Business Cycles Hardcover - 2009

From the rear cover

BUSINESS CYCLES and EQUILIBRIUM

Throughout his career, Fischer Black described a view of business fluctuations based on the idea that a well-developed economy will be continually in equilibrium. In the essays that constitute this book, which is one of only two books Black ever wrote, he explores this idea thoroughly and reaches some surprising conclusions.

With the newfound popularity of quantitative finance and risk management, the work of Fischer Black has garnered much attention. Even today, Black's Business Cycles and Equilibrium--which lays out his theory that economic and financial markets are in a continual equilibrium--still challenges our thinking, especially during our current economic crisis.

This Updated Edition clearly presents Black's classic theory on business cycles and the concept of equilibrium, and contains a new Foreword by the person who knows Black best: Perry Mehrling, author of Fischer Black and the Revolutionary Idea of Finance. Mehrling places Black's book in the context of his own intellectual trajectory, shows how to read it as a challenge to the macroeconomic orthodoxy of his day, and suggests how Black might have used his theory to make sense of today's financial and economic meltdown.

Filled with the practical perspectives of one of the most innovative minds in finance, the Updated Edition of Business Cycles and Equilibrium:

• Contains Fischer's original essays, which reach some interesting conclusions concerning the role of equilibrium in a developed economy
• Warns about the use and abuse of modeling
• Explains the risky business of risk in a straightforward and accessible style
• Includes discussions dedicated to "the effects of uncontrolled banking," "the trouble with econometric models," and "the effects of noise on investing"
• Provides enlightening commentary on Black's life and work at the time Business Cycles and Equilibrium was written

Engaging and informative, the Updated Edition of Business Cycles and Equilibrium will give you a better understanding of what's really going on during these uncertain and volatile financial times.