Search Ebook here:


Finance Masters: A Brief History of International Financial Centers in the Last Millennium



 PDF

Author: Olivier Coispeau

Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Co

Genres:

Publish Date: October 8, 2016

ISBN-10: 9813108827

Pages: 250

File Type: PDF

Language: English

read download

Book Preface

This is a remarkable account of the historical circumstances, the geographical context and the many institutional factors which gave rise to the emergence of international financial centres over the past 900 years.The author’s range of knowledge is reflected in the following texts mentioned in the book which made important contributions to the development of the financial sector: Leonardo of Pisa’s Liber Abaci (The Book of Calculation) published in 1202; Francesco di Balduccio Pegolotti’s professional handbook in 1340; Marco Polo’s Marvel of the World, also known as The Million Lies Marvels on his travels in Asia 1276-1291; Ibn Battuta’s The Rihlah or The Travels1304-1368 and John Wheeler’s A Treatise of Commerce in 1601; De La Vega’s Confusion de Confusiones, the first account of a stock exchange in 1688; Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s Manuel du Spéculateur á la Bourse in 1857; Louis Bachelier’s PhD dissertation Théorie de la Spéculation in 1900; and more recent key contributions such as articles by Black and Scholes (1973) and Merton (1973) on pricing options and other derivative securities.This more recent work by Myron S. Scholes and Robert C. Merton, which is seen as having some impact on the reckless trading before the 2008 crisis,resulted in them sharing the 1997 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Referring to De La Vega’s sometimes ‘confusing’ account of business practices in 1688, Coispeau points out that the main financial contracts currently traded, such as forwards, call and put options, and futures were already in use in Amsterdam at this time. In addition to providing an insightful explanation of how technological innovations have revolutionised financial trading in recent years, this book provides an invaluable and necessary context for a deeper understanding of the historical evolution of innovations in financial transactions, explaining among many other things some of the earliest attempt to model risk-taking when cargoes were being transported through pirate-infested seas. It also explains how risk taking in more recent times has become increasingly challenging to evaluate because of the difficulties associated with monitoring transactions being conducted by sophisticated computer programmes in milliseconds, and which are also open to attack from software viruses.

In addition to providing background to key historical publications in the history of finance, the book also chronicles the development of key landmark financial instruments. Among these are the following: the first bill of exchange in the 13th century; also in the 13th century,the introduction of sovereign debt to provide funding for military adventures; in the 1300s, Venice was the first state to issue the prestiti, which could be called the first Eurobond; in 1309, the first bourse was opened in Bruges; the 1345 banking collapse was likely triggered by Edward III’s defaulting on his debt to the Lombardy bankers in 1342; in 1455, the use of the holding company was perfected by the Medici bankers; in Pingyao, Shanxi Province, Lei Lutai converted his Xiyuchen Pigment shop into the Rishengchang Draft Bank, the first institution to issue cheques in 1823; the lottery is said to have been invented by Benedetto Gentille in 1610; in 1688 Llyod’s coffee shop in London witnessed the first days of the world’s best known insurance underwriting company; in 1752, Benjamin Franklin founded America’s oldest insurance company; on May 17, 1792, leading New York merchants signed the Buttonwood Agreement which committedthem to trade securities only between themselves; and in 1863, Edward A. Calahan invented the first stock price ticker tape.


Download Ebook Read Now File Type Upload Date
Download here Read Now PDF May 30, 2020

How to Read and Open File Type for PC ?