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Inheriting Wealth in America: Future Boom or Bust?
by Edward N. WolffInheritances are often regarded as a societal "evil," enabling great fortunes to be passed from one generation to another, thus exacerbating wealth inequality and reducing wealth mobility. Discussions of inheritances in America bring to mind the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and "trust fund babies"---people who receive enough money through inheritances or gifts that they do not have any need to work during their lifetime. Though these are, of course, extreme outliers, inheritances in America have a reputation for being a way the rich keep getting richer. In Inheriting Wealth in America, Edward Wolff seeks to counter these misconceptions with data and arguments that illuminate who inherits what in the United States and what results from these wealth transfers. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances---a triennial survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Board that contains detailed information on household wealth, inheritances, and gifts---as well as the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and a simulation model over years 1989 to 2010, Wolff reports six major findings on the state of inheritances in America. First, wealth transfers (inheritances and gifts) accounted for less than one quarter of household wealth. However, for persons age 75 and over, the figure was about two-fifths since they have more time to receive wealth transfers. Indirect evidence, derived from the simulation model, indicates a figure closer to two-thirds at end of life - probably the best estimate. Second, despite prognostications of a coming "inheritance boom," it has not materialized yet. Only a small (and statistically insignificant) uptick in average wealth transfers was observed over the period, and wealth transfers were actually down as a share of household wealth. Third, while wealth transfers are greater in dollar amount for richer households than poorer ones, they constitute a smaller share of the accumulated wealth of the rich. Fourth, contrary to popular belief, inheritances and gifts, on net, reduce wealth inequality rather than raising it. The rationale is that inheritances and particularly gifts typically flow from richer to poorer persons, thus lowering wealth inequality. Fifth, despite a rapid rise in income inequality, the inequality of wealth transfers shows no discernible time trend from 1989 to 2010, neither upward nor downward. Sixth, among the very wealthy, the share of wealth accounted for by wealth transfers is surprisingly low, only about a sixth, and this share has trended significantly downward over time. It is true that inheritances and gifts are unequal, with only one fifth of families receiving wealth transfers and these transfers benefitting the rich far more than the middle class and the poor. That, however, is not the whole picture of inheritances in America. Clearly-written and illuminating, this books expertly distills an abundance of data on inheritances into important takeaways for all who wonder about the current state of inheritances and gifts in the United States.
The Evolving Sphere of Food Security
by Rosamond L. NaylorHundreds of millions of people still suffer from chronic hunger and food insecurity despite sufficient levels of global food production. The poor's inability to afford adequate diets remains the biggest constraint to solving hunger, but the dynamics of global food insecurity are complex and demand analysis that extends beyond the traditional domains of economics and agriculture. How do the policies used to promote food security in one country affect nutrition, food access, natural resources, and national security in other countries? How do the priorities and challenges of achieving food security change over time as countries develop economically? The Evolving Sphere of Food Security seeks to answer these two important questions and others by exploring the interconnections of food security to security of many kinds: energy, water, health, climate, the environment, and national security. Through personal stories of research in the field and policy advising at local and global scales, a multidisciplinary group of scholars provide readers with a real-world sense of the opportunities and challenges involved in alleviating food insecurity. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, management of HIV/AIDS, the establishment of an equitable system of land property rights, and investment in solar-powered irrigation play an important role in improving food security---particularly in the face of global climate change. Meanwhile, food price spikes associated with the United States' biofuels policy continue to have spillover effects on the world's rural poor with implications for stability and national security. The Evolving Sphere of Food Security traces four key areas of the food security field: 1) the political economy of food and agriculture; 2) challenges for the poorest billion; 3) agriculture's dependence on resources and the environment; and 4) food in a national and international security context. This book connects these areas in a way that tells an integrated story about human lives, resource use, and the policy process.
The Generalist Counsel: How Leading General Counsel are Shaping Tomorrow's Companies
by Prashant Dubey Eva KripalaniIn the past two decades, the General Counsel in many companies has risen in importance, and the GC is now often involved in business strategy from the inception. Consequently, the position has become more desirable, lucrative, and competitive. Those who achieve it are required to be better versed in the same fundamental principles of business practice and leadership as other senior executives. In The Generalist Counsel: How Leading General Counsel are Shaping Tomorrow's Companies, Prashant Dubey and Eva Kripalani offer guidance for lawyers making the transition to company leadership. They describe the steps a lawyer should take to blend legal training with other business disciplines to perform a much broader and more strategic role for the organization. Further, the authors provide a view into the GC role that will enable non-lawyers to better understand how their in-house legal departments execute their role. Through research and in-depth interviews with sitting and former General Counsel and executives in the sphere of influence, the authors identify a deliberate evolution in the fabric and tenor of the role of the GC. The personal stories are not only thought-provoking, but also entertaining. The authors also discuss how this shift is leading to other innovations within the legal profession, such as the evolving relationship with outside counsel, General Counsel demands for new products and services, and models for service delivery that are similar to Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing delivery models.
Analyzing Wimbledon: The Power of Statistics
by Franc Klaassen Jan R. MagnusThe game of tennis raises many questions that are of interest to a statistician. Is it true that beginning to serve in a set gives an advantage? Are new balls an advantage? Is the seventh game in a set particularly important? Are top players more stable than other players? Do real champions win the big points? These and many other questions are formulated as "hypotheses" and tested statistically. Analyzing Wimbledon also discusses how the outcome of a match can be predicted (even while the match is in progress), which points are important and which are not, how to choose an optimal service strategy, and whether "winning mood" actually exists in tennis. Aimed at readers with some knowledge of mathematics and statistics, the book uses tennis (Wimbledon in particular) as a vehicle to illustrate the power and beauty of statistical reasoning.
Economic Elites, Crises, and Democracy: Alternatives Beyond Neoliberal Capitalism
by Andres SolimanoEconomic Elites, Crises, and Democracy analyzes critical topics of contemporaneous capitalism. Andrés Solimano, President of the International Center for Globalization and Development, focuses on economic elites and the super rich, the nature of entrepreneurship, the rise of corporate´s technostructure, the internal fragmentation of the middle class, and the marginalization of the working poor. While examining historical episodes of economic and financial crises from the 19th century to the present, he reviews a variety of related economic theories and policies, including austerity, which have been enacted in attempts to overcome these crises. Solimano also examines patterns of international mobility of capital and knowledge elites along with the rise of global social movements and migration diasporas. The book ends with an analysis of the concept, modalities, and potential areas of the application of economic democracy to reform 21st century global capitalism.
The History Of Music Production (PDF)
by Richard James BurgessRichard James Burgess draws on his experience as a producer, a musician, and an author in this history of recorded music, which focuses on the development of music production as both art form and profession.
The History of Music Production
by Richard James BurgessIn The History of Music Production, Richard James Burgess draws on his experience as a producer, musician, and author. Beginning in 1860 with the first known recording of an acoustic sound and moving forward chronologically, Burgess charts the highs and lows of the industry throughout the decades and concludes with a discussion on the present state of music production. Throughout, he tells the story of the music producer as both artist and professional, including biographical sketches of key figures in the history of the industry, including Fred Gaisberg, Phil Spector, and Dr. Dre. Burgess argues that while technology has defined the nature of music production, the drive toward greater control over the process, end result, and overall artistry come from producers. The result is a deeply knowledgeable book that sketches a critical path in the evolution of the field, and analyzes the impact that recording and disseminative technologies have had on music production. A key and handy reference book for students and scholars alike, it stands as an ideal companion to Burgess's noted, multi-edition book The Art of Music Production.
The Handbook of Behavioral Operations Management: Social and Psychological Dynamics in Production and Service Settings
The Handbook of Behavioral Operations Management provides easy-to-access insights into why associated behavioral phenomena exist in specific production and service settings, illustrated through ready-to-play games and activities that allow instructors to demonstrate the phenomena in class settings along with applicable prescriptions for practice. By design the text serves a dual role as a desk/training reference to those practitioners already in the field and presents a comprehensive framework for viewing behavioral operations from a systems perspective. As an interdisciplinary book relating the dynamics of human behavior to operations management, this handbook is an essential resource for practitioners seeking to develop greater system understanding among their workers, as well as for instructors interested in emphasizing the practical relevance of behavior in operational settings.
Mass Politics In Tough Times C: Opinions, Votes, And Protest In The Great Recession
by Nancy Bermeo Larry M. BartelsMass Politics in Tough Times: Opinions, Votes, and Protest in the Great Recession
by Nancy Bermeo Larry M. BartelsThe impact of the Great Depression on politics in the 1930s was both transformative and shocking. The role of government in America was forever transformed, and across Europe socialist, communist, and fascist parties saw their support skyrocket. Most famously, the National Socialists seized power in Germany in 1933, setting off a chain of events that led to the greatest conflagration in world history. The recent Great Recession has not been as severe as the Great Recession, but it has been severe enough, producing a half decade of negative and/or slow growth across the advanced industrial world. Yet the response by voters has been extraordinarily muted considering the circumstances. Why is this? In Mass Politics in Tough Times, the eminent political scientists Larry Bartels and Nancy Bermeo have gathered a group of leading scholars to analyze the political responses to the Great Recession in the US, Western Europe, and East-Central Europe. In contrast to works that focus on policy responses to the Recession, they examine how ordinary voters have responded. In almost every country, most voters have not shifted their allegiance to either far left or far right parties. Instead, they've continued to act as they have in more normal times: vote based on their own personal circumstances and punish the incumbents who were on watch when the bad turn occurred regardless of whether they were center-left or center-right. In some countries, electoral trends that existed before the Recession have continued. The US, for instance, saw no real increase in popular support for an expanded welfare state. In fact, the anti-regulatory right, which gained strength before the Recession occurred, experienced a series of victories in Wisconsin after 2008. Interestingly, states that had strong welfare systems have seen the least political realignment. As the contributors show, ordinary voters tend to vote based on their own experiences, and those in expansive welfare states have been buffered from the harshest effects of the Recession. That said, states with weaker welfare systems--e.g., Greece--have seen significant political turmoil. Moreover, there have been a small number of cases of popular radicalization, and the contributors have been able to isolate the cause: when voters can establish a clear and direct connection between the actions of political elites and economic hardship, they will throw their support to protest parties on the right and left. Ultimately, though, the picture is one of relatively stoic acceptance of the downturn by the majority of publics. Featuring an impressive range of cases, this will stand as the most comprehensive scholarly account of the Great Recession's impact on political behavior in advanced economies.
New Frontiers of Philanthropy: A Guide to the New Tools and New Actors that Are Reshaping Global Philanthropy and Social Investing
by Lester M. SalamonThe resources of both governments and traditional philanthropy are either barely growing or in decline, yet the problems of poverty, ill-health, and environmental degradation balloon daily. It is therefore increasingly clear that we urgently need new models for financing and promoting social and environmental objectives. Fortunately, a significant revolution appears to be underway on the frontiers of philanthropy and social investing, tapping not only philanthropy, but also private investment capital, and providing at least a partial response to this dilemma. This book examines the new actors and new tools that form the heart of this revolution, and shows how they are reshaping the way we go about supporting solutions to social and environmental problems throughout the world. With contributions from leading experts in the field, New Frontiers of Philanthropy provides a comprehensive analysis of the many new institutions that have surfaced on this new frontier of philanthropy and social investment; the new tools and instruments these institutions are bringing to bear; the challenges that these actors and tools still encounter; and the steps that are needed to maximize their impact. The result is a powerful and accessible guide to developments that are already bringing significant new resources into efforts to solve the world's problems of poverty, ill-health, and environmental degradation; unleashing new energies and new sources of ingenuity for social and environmental problem-solving; and generating new hope in an otherwise dismal scenario of lagging resources and resolve. Investors, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, business executives, government officials, and students the world over will find much to build on in these pages.
The Oxford Handbook of Post-Keynesian Economics, Volume 1: Critiques and Methodology (Oxford Handbooks)
by G. C. Harcourt and Peter KrieslerThis two volume Handbook contains chapters on the main areas to which Post-Keynesians have made sustained and important contributions. These include theories of accumulation, distribution, pricing, money and finance, international trade and capital flows, the environment, methodological issues, criticism of mainstream economics and Post-Keynesian policies. The Introduction outlines what is in the two volumes, in the process placing Post-Keynesian procedures and contributions in appropriate contexts.
The Oxford Handbook of Post-Keynesian Economics, Volume 2: Critiques and Methodology (Oxford Handbooks)
by G. C. Harcourt Peter KrieslerThis two volume Handbook contains chapters on the main areas to which Post-Keynesians have made sustained and important contributions. These include theories of accumulation, distribution, pricing, money and finance, international trade and capital flows, the environment, methodological issues, criticism of mainstream economics and Post-Keynesian policies. The Introduction outlines what is in the two volumes, in the process placing Post-Keynesian procedures and contributions in appropriate contexts.
Fixing U.S. International Taxation
by Daniel N. ShaviroInternational tax rules, which determine how countries tax cross-border investment, are increasingly important with the rise of globalization, but the modern U.S. rules, even more than those in most other countries, are widely recognized as dysfunctional. The existing debate over how to reform the U.S. tax rules is stuck in a sterile dialectic, in which ostensibly the only permissible choices are worldwide or residence-based taxation of U.S. companies with the allowance of foreign tax credits, versus outright exemption of the companies' foreign source income. In Fixing U.S. International Taxation, Daniel N. Shaviro explains why neither of these solutions addresses the fundamental problem at hand, and he proposes a new reformulation of the existing framework from first principles. He shows that existing international tax policy frameworks are misguided insofar as they treat "double taxation" and "double non-taxation" as the key issues, conflate the distinct questions of what tax rate to impose on foreign source income and how to treat foreign taxes, and use simplistic single-bullet global welfare norms in lieu of a comprehensive analysis. Drawing on tools that are familiar from public economics and trade policy, but that have been under-utilized in the international tax realm, Shaviro offers a better analysis that not only reshapes our understanding of the underlying issues, but might point the way to substantially improving the prevailing rules, both in the U.S. and around the world.
The Good Lawyer: Seeking Quality in the Practice of Law
by Douglas O. Linder Nancy LevitEvery lawyer wants to be a good lawyer. They want to do right by their clients, contribute to the professional community, become good colleagues, interact effectively with people of all persuasions, and choose the right cases. All of these skills and behaviors are important, but they spring from hard-to-identify foundational qualities necessary for good lawyering. After focusing for three years on getting high grades and sharpening analytical skills, far too many lawyers leave law school without a real sense of what it takes to be a good lawyer. In The Good Lawyer, Douglas O. Linder and Nancy Levit combine evidence from the latest social science research with numerous engaging accounts of top-notch attorneys at work to explain just what makes a good lawyer. They outline and analyze several crucial qualities: courage, empathy, integrity, diligence, realism, a strong sense of justice, clarity of purpose, and an ability to transcend emotionalism. Many qualities require apportionment in the right measure, and achieving the right balance is difficult. Lawyers need to know when to empathize and also when to detach; courage without an appreciation of consequences becomes recklessness; working too hard leads to exhaustion and mistakes. And what do you do in tricky situations, where the urge to deceive is high? How can you maintain focus through a mind-taxing (or mind-numbing) project? Every lawyer faces these problems at some point, but if properly recognized and approached, they can be overcome. It's not easy being good, but this engaging guide will serve as a handbook for any lawyer trying not only to figure out how to become a better--and, almost always, more fulfilled--lawyer.
The Good Lawyer: Seeking Quality in the Practice of Law
by Nancy Levit Douglas O. LinderEvery lawyer wants to be a good lawyer. They want to do right by their clients, contribute to the professional community, become good colleagues, interact effectively with people of all persuasions, and choose the right cases. All of these skills and behaviors are important, but they spring from hard-to-identify foundational qualities necessary for good lawyering. After focusing for three years on getting high grades and sharpening analytical skills, far too many lawyers leave law school without a real sense of what it takes to be a good lawyer. In The Good Lawyer, Douglas O. Linder and Nancy Levit combine evidence from the latest social science research with numerous engaging accounts of top-notch attorneys at work to explain just what makes a good lawyer. They outline and analyze several crucial qualities: courage, empathy, integrity, diligence, realism, a strong sense of justice, clarity of purpose, and an ability to transcend emotionalism. Many qualities require apportionment in the right measure, and achieving the right balance is difficult. Lawyers need to know when to empathize and also when to detach; courage without an appreciation of consequences becomes recklessness; working too hard leads to exhaustion and mistakes. And what do you do in tricky situations, where the urge to deceive is high? How can you maintain focus through a mind-taxing (or mind-numbing) project? Every lawyer faces these problems at some point, but if properly recognized and approached, they can be overcome. It's not easy being good, but this engaging guide will serve as a handbook for any lawyer trying not only to figure out how to become a better--and, almost always, more fulfilled--lawyer.
Capital Markets, Derivatives and the Law: Evolution After Crisis
by Alan N. RechtschaffenDramatic failures in individual markets and institutions sparked a global financial crisis that resulted in political, social, and economic unrest. In the United States, a host of legislative acts have completely reshaped the regulatory landscape. Capital Markets, Derivatives and the Law: Evolution After Crisis investigates the impact of the financial crisis on capital markets and regulation. With an emphasis on the structure and the workings of financial instruments, it considers market evolution after the crisis and the impact of Central Bank policy. In doing so, it provides the reader with the tools to recognize vulnerabilities in capital market trading activities. This edition serves as an essential guide to better understand the legal and business considerations of capital market participation. With useful definitions, case law examples, and expert insight into structures, regulation, and litigation strategies, Capital Markets, Derivatives and the Law: Evolution After Crisis offers readers invaluable tools to make prudent, well-informed decisions.
Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers
by Robert JackallRobert Jackall's Moral Mazes offers an eye-opening account of how corporate managers think the world works, and how big organizations shape moral consciousness. Based on extensive interviews with managers at every level of two industrial firms and of a large public relations agency, Moral Mazes takes the reader inside the intricate world of the corporation. Jackall reveals a world where hard work does not necessarily lead to success, but where sharp talk, self-promotion, powerful patrons, and sheer luck might. Cheerfully-bland public faces mask intense competition in this world where people hide their intentions, and accountability often depends on the ability to outrun mistakes. In this topsy-turvy world, managers must bring often unforgiving technology and always difficult people together to make money, an uncompromising task demanding continual compromises with conventional truths. Moral questions become merely practical concerns and issues of public relations. Sooner or later, managers find themselves wondering how to act in such a world and still maintain a sense of personal integrity. This brilliant, sometimes disturbing, often wildly funny study of corporate thinking, decision-making, and morality presents compelling real life stories of the men and women charged with running the businesses of America. It will interest anyone concerned with how big organizations actually function, or with the current moral malaise in our public life.
Religion and the Marketplace in the United States
by Jan Stievermann Philip Goff Detlef Junker Anthony Santoro Daniel SillimanAlexis de Tocqueville once described the national character of Americans as one question insistently asked: "How much money will it bring in?" G.K. Chesterton, a century later, described America as a "nation with a soul of a church." At first glance, the two observations might appear to be diametrically opposed, but this volume shows the ways in which American religion and American business overlap and interact with one another, defining the US in terms of religion, and religion in terms of economics. Bringing together original contributions by leading experts and rising scholars from both America and Europe, the volume pushes this field of study forward by examining the ways religions and markets in relationship can provide powerful insights and open unseen aspects into both. In essays ranging from colonial American mercantilism to modern megachurches, from literary markets to popular festivals, the authors explore how religious behavior is shaped by commerce, and how commercial practices are informed by religion. By focusing on what historians often use off-handedly as a metaphor or analogy, the volume offers new insights into three varieties of relationships: religion and the marketplace, religion in the marketplace, and religion as the marketplace. Using these categories, the contributors test the assumptions scholars have come to hold, and offer deeper insights into religion and the marketplace in America.
The Federalization of Corporate Governance
by Marc I. SteinbergThis book focuses on the federalization of corporate governance in the United States from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Although the states traditionally have regulated the sphere of corporate governance - encompassing the relations among and between the subject corporation, its directors, its officers, its stockholders, and other stakeholders - federal law today impacts the governance of publicly-traded companies to a greater degree than ever before in U.S. history. This book discusses the evolution and development of corporate governance from a federal law perspective from the commencement of the twentieth century to the present. It examines the tension between state company law and federal law, analyzes the federal historical developments, explains the ramifications of the federal legislation enacted during the past two decades, and recommends corrective measures that should be implemented. The book accordingly provides an original, historical, and contemporary analysis of the federalization of corporate governance - a subject that impacts this country's economic well-being in a very fundamental way.
Language Policy and Political Economy: English in a Global Context
This volume articulates a new framework for language policy research that explores the connections between language policy and political economy. The chapters are united in their focus on English, a language that has enjoyed a reputation as a "global language" over the course of the last century and that is perceived as a tool for socioeconomic mobility. The book argues that adopting a new, political economic approach to language policy research will enhance our ability to provide more consistent explanations about the status, functions, benefits, and limitations of English in its various roles in non-English dominant countries. The book poses the questions: Does English serve as a "lingua franca" and does it advance the interests of sustainable economic and social development in low-income countries? Written by leading experts in language policy research, the chapters reveal the myriad and complex ways in which government leaders, policymakers, and communities make decisions about the languages that will be taught as subjects or used as media of instruction in schools. English is often advertised as a social "good" with unquestioned instrumental value, yet access to quality English-medium education in low-income countries tends to be restricted to those with sufficient economic means to pay for it. As the capitalist world economy continues to change and grow, and assuming that translation technologies continue to improve, it is likely that the roles and relative importance of English as a global language will change significantly. Assessing the costs and benefits of acquiring English therefore takes on increased urgency. The book argues that a political economic approach is particularly appropriate in this endeavor, as it takes into account theories and empirical findings from a range of disciplines in order to assess and explain real-world phenomena that do not fit neatly into boxes labeled "economic," "social," "political" or "cultural." Together, the chapters in this volume argue for a new direction in language policy studies-grounded in political economy -- that will explain why English has been experienced as both a blessing and curse in different parts of the world, why English continues to be useful as a lingua franca for particular sectors of the global economy, and why it is a detriment to economic development in many low-income countries. The book will be invaluable to language policy scholars, policy-makers, and educators, significantly advancing research in this important field.
The Oxford Handbook of Workplace Discrimination (Oxford Library of Psychology)
Increasing workplace diversity has given rise to growing intergroup challenges that persistently manifest in discrimination. An emerging science in psychology, sociology, and management has yielded useful evidence to be brought to bear on the important problem of discrimination, but current literature is either focused on social (rather than work) settings, on legal (rather than interpersonal) issues, or on the general phenomenon of diversity instead of the social problem of discrimination in action. Edited by Adrienne J. Colella and Eden B. King, The Oxford Handbook of Workplace Discrimination provides readers with a broad and interdisciplinary review of state-of-the-art research on discrimination in the workplace. In this volume, Colella, King, and their contributing authors tackle the unique experiences of people from diverse perspectives and communities (including religious minorities, gay and lesbian workers, and people with disabilities); the myriad of ways in which discrimination can manifest and its overall consequences; explanations for discrimination; and strategies for reduction. This Handbook will propel future scholarship by clearly outlining the substantive questions, methods, and issues for the future ahead.
The Oxford Handbook of Workplace Discrimination (Oxford Library of Psychology)
by Adrienne J. Colella and Eden B. KingIncreasing workplace diversity has given rise to growing intergroup challenges that persistently manifest in discrimination. An emerging science in psychology, sociology, and management has yielded useful evidence to be brought to bear on the important problem of discrimination, but current literature is either focused on social (rather than work) settings, on legal (rather than interpersonal) issues, or on the general phenomenon of diversity instead of the social problem of discrimination in action. Edited by Adrienne J. Colella and Eden B. King, The Oxford Handbook of Workplace Discrimination provides readers with a broad and interdisciplinary review of state-of-the-art research on discrimination in the workplace. In this volume, Colella, King, and their contributing authors tackle the unique experiences of people from diverse perspectives and communities (including religious minorities, gay and lesbian workers, and people with disabilities); the myriad of ways in which discrimination can manifest and its overall consequences; explanations for discrimination; and strategies for reduction. This Handbook will propel future scholarship by clearly outlining the substantive questions, methods, and issues for the future ahead.
Mortgage Valuation Models: Embedded Options, Risk, and Uncertainty (Financial Management Association Survey and Synthesis)
by Andrew Davidson Alexander LevinMortgage-backed securities (MBS) are among the most complex of all financial instruments. Analysis of MBS requires blending empirical analysis of borrower behavior with the mathematical modeling of interest rates and home prices. Over the past 25 years, Andrew Davidson and Alexander Levin have been at the leading edge of MBS valuation and risk analysis. Mortgage Valuation Models: Embedded Options, Risk, and Uncertainty contains a detailed description of the sophisticated theories and advanced methods that the authors employ in real-world analyses of mortgage-backed securities. Issues such as complexity, borrower options, uncertainty, and model risk play a central role in the authors' approach to the valuation of MBS. The coverage spans the range of mortgage products from loans and TBA (to-be-announced) pass-through securities to subordinate tranches of subprime-mortgage securitizations. With reference to the classical CAPM and APT, the book advocates extending the concept of risk-neutrality to modeling home prices and borrower options, well beyond interest rates. It describes valuation methods for both agency and non-agency MBS including pricing new loans; approaches to prudent risk measurement, ranking, and decomposition; and methods for modeling prepayments and defaults of borrowers. The authors also reveal quantitative causes of the 2007-09 financial crisis and provide insight into the future of the U.S. housing finance system and mortgage modeling as this field continues to evolve. This book will serve as a foundation for the future development of models for mortgage-backed securities.