Edgeworth on chance, economic hazard, and statistics

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Hossein Askari ... [et al

The Stability of Islamic Finance main focus is on the question of the sources of financial instability which seems inherent in the conventional system. As a core component of this focus, the book will consider episodes of turbulence and instability in a historical context recalling the occurrence of such events from mid-19th century to the present. It will present various theoretical explanations along with solutions and alternative financial systems that avoid instability provided by various scholars dating back to mid-19th century to present. The book then will present and discuss the architecture of an Islamic financial system and show that at its core, this system shares many characteristics of an stable financial system proposed by Western scholars throughout history to avoid the inherent instability of the present dominant system. Particular emphasis will be placed on the present financial crisis and its causes as well the financial crisis of the 1997 in Southeast Asia, Russia, and Latin America relating these episodes to the fundamental features of the dominant system. The debt crisis of the low income countries will also be part of this discussion. It will then argue that these crises could be mitigated under an Islamic system or any other system with similar architecture.

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Eric Hobsbawm

**The Age of Capital: 1848–1875** is a book by Eric Hobsbawm, first published in 1975. It is the second in a trilogy of books about "the long 19th century" (coined by Hobsbawm), preceded by *The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848* and followed by *The Age of Empire: 1875–1914*. A fourth book, *The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991*, acts as a sequel to the trilogy. (from Wikipedia)

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Frederick Allen

Since its bubbly debut in an Atlanta soda fountain more than a century ago, Coca-Cola has grown into a global enterprise whose trademark is the most familiar - and inescapable - commercial symbol in the world. Pioneering the art of the soft sell, Coke's advertising has stamped an indelible imprint on our popular culture, from the "pause that refreshes" to the modern image of Santa Claus. The simple script label, unchanged since the Victorian era, has become virtually synonymous with America. A hugely profitable fifty-billion-dollar corporation with sales in 195 countries, Coca-Cola has enriched its shareholders, created countless millionaires around the South, and transformed its home base, Atlanta, into a world-class city, chosen as host of the 1996 Summer Olympics. As it expands into the rapidly growing markets of the Third World, especially the billion-plus consumers in developing China, the company approaches the year 2000 poised to surpass what has come so far. In Secret Formula award-winning reporter Frederick Allen peels away the layers of myth about Coca-Cola and goes inside the executive suite to write the biography of a business. Granted unprecedented access to the company's archives - and to the inner circle and private papers of Robert Woodruff, the reclusive autocrat who ran the company with an iron hand from the 1920s to the 1980s - Allen relates the engaging and provocative narrative behind the world's most famous product. From the untold story of founder Asa Candler's unsuccessful struggle to get the cocaine out of Coca-Cola, to the inside account of the "brilliant blunder" of New Coke, Secret Formula provides fresh information and insights about the activities of the people who invented Coca-Cola's mystique. Allen reveals how the company survived challenges from the federal government, foreign powers, and the medical establishment; endured the Great Depression, wartime shortages, inflation, and even dangerous insider trading by its own executives; followed American GIs into battle; played a vital, unsung role in the civil rights movement; and, in the long run, always stayed ahead of the competition. The history of Coca-Cola is a tale of dynasties, a poignant account of the turbulent clashes between a pair of fathers and sons whose private lives shaped the destiny of the most public company in the world. It is also a microcosm of the history of America and American business over the past century. Engagingly readable and compelling, Secret Formula will stand as the definitive account of one of the world's great success stories.

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Diana Davids Olien and Roger M. Olien

"As the twentieth century began, oil in Texas was easy to find, but of little commercial value. Oil and natural gas bubbled up in many a water well, but in quantities too small to attract industrial capital and production. Then, on January 10, 1901, the Spindletop gusher blew in. Over the next fifty years, oil transformed the state of Texas, creating a booming economy that built cities, attracted out-of-state workers and companies, funded schools and universities, and generated wealth that raised the overall standard of living - even for blue-collar workers. No other twentieth-century development had a more profound effect upon the state.". "In this book, Diana Davids Olien and Roger M. Olien chronicle the explosive growth of the Texas oil industry from the first commercial production at Corsicana in the 1890s through the vital role of Texas oil in World War II. Using both archival records and oral histories, they follow the wildcatters and the gushers as the oil industry spread into almost every region of the state. The authors trace the development of many branches of the petroleum industry - pipelines, refining, petrochemicals, and natural gas. They also explore how overproduction and volatile prices led to increasing regulation and gave broad regulatory powers to the Texas Railroad Commission.". "This overview of the gusher years of Texas oil offers an essential key to understanding the state's transition from a rural, agrarian-based economy to the urban, industrialized society of today. Refuting a common belief that natural resource development ultimately impoverishes a region, it demonstrates that Texans quickly recognized the opportunities created by the oil boom and took full advantage of them."--BOOK JACKET.