Unequal Democracy and Options Futures and Other Derivatives

Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age

Author: Larry M Bartels

Unequal Democracy debunks many myths about politics in contemporary America, using the widening gap between the rich and the poor to shed disturbing light on the workings of American democracy. Larry Bartels shows that increasing inequality is not simply the result of economic forces, but the product of broad-reaching policy choices in a political system dominated by partisan ideologies and the interests of the wealthy.

Bartels demonstrates that elected officials respond to the views of affluent constituents but ignore the views of poor people. He shows that Republican presidents in particular have consistently produced much less income growth for middle-class and working-poor families than for affluent families, greatly increasing inequality. He provides revealing case studies of key policy shifts contributing to inequality, including the massive Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 and the erosion of the minimum wage. Finally, he challenges conventional explanations for why many voters seem to vote against their own economic interests, contending that working-class voters have not been lured into the Republican camp by "values issues" like abortion and gay marriage, as commonly believed, but that Republican presidents have been remarkably successful in timing income growth to cater to short-sighted voters.

Unequal Democracy is social science at its very best. It provides a deep and searching analysis of the political causes and consequences of America's growing income gap, and a sobering assessment of the capacity of the American political system to live up to its democratic ideals.

The Washington Post - Dan Balz

…a provocative new book by Princeton professor Larry M. Bartels, one of the country's leading political scientists.

Table of Contents:

Preface     ix
The New Gilded Age     1
Escalating Economic Inequality     6
Interpreting Inequality     13
Economic Inequality as a Political Issue     19
Inequality and American Democracy     23
The Partisan Political Economy     29
Partisan Patterns of Income Growth     31
A Partisan Coincidence?     34
Partisan Differences in Macroeconomic Policy     42
Macroeconomic Performance and Income Growth     47
Partisan Policies and Post-Tax Income Growth     54
Democrats, Republicans, and the Rise of Inequality     61
Class Politics and Partisan Change     64
In Se arch of the Working Class     66
Has the White Working Class Abandoned the Democratic Party?     72
Have Working-Class Whites Become More Conservative?     78
Do "Moral Values" Trump Economics?     83
Are Religious Voters Distracted from Economic Issues?     90
Class Politics, Alive and Well     93
Partisan Biases in Economic Accountability     98
Myopic Voters     99
The Political Timing of Income Growth     104
Class Biases in Economic Voting     110
The Wealthy GiveSomething Back: Partisan Biases in Campaign Spending     116
Political Consequences of Biased Accountability     120
Do Americans Care about Inequality?    &nbs p;127
Egalitarian Values     130
Rich and Poor     136
Perceptions of Inequality     143
Facts and Values in the Realm of Inequality     148
Homer Gets a Tax Cut     162
The Bush Tax Cuts     164
Public Support for the Tax Cuts     170
Unenlightened Self-Interest     176
The Impact of Political Information     181
Chump Change     186
Into the Sunset     193
The Strange Appeal of Estate Tax Repeal     197
Public Support for Estate Tax Repeal     198
Is Public Support for Repeal a Product of Misinformation?     205
Did Interest Groups Manufacture Public Antipathy to the Estate Tax? & nbsp;   214
Elite Ideology and the Politics of Estate Tax Repeal     217
The Eroding Minimum Wage     223
The Economic Effects of the Minimum Wage     227
Public Support for the Minimum Wage     229
The Politics of Inaction     232
Democrats, Unions, and the Eroding Minimum Wage     239
The Earned Income Tax Credit     246
Reversing the Tide     247
Economic Inequality and Political Representation     252
Ideological Representation     254
Unequal Responsiveness     257
Unequal Responsiveness on Social Issues: The Case of Abortion     265
Partisan Differences in Representation     267
Why Are the Poo r Unrepresented?     275
Unequal Democracy     283
Who Governs?     285
Partisan Politics and the "Have-Nots"     288
Political Obstacles to Economic Equality     294
The City of Utmost Necessity     298
Selected References     305
Index     317

Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives

Author: John C Hull

Updated and revised to reflect the most current information, this introduction to futures and options markets is ideal for those with a limited background in mathematics.

Based on Hull's Options, Futures and Other Derivatives, one of the best-selling books on Wall Street, this book presents an accessible overview of the topic without the use of calculus. Packed with numerical samples and accounts of real-life situations, the Fifth Edition effectively guides readers through the material while providing them with a host of tangible examples.

For professionals with a career in futures and options markets, financial engineering and/or risk management.

Booknews

A graduate level business text providing a working knowledge of how derivatives can be analyzed. Hull (U. of Toronto) keeps non-essential mathematics at a minimum while still rigorously introducing the key components of futures markets and the use of futures for hedging, interest rate futures, swaps, options markets, trading strategies, binomial trees, the Black-Scholes analysis, numerical procedures, models of the yield curve, and credit risk and regulatory capital. The conclusion, thankfully, reviews the key concepts and additional equations are presented at the end of the discussions. The text assumes the student has had introductory courses in finance, probability and statistics. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

This fourth edition provides a unifying approach to the valuation of all derivatives<-->not just futures and options<-->and includes new chapters on value at risk and estimating volatilities and correlations. Hull (Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, U. of Toronto) assumes that the reader has taken introductory courses in finance and probability and statistics. The disk includes Excel-based software called DerivaGem which can be used to calculate options prices, imply volatilities, and calculate Greek letters for options and interest rate derivatives. For graduate and advanced undergraduate elective courses in business, economics, and financial engineering. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Table of Contents:

	Preface
1	Introduction	1
2	Futures Markets and the Use of Futures for Hedging	18
3	Forward and Futures Prices	45
4	Interest Rate Futures	80
5	Swaps	111
6	Options Markets	136
7	Properties of Stock Option Prices	151
8	Trading Strategies Involving Options	173
9	A Model of the Behavior of Stock Prices	190
10	The Black-Scholes Analysis	207
11	Options on Stock Indices, Currencies, and Futures Contracts	247
12	A General Approach to Pricing Derivative Securities	274
13	Hedging Positions in Options and Other Derivative Securities	295
14	Numerical Procedures	329
15	Interest Rate Derivative Securities	370
16	Exotic Options	414
17	Alternatives to Black-Scholes for Option Pricing	434
18	Credit Risk	455
19	Review of Key Concepts	469
	Table for N(X) when X [actual symbol not reproducible]0	473
	Table for N(X) when X [actual symbol not reproducible]0	474
	World Exchanges	475
	Glossary of Notation	476
	Author Index	481
	Subject Index	484