Wiley, March 2011
THE WORLD IS in the midst of an accelerating sequence of booms and
busts, and despite these developments, no organized multidisciplinary
framework exists for thinking about them.
With the increased complexity and volatility surrounding financial
bubbles, we need a more effective way to spot, and understand, these
events. Based on his popular seminar at Yale University, Boombustology
presents Vikram Mansharamani's multi-lens framework for evaluating
the extremely elaborate social phenomenon of financial market booms and
busts.
Unlike other finance books -- which discuss making day-to-day
investment decisions or the optimal strategy for a particular market --
Boombustology will help you identify the "needle-moving"
extremes that have the potential to render many traditional investment
approaches useless.
Divided into three comprehensive parts, this reliable resource:
- Develops five lenses -- based upon the findings of various
disciplines, from economics and psychology to politics and biology --
that can be combined to evaluate financial extremes
- Examines the power of the multi-lens framework by applying it to five historical cases -- Tulipomania, the Great Depression, the Japanese "Bubble Economy," the Asian Financial Crisis, and the U.S. Housing Boom and Bust -- and demonstrates how the multi-disciplinary approach might have helped to better understand these events as they took place
- Illustrates the framework in action by evaluating China as being
in the midst of a potentially unsustainable boom
The framework found within these pages offers a robust understanding
of the dynamics that precede, fuel, and ultimately reverse financial
market extremes. Regardless of your economic or financial background,
Boombustology will put you in a better position to spot financial
bubbles before they burst.
Hardcover | ISBN: 9780470879467 | Publication Date: March 2011
Reviews:
"Asset class bubbles are by far the most important events in the
life of both stock markets and economies. Boombustology is a
comprehensive, informative, and entertaining look into how bubbles
form, what really constitutes a bubble, and, critically, the causes and
circumstances of bubbles breaking. It is essential reading for any
bubbliophile."
-- Jeremy Grantham, Co-founder and Chief Investment
Strategist, GMO
"Imaginative, accessible, and blessedly concise, Boombustology is a
Baedeker for these boomy and busty times."
-- James Grant, Grant's Interest Rate Observer
"If there's one thing that cleaves Wall Street's winners from its
losers, it's the ability to say, ‘I've seen this movie, and I know how
it ends.' Vikram Mansharamani's Boombustology will entertain readers
with an entire film festival of past, present, and future investment
disaster flicks that will make them laugh, make them cry, and save
their bacon."
-- William J. Bernstein, bestselling author of The
Investor's Manifesto: Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and
Everything in Between
"Investors are attracted to bubbles. To paraphrase Orwell, they find
themselves playing with fire without even knowing that fire is hot.
Vikram Mansharamani's highly readable book will set them right. It
provides a sound intellectual framework for identifying bubbles before
they burst. If you buy only one investment book this year, make it
Boombustology."
-- Edward Chancellor, author of Devil Take the
Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation
"Through an artful and accessible melding of theoretical frameworks
and historical cases, Boombustology provides the essential tools to
identify and navigate the financial booms and busts that can be so
hazardous to one's portfolio. Required reading for all investors."
-- Paul A. Reeder, President, PAR Capital Management
"Who is the better investor: the generalist or the expert
specialist? In this spirited book, Vikram Mansharamani brings to life
five famous boom-bust episodes and argues for a multidisciplinary,
generalist approach. Boombustology is an engaging read for specialists
and generalists alike."
-- John Geanakoplos, James Tobin Professor of Economics at
Yale University; External Professor, the Santa Fe Institute; and
Partner, Ellington Capital Management