“It was not always thus,” reminisces the author. “Transactions routinely executed by bankers, managers, and investors during the 1990s — trading foreign stocks and bonds, borrowing in foreign currencies, for example — had been illegal in many countries only decades, and sometimes just a year or two, earlier.”

People did circumvent the restrictions, but with great difficulty and at much expense. But why were the rules of the international financial system, written during the 1940s and 1950s, restrictive by design and doctrine?

Because, “at that time, members of the international financial community collectively shared a set of beliefs about the destabilising consequences of short-term, speculative capital flows, or ‘hot money’ and the need for government autonomy from international financial markets,” reasons Abdelal.

He finds a parallel to ‘the current era of global finance and attendant norms of openness’ in the heyday of the classical gold standard, circa 1870-1914. Why did we shift from that state of freedom to restrictions and then again back to freedom? Abdelal’s book has answers to these questions.

Cool read.

The trouble with change is bad publicity that the horror stories reveal through dismal statistics. Sample these: “One-half to two-thirds of major corporate change initiatives are deemed failures. Less than 40 per cent of change efforts produced positive change. One-third of major change efforts actually make the situation worse. Less than 50 per cent of reengineering programmes are considered successes, some say less than 20 per cent. Many companies are finding that they must undertake moderate organisational changes at least once a year, and major changes every four or five years.”

Citing these ‘frightening’ data, from published sources, Ann Gilley writes in The Manager as Change Leader ( www.macmillanindia.com ) reminds bosses that success in organisational life will yet increasingly depend on the ability to effectively implement change.

Watch out. Change is disruptive; it upsets the balance with which we are comfortable, cautions Gilley. “Change introduces an element of uncertainty, forcing us to face the unknown.”

Compelling presentation.

Accountants busy with numbers may be interested to know that each letter in the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical value, just like Roman numerals. “Hebrew numerical values are not like numerology, and they aren’t based on superstitions,” explains Shoshanna Cohen in 10 Minute Kabbalah ( www.wisdomtreeindia.com ). “The order of the letters is irrelevant to their value; letters are simply added to determine the total numerical value.

For a mystical study.

D. MURALI

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