Shiller's "New Financial Order"

I'm back at the SF Main Library this afternoon. I thought I'd be here much less, if at all, now that classes have started. But since there are no classes Thurs and Fri, I'll aim to get here on some of those days, when I don't have to be at Berkeley. I came here today after going over to Berkeley for the morning, where we had a good group discussion about time series. (I'm debating whether to buy a copy of that text.)

I should be much more focused working here, as opposed to home--assuming I keep out of the stacks, where there is way too much to keep me distracted.

I struck a decent balance this afternoon. I looked up a copy of this book, which should be a very good reference for Rubinstein's financial economics course--and a good reference to have around in general. (Regarding Rubinstein's course, I'm eagerly awaiting the copy of his book, which I ordered on Monday. I stopped by the Cal bookstore--the only thing on campus open today, Cesar Chavez Day--and skimmed it a bit. It looks wonderful--a very readable intellectual history of the theory of finance.)

I read that for a bit, which is really studying for the course. But I also grabbed a copy of this book by Shiller, which I've been meaning to look at. It looks like this is going to be essential reading--it's really about financial engineering as a way of giving ourselves novel forms of risk management, for the greater benefit of society. I'll write more on it once I buy a copy and read it.

After reading bits of those books, I got around to some real work--homework. I spent way too long puzzling over some no-arb relations for futures...

BTW, it's remarkable how the internet-connected computers here at the library are used to near-capacity. I was lucky to find one open computer after climbing up 3 floors.

Ok, time to head home.