From 18th century ‘structured finance’ and currency speculation in the Middle Ages, to stock market performance in the 20th and 21st centuries. A new book edited by two University of Cambridge academics chronicles the historical development of asset returns, stock exchanges, financial bubbles and innovation.
Blamed by many for the 2008 financial crisis, structured finance is often thought of as a latter-day invention. In fact, these securities in “elemental form” first appeared more than 200 years ago in the Netherlands, according to a new book on financial market history edited by two academics at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School.
The book, Financial Market History: Reflections on the Past for Investors Today, contains many lessons for modern investors from the history of financial markets – ranging from stock market bubbles linked to speculative German mining shares in the 15th century, to currency speculation from the Middle Ages onwards.
Published by CFA Institute Research Foundation in conjunction with Cambridge Judge Business School, the book is edited by David Chambers and Elroy Dimson of the Newton Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge Judge Business School.
Financial Market History: Reflections on the Past for Investors Today
By David Chambers and Elroy Dimson
Publisher: CFA Institute Research Foundation
ISBN-10: 1944960139. ISBN-13: 978-1944960131
Available from Amazon UK price £31.94,
Amazon US price $38.95
The authors of the introduction and the 15 chapters in the book are: Olivier Accominotti, the London School of Economics; Jan Annaert, University of Antwerp; Stephen Brown, Monash Business School; Frans Buelens, University of Antwerp; Carsten Burhop, University of Vienna; David Chambers, Cambridge Judge Business School; Elroy Dimson, Cambridge Judge Business School; Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley; Caroline Fohlin, Emory University; William Goetzmann, Yale School of Management; Charles Goodhart, London School of Economics; Leslie Hannah, London School of Economics; Antti Ilmanen, AQR Capital Management; Paul Marsh, London Business School; Larry Neal, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Tom Nicholas, Harvard Business School; Angelo Riva, European Business School; Geert Rouwenhorst, Yale School of Management; Janette Rutterford, Open University Business School; Christophe Spaenjers, HEC Paris; Mike Staunton, London Business School; and Eugene White, Rutgers University.
The Research Foundation of the CFA Institute has also recorded a series of interviews with contributors to the book, which will be made available on their website.
