This thoughtful book offers a widely accessible account of the recent economic collapse and crisis, emphasizing the deep nexus of economic inequality, undemocratic power, and leave-it-to-the-market ideology at its root. Based on their understanding of the origins of the crisis, the authors propose a program for reform that is equally dependent on popular action and changes in government policy.

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Former banker and credit rating analyst Emily Eisenlohr reveals poorly understood angles surrounding the building of the financial bubble. In simple terms she explains over-the-counter derivatives, counterparty risk, credit ratings, and how risk management practices and mergers tie the biggest banks together. Twelve years ago Congress eliminated the barriers between commercial and investment banking. The biggest banks created a financial superhighway of risk and charged the tolls, using profits to influence Congress. Residential mortgage securitization was a major component of an even bigger picture.

When it comes to solving global poverty, people are passionate and polarized. At one extreme: invest more resources. At the other: stop throwing money down a sinkhole. In More Than Good Intentions, Yale economist Dean Karlan and researcher Jacob Appel present a pioneering, realistic, and hopeful approach. By combining behavioral economics with worldwide field research, they show how taking human irrationality into account when providing banking, insurance, health care, and education can significantly improve the well-being of poor people everywhere. "A good follow up to Freakonomics, Predictably Irrational, and Nudge," according to Nudge author Richard H. Thaler.

Athletes regularly face win-or-lose situations, but so do business leaders, soldiers, litigators, even average people making crucial decisions about their lives. What usually happens? Most people crumble under extreme pressure. But a few not only succeed but thrive under the pressure. These people are clutch. Can the rest of us learn to be like them?

According to journalist Paul Sullivan, clutch performers have figured out how to perform under high stress conditions as if they were everyday situations. How do they do it?

Are you the boss you need to be? As good as your firm expects you to be? Good enough to achieve your career aspirations?

Being the Boss can help, no matter where you are on your journey. In it, Harvard Business School's Linda Hill and executive Kent Lineback combine six decades of research, teaching, practice, and observation to provide the insights and information you need to move forward.

Some managers are content with just getting by. But most stop making progress because they don't understand how to become a great boss, what great bosses actually do, or where they currently stand in comparison with where they should be. In this book, the authors show you how to measure yourself against what's required. At the end, you will clearly understand your strengths, where you need to make progress, and how to move forward.

Whether you're new or experienced, this book is your guide to becoming the great boss you need to be--for your firm, your people, and yourself.

The U.S. transportation system comprises approximately 3.9 million miles of public roads and highways, on which Americans drive over 3 trillion miles each year. Presently funded through a combination of fuel and vehicle taxes and government grants, this system is vital to the nation's prosperity directly affecting mobility, economic competitiveness, and quality of life, as well as the health of the environment. Yet, despite record levels of government spending, America's transportation system is plagued by traffic congestion, decaying infrastructure, and politicization of transportation funding--leading to calamities such as the 2007 collapse of the I-35 bridge over the Mississippi River and political fiascoes like Alaska's infamous "Bridge to Nowhere."

In the Road to Renewal, R. Richard Geddes surveys the current state of the American transportation system and finds that, like the roads themselves, the existing policy approach is in desperate need of repair. Drawing on the basic economic principles behind supply, demand, competition, and incentives, Geddes argues that a shift toward increased use of public-private partnerships (PPPs)--contractual agreements between public agencies and private parties that allow private participation in the design, construction, operation, and delivery of transportation facilities--could significantly improve the quality of America's transportation infrastructure.

By learning to see themselves as customers and investors--rather than mere users--of roads and highways, Americans should expect to receive a reasonable return of their investment: thorough, effective maintenance of America's transportation infrastructure. The Road to Renewal shows how incorporating increased private participation can halt the deterioration of America's transportation system and become the foundation for a safer, more efficient transportation future.

Every year companies spend millions on executive incentives. Too often, these programs link performance and payouts only weakly.

The New Standards discusses:

• How to link executive incentive pay with business results that drive value


• How to establish proper standards for business performance


• How to evaluate and specify performance metrics


• Why incentives can discourage reasonable risk taking in some cases or encourage imprudent risks in others


• Factors that should drive incentive policy


• Linkages between business decisions, results, valuation, and incentive pay


• Pros and cons of various kinds of stock-based incentive pay

This innovative book is for board members and management who are involved in designing incentive policy, setting performance goals, and specifying performance metrics.

This work uses economic theory, simple probability, statistical concepts, and game theory to analyze the economics of professional team sports. It uses historical examples to test theories regarding such microeconomics fields as labor economics, industrial organization, and public finance.

ROI in Social Media is essential--why would a business invest a single penny in ANY marketing, online or off, if they could not track it and show the result in a tangible, manageable way.

If that is your wish, this book, coauthored with Steven W. Groves, is clearly for you--managers, social media strategists, marketers, entrepreneurs, and business people of all kinds will find nuggets of actionable ideas that can help with a productive and powerful marketing effort.

An audio version is also available.

"Half of my advertising is wasted; I just don't know which half." --John Wanamaker

With the proper data and analytics, marketers can finally start to identify the half that works and the half that doesn't. It's no longer good enough to have great creative, good packaging and a unique product. They must also execute just as well. Getting the execution right can deliver better results and more revenue, profit, and market share.