'Gripping' Economist 'Jaw-dropping' Sunday Times 'Riveting' Financial Times 'Fascinating' ReutersWe are entering an age of energy crises and food shortages. This book reveals why.Meet the swashbuckling traders who supply the world with energy, food and metal.Their goal: To make billions by buying and selling raw materials - flogging Russian gas to Europe, Saudi oil to America and Congolese metals to Silicon Valley.Their methods: Whatever it takes - whether funnelling cash to Vladimir Putin's sanction-stricken Kremlin, schmoozing Russian metal oligarchs after the collapse of the Soviet Union, or striking deals with the Libyan rebels at the height of the Arab Spring.These are the commodity traders. You've probably never heard of them. But, like it or not, you're one of their customers.*Financial Times and Economist Book of the Year**Shortlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award* 'Shows how much money and global influence is concentrated in the hands of a tiny group . . . Remarkable . . . As the authors roam from oilfield to wheatfield, they reveal information so staggering you almost gasp' Sunday Times 'A globe-spanning corporate thriller, full of intrigue and double dealing . . . Changes how we see the world, often in horrifying ways' Spectator 'A rich archive of ripping yarns . . . The high level narrative is gripping enough. But it is the details of what these freewheeling companies actually got up to that give the book a thriller-like quality' Financial Times 'Some of the stories could be straight out of John le Carré. The difference is they're true' Andrew Neil Read more

THE TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2019THE TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEARFINALIST FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2020LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2019A FINANCIAL TIMES, OBSERVER, DAILY TELEGRAPH, WALL STREET JOURNAL AND TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR'Dalrymple is a superb historian with a visceral understanding of India . A book of beauty' - Gerard DeGroot, The TimesIn August 1765 the East India Company defeated the young Mughal emperor and forced him to establish a new administration in his richest provinces. Run by English merchants who collected taxes using a ruthless private army, this new regime saw the East India Company transform itself from an international trading corporation into something much more unusual: an aggressive colonial power in the guise of a multinational business. William Dalrymple tells the remarkable story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power. Read more

In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about. But the container didn't just happen. Its adoption required huge sums of money, both from private investors and from ports that aspired to be on the leading edge of a new technology. It required years of high-stakes bargaining with two of the titans of organized labor, Harry Bridges and Teddy Gleason, as well as delicate negotiations on standards that made it possible for almost any container to travel on any truck or train or ship. Ultimately, it took McLean's success in supplying U.S. forces in Vietnam to persuade the world of the container's potential. Drawing on previously neglected sources, economist Marc Levinson shows how the container transformed economic geography, devastating traditional ports such as New York and London and fueling the growth of previously obscure ones, such as Oakland. By making shipping so cheap that industry could locate factories far from its customers, the container paved the way for Asia to become the world's workshop and brought consumers a previously unimaginable variety of low-cost products from around the globe. Published in hardcover on the fiftieth anniversary of the first container voyage, this is the first comprehensive history of the shipping container. Now with a new chapter, The Box tells the dramatic story of how the drive and imagination of an iconoclastic entrepreneur turned containerization from an impractical idea into a phenomenon that transformed economic geography, slashed transportation costs, and made the boom in global trade possible. Read more

THE TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2019THE TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEARFINALIST FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2020LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2019A FINANCIAL TIMES, OBSERVER, DAILY TELEGRAPH, WALL STREET JOURNAL AND TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR'Dalrymple is a superb historian with a visceral understanding of India … A book of beauty' – Gerard DeGroot, The TimesIn August 1765 the East India Company defeated the young Mughal emperor and forced him to establish a new administration in his richest provinces. Run by English merchants who collected taxes using a ruthless private army, this new regime saw the East India Company transform itself from an international trading corporation into something much more unusual: an aggressive colonial power in the guise of a multinational business. William Dalrymple tells the remarkable story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power. Read more

'In this book, Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum contribute significantly to one of the most important issues of our time - how to move forward in the Fourth Industrial Revolution' Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group Holding, People's Republic of China'It's no secret that technologies are reshaping the world's economies and societies. To manage the risks and spread the benefits, we have to act now, and in the interest of stakeholders everywhere' Andrew McAfee, Co-Founder, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, MIT, USAWe are on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. And this one will be unlike any other in human history.Characterized by new technologies fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will impact all disciplines, economies and industries - and it will do so at an unprecedented rate. World Economic Forum data predicts that by 2025 we will see: commercial use of nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than human hair; the first transplant of a 3D-printed liver; 10% of all cars on US roads being driverless; and much more besides.In The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Schwab outlines the key technologies driving this revolution, discusses the major impacts on governments, businesses, civil society and individuals, and offers bold ideas for what can be done to shape a better future for all.'The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are extraordinary. Leadership has to be equally extraordinary to manage the complexities of systemic change' Eric Schmidt, Technical Advisor, Alphabet, USA Read more

Revered by many, reviled by some, technical analysis is the art and science of deciphering price activity to better understand market behavior and identify trading opportunities. In this accessible guide, Jack Schwager-perhaps the most recognized and respected name in the field-demystifies technical analysis for beginning investors, clearly explaining such basics as trends, trading ranges, chart patterns, stops, entry, and exit and pyramiding approaches. The book's numerous examples and clear, simple explanations provide a solid framework for using technical analysis to make better, more informed investment decisions and as the basis for mechanical trading systems. Along with Schwager's invaluable trading rules and market observations culled from years of real-world trading experience, Getting Started in Technical Analysis offers in-depth coverage of: * Types of charts-bar, close-only, point-and-figure, candlestick. * Chart patterns-one-day, continuation, top and bottom formations, the importance of failed signals. * Trading systems-trend-following, counter-trend, pattern recognition. * Charting and analysis software-price data issues, time frame/trading style considerations, software research. * he planned trading approach-trading philosophy, choosing markets, risk control strategies, establishing a trading routine. Read more

Trade is an essential driver of economic transformation, growth, and prosperity. At a time of global uncertainty and policy fluidity, thiscomprehensive volume demystifies African trade and trade policy to provide a deeper understanding of how trade impacts the lives of all Africans and the continent's development aspirations.Featuring a wealth of data-driven evaluations of trade negotiations and policy choices, How Africa Trades is an invaluable open access resource for making sense of the continent's major trade challenges, including commodity dependence, competitiveness, and how African countries engage with often unconducive international trade rules that distort global markets. In-depth analysis focuses on intra-African trade initiatives, including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), trade between African countries and their major trading partners, and how the short-term shocks of Covid-19 restrictions brought about longer-term changes in informal and formal trade patterns, and sped-up shifts in digital trade.Edited by Professor David Luke, and featuring vital contributions on trade economics, international law and sustainable development, How Africa Trades draws on the research expertise of LSE's Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. This volume provides information, expertise and tools for policymakers, stakeholders and scholars with an interest in understanding the dynamics of trade and in making effective policy decisions that centre development and inclusivity for Africa and its people. Read more

A fascinating history of the intricate web of trade routes connecting ancient Rome to Eastern civilizations, including its powerful rival, the Han Empire.  The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes investigates the trade routes between Rome and the powerful empires of inner Asia, including the Parthian Empire of ancient Persia, and the Kushan Empire which seized power in Bactria (Afghanistan), laying claim to the Indus Kingdoms. Further chapters examine the development of Palmyra as a leading caravan city on the edge of Roman Syria. Raoul McLaughlin also delves deeply into Rome’s trade ventures through the Tarim territories, which led its merchants to the Han Empire of ancient China.   Having established a system of Central Asian trade routes known as the Silk Road, the Han carried eastern products as far as Persia and the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Though they were matched in scale, the Han surpassed its European rival in military technology.   The first book to address these subjects in a single comprehensive study, The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes explores Rome’s impact on the ancient world economy and reveals what the Chinese and Romans knew about their rival Empires. Read more

This book paints a broad picture of China-Israel relations from an historical and political perspective and from the Jewish and Israeli angle. To tell this story, Shai relies on rare documents, archival materials and interviews with individuals who were active in forming the relationship between these two states. Read more

An Economist Biggest Book of the YearHow commerce determines whether America preserves the peace or goes to warWhen the Cold War ended, many believed that expanding trade would usher in an era of peace. Yet today the United States finds itself confronting not just Russia in Europe but China in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. Shedding new light on how trade both reduces and increases the risks of international crisis, A World Safe for Commerce traces how, since the nation’s founding, the United States has consistently moved from peace to conflict when the commerce needed for national security is under threat.Dale Copeland shows how commerce pushes the United States and its rivals to expand their spheres of influence for access to goods even as they worry about provoking a breakdown in trade relations that could spiral into military conflict. Taking readers from the wars with Britain in 1776 and 1812 to World War II and the Cold War, he describes how America’s leaders have grappled with this inherent tension, and why they have shifted, sometimes dramatically, from peaceful, mutually beneficial policies to coercion and force in order to increase control over vital trade and prevent economic decline.A World Safe for Commerce reveals how trade competition could lead the United States and China into full-scale confrontation. But it also offers hope that both sides can work to improve their overall trade expectations and foster the confidence needed for long-term peace and stability. Read more

The astonishing story of the Sassoons, one of the nineteenth century's preeminent commercial families and 'the Rothschilds of the East'The Sassoons were one of the great business dynasties of the nineteenth century, as eminent as traders as the Rothschilds were bankers. This book reveals the secrets behind the family's phenomenal success: how a handful of Jewish exiles from Ottoman Baghdad forged a mercantile juggernaut from their new home in colonial Bombay, the vast network of agents, informants and politicians they built, and the way they came to bridge East and West, culturally as well as commercially. As one competitor remarked, 'silver and gold, silks, gums and spices, opium and cotton, wool and wheat - whatever moves over sea or land feels the hand or bears the mark of Sassoon & Co.'Drawing for the first time on the vast family archives, Joseph Sassoon brings vividly to life a succession of remarkable characters. From a single generation: Flora, the first woman to steer a major global business, Siegfried, the poet, and Victor, the tycoon who drew the stars of Hollywood's silent era to his skyscraper in Shanghai. Through the lives these ambitious figures built for themselves in London, Bombay and beyond, the reader is drawn into a captivating world of politics and power, innovation and intrigue, high society and empire.The Global Merchants is thus at once an intimate portrait of a single family and a panorama of the hundred and thirty years of their prominence: from the Opium Wars and opening of China to the American Civil War, the establishment of the British Raj to India's independence. Together these give a fresh perspective on the evolution of one of the defining forces of their age and the present: globalization. The Sassoons were variously its agents, advocates and casualties, and watching them moving through the world, we perceive the making of our own. Read more

In September 1985, emissaries of the world's five leading industrial nations--the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan--secretly gathered at the Plaza Hotel in New York City and unveiled an unprecedented effort to correct the largest set of current account and exchange rate imbalances that had ever threatened the world economy. The Plaza Accord is credited with sharply realigning exchange rates, significantly reducing current account imbalances, and countering protectionist pressures in the United States. But did the Accord provide a foundation for ongoing international financial stability and policy coordination? Or was it simply a unique one-time coincidence of national interests? The Plaza experience continues to inform today's debates about the limits and possibilities of international monetary cooperation. In late 2015, leading policymakers and economists--including those who were involved in the Accord's design, negotiation, and implementation--held a Plaza Retrospective conference at the Baker Institute for Public Policy to evaluate the Accord's legacy and how its collaborative spirit can be applied today. This volume presents their views and analyses to provide guidance for a time when the world again faces the prospect of currency disequilibria, growing imbalances, trade policy reactions, and thus uncertainty for both the global economy and world politics. Data disclosure: The data underlying the analysis in this volume are available. The data used in chapter 14 are taken directly from William Cline's Policy Briefs 15-8 and 15-20, with the exception that they have been manipulated with a key assumption stated in the chapter. Read more

Chronicles the history of the famous trading company, which dominated world trade, raised armies, demolished nations, and established one of the most extensive empires the world has ever known Read more

This book provides comprehensive, in depth analysis of the different sets of rules of origin adopted by major trading partners, namely EU, US, China and Japan and all trading regions - Asia, Africa and Latin America. It discusses the current status of non-preferential as well as preferential rules of origin in international trade, their evolution over last decades and tendencies for the future. With its multidisciplinary approach, the book's contents provide legal and economic comparative analysis of different sets of rules origin, reviewing their drafting differences and their implications and impact on industrial and investment environments. Drawing from the thirty years' experience of the Author, the book provides insights from trade negotiations along with practical tools for policy makers and practitioners, orientation for the private sector and analytical tools for researchers. A new methodology to draft product specific rules of origin based on an input-output table elaborated by the Author is a distinctive feature of this new edition as well as a new chapter dealing with administrative aspects of rules of origin. Read more

'An absolute masterclass in how to communicate complex information simply and compellingly' – Ian Dunt, journalist WHY POLITICIANS LIE ABOUT TRADE reveals how international trade really works and the compromises and deals nations must make to take part in the greatest commercial show on earth. With clear writing and lively case studies, a former trade negotiator takes readers on an often humorous tour of the shadowy workings of the agreements, tariffs, taxes and disputes that characterise this $32 trillion-a-year machine. Dmitry Grozoubinski reveals the underlying political and geographical forces that shape the impact of trade on topics as diverse and important as food, jobs, gender, conflict and climate change. And he reveals what politicians cover up about the system – and why it matters. A companion to evergreen titles such as Freakonomics and How to Lie With Statistics, WHY POLITICIANS LIE ABOUT TRADE illuminates a little-understood network that runs our world. Reviews 'I laughed more than I do in most comedies. I learned more than I do from the news. An absolute masterclass in how to communicate complex information simply and compellingly. You will come out of it far more knowledgeable than you went in, and shielded from some of the more egregious deceit politicians want to inflict on you. You'll also laugh out loud. 'The book politicians don't want you to read.'Ian Dunt, author of How Westminster Works'Enraging & enlightening in equal measure. And the measure is absolutely enormous.'James O'Brien, author of How They Broke Britain'Written by a former trade negotiator who has trained many British diplomates, this book is authoritative, yet – and here’s the strange part – actually fun to read. 'Dmitry Grozoubinski has a rare knack for explaining complex information in an accessible and light-hearted way. Two examples: “A little like municipal plumbing, trade policy is something most people prefer not to think about. It chugs along somewhere behind the scenes, safely ignored until it goes wrong.” “If you take all the romance out of it (which is easily done), a trade negotiation is a conversation between two deeply suspicious and paranoid groups as they work together to agree a binding and lasting agreement.” 'This book should be read by everyone who needs a shield from “opportunistic politicians relying on the density of the subject matter to peddle easy answers, simple narratives, and misleading twaddle”.' Richard Baldwin, Professor of International Economics Richard Baldwin, Professor of International Economics Read more

A beautful book for anyone interested in exploring the history of trade in maps.Trade is the lifeblood of nations. It has provided vital goods and wealth to countries and merchants from the ancient Egyptians who went in search of gold and ivory to their 21st-century equivalents trading high-tech electronic equipment from the Far East.In this beautiful book, more than 70 maps give a visual representation of the history of World Commerce, accompanied by text which tells the extraordinary story of the merchants, adventurers, middle-men and monarchs who bought, sold, explored and fought in search of profit and power.The maps are all works of art, witnesses to history, and have a fascinating story to tell.The maps include• Çatalhöyük Plan, c. 6200BC• Babylonian Map of the World, c. 600BC• Stone Map of China, 1136• Hereford Mappa Mundi, c. 1300• Buondelmonti Map of Constantinople, c. 1420• The Waldseemüller Map, 1507• James Rennell Map of Hindoostan, 1782• Air Age Map, 1945• Johns Hopkins Covid-19 Dashboard, 2020 Read more

This book, written by global experts, provides a comprehensive and topical analysis on the economics of chocolate. While the main approach is economic analysis, there are important contributions from other disciplines, including psychology, history, government, nutrition, and geography. The chapters are organized around several themes, including the history of cocoa and chocolate — from cocoa drinks in the Maya empire to the growing sales of Belgian chocolates inChina; how governments have used cocoa and chocolate as a source of tax revenue and have regulated chocolate (and defined it by law) to protect consumers' health from fraud and industries from competition; how the poor cocoa producers in developing countries are linked through trade and multinationalcompanies with rich consumers in industrialized countries; and how the rise of consumption in emerging markets (China, India, and Africa) is causing a major boom in global demand and prices, and a potential shortage of the world's chocolate. Read more

George Soros is among the world's most prominent public figures. He is one of the history's most successful investors and his philanthropy, led by the Open Society Foundations, has donated over $14 billion to promote democracy and human rights in more than 120 countries. But in recent years, Soros has become the focus of sustained right-wing attacks in the United States and around the world based on his commitment to open society, progressive politics and his Jewish background. In this brilliant and spirited book, Soros offers a compendium of his philosophy, a clarion call-to-arms for the ideals of an open society: freedom, democracy, rule of law, human rights, social justice, and social responsibility as a universal idea. In this age of nationalism, populism, anti-Semitism, and the spread of authoritarian governments, Soros's mission to support open societies is as urgent as it is important. Read more