combination-dramatic and fun to read, but also historically and scientifically accurate. So, I can send one to my Dad, a salesman, and another to my girlfriend, a patent attorney." --Colin Camerer, Rea and Lela Axline Professor of Business Economics, California Institute of Technology"Paving Wall Street is a first-rate insight into bubbles and the experimental research performed on the topic by leading academicians such as Vernon Smith." --David Dreman, Chairman, Dreman Value Management"Academic ideas have revolutionized how Wall Street operates. Entirely new markets have been created. This revolution continues today, accelerated by the rise of increasingly automated markets. Ross Miller has produced a book that makes the leading-edge financial and economic thinking that shapes these new markets accessible to practitioners and professionals. With no equations and a deft touch, this is an excellent guide to the future of greater Wall Street." --David J. Leinweber, PhD, Economics/Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology
