Capital Ideas Evolving
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| Capital Ideas Evolving | |
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| Author | Peter L. Bernstein |
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| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Finance |
| Publisher | John Wiley & Sons |
| Publication date | 2007 |
| Pages | 304 |
| ISBN | 978-0-471-73173-3 |
Capital Ideas Evolving is a book on finance by Peter L. Bernstein. It was released in May 2007.
[edit] Overview
Capital Ideas Evolving describes how the core concepts of modern finance developed between 1952 and 1973 transformed the investment world in the face of unrelenting attacks from critics and tumultuous economic events.
Modern financial theory now drives the management of investment portfolios and global trading activities. The core idea that all investments reflect a trade-off between risk and expected returns is widely accepted and is the starting point of investment decision-making. Similarly, the idea that the market can’t be beat is now conventional wisdom, even among those who claim to possess an expertise to outperform market averages.
In addition, modern investment theory has spawned new investment and risk management structures: most notably, hedge funds and derivatives, both of which have contributed greatly to the globalization of capital. But while modern investment theory is inextricably imbedded in the operations of the financial world, the real-world applications in the past 15 years have produced unanticipated and sometimes unwelcome results.
The overarching assumption of investor rationality has been proven untenable, given high market volatility, bubbles and crashes, and persistent distortions in asset valuations. Into this breach, the theory of behavioral finance has emerged, which attempts to explain the occasional “irrationality” of markets through analysis of investor actions. Nonetheless, Bernstein clearly states that the revolution ignited by the small group of scholars has forever changed the financial and investment world, and developments of recent years have done nothing to discredit the central tenets of modern financial theory. Capital Ideas Evolving brings to life the individuals, ideas, and events which have revolutionized finance and investment and led to a new age of unprecedented capital mobility.
This is Peter Bernstein's follow up to his 1992 book, Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street published by The Free Press.
