The Exchange Artist or Principles of Corporate Finance

The Exchange Artist: A Tale of High-Flying Speculation and America's First Banking Collapse

Author: Jane Kamensky

The startling story of an early American dreamer whose wily schemes made him a founding father of our speculation nation

Rediscover a lost chapter in early American history: the story of financial- pioneer-turned-confidence-man Andrew Dexter, Jr., and the skyscraper for which he amassed—and then lost—a paper fortune. In the 1790s, printed money and banks themselves were still regarded with tremendous suspicion, as traditional strictures about money-lending slowly made way for modern freewheeling capitalism. A pioneer in the new age of paper, Dexter challenged the notions of his Puritan ancestors by embarking on a wild career in real estate speculation, all financed by the string of banks he commandeered and the millions of dollars they freely printed. Upon this paper pyramid he built the tallest building in the United States—the Exchange Coffee House, a seven-story colossus in downtown Boston. But in early 1809, just as the exchange was re ady for unveiling, the scheme collapsed. In Boston, the exchange became an opulent but largely vacant building, a symbol of monumental ambition and failure.

Kamensky deftly steers the reader through this history, providing a riveting historical narrative of a second American founding: the birth of speculative capitalism. The book will appeal to fans of Peter Bernstein's Against the Gods, John Gordon's Empire of Wealth, and Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, as well as Ross King's Brunelleschi's Dome.

Publishers Weekly

Brandeis history professor Kamensky (The Colonial Mosaic) recounts the story of Andrew Dexter, a chronically overleveraged real estate developer who engineered profound shifts in the economy and skyline of turbulent early America. Dexter built the seven-story Boston Exchange Coffee House, an extraordinarily ambitious project, and helped create a regional exchange system that made banknotes from distant rural locations acceptable in Boston. Unfortunately for his reputation, he is more often remembered as the man responsible for the first bank failure in the United States in 1809. Although he spent the last 30 years of his life on the run from numerous creditors and died in debt, he never stopped juggling visionary projects. Kamensky devotes almost as much attention to the Exchange Coffee House and its impact on contemporary thought as she does to Dexter's biography. She also weaves in an account of Nathan Appleton, born, like Dexter, in 1779, but destined for a longer and much more prosperous and respectable life fighting against Dexter and his ilk. This is a charming popular account of an often-overlooked aspect of American history. B&w photos and illus. (Jan.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Lawrence R. Maxted - Library Journal

Kamensky (history, Brandeis Univ.; Governing the Tongue: The Politics of Speech in Early New England) weaves together the complicated tale surrounding Boston financial speculator Andrew Dexter Jr. (1779-1837). She shows Dexter as so rushed to make his fortune that he literally created his own money by printing promissory notes that he knew would be hard to redeem because they were drawn on distant banks that he controlled. With these notes, he financed the 1807-09 construction of the famous Exchange Coffee House-a massive combination of financial exchange, eaterie, and hotel. Dexter's scheme fell apart when local merchants determined that his banknotes were worthless and his banks insolvent. Kamensky lovingly details the Exchange building's architecture, operation, and 1818 destruction by fire. She tells of Dexter's exile, his continuing financial woes, and how he inadvertently began, through land speculation, what became Montgomery, A L. Kamensky's explanation of early banking and the dangers of undercapitalized banks is excellent, although she mixes in too much else to call this economic history. Her work is in essence a dual biography of Dexter and his Exchange building, with some fine illustrations of each. Recommended to libraries collecting on the period and especially to those in Boston and Montgomery.

Kirkus Reviews

A narrative of financial chicanery and real-estate flimflam that foreshadows our own times. Kamensky (History/Brandeis Univ.; Governing the Tongue: The Politics of Speech in Early New England, 1997, etc.) returns to prominence the once-notorious speculator Andrew Dexter Jr. (1779-1837), a pioneer currency trader and prototypical hedge-fund operator. Always well-leveraged, Dexter laundered and watered money-at one point he issued $600,000 in notes that were backed by only $86 of actual specie. In a time when banks could independently emit currency, he established bogus depo sitories as distant as a thousand miles from his Boston base, the better to dispense worthless paper at home. A striver who had Gilbert Stuart paint a portrait he couldn't pay for, reckless and feckless Dexter triggered the young country's first banking collapse in 1809. He wasn't entirely sinister, however; all he wanted was to build the biggest building on the continent, and he didn't mind financing it with subprime mortgages. Often compared to the tower of Babel, the gigantic Exchange Coffee House, "a seven-story structure in a three-story town," was designed to be a bourse, hotel, coffeehouse and office building. Containing more than 150 rooms, a vast trading floor and an atrium, capped by a tin dome, it rose to change Boston's skyline. But just as it opened, Dexter's financial pyramid collapsed, and he fled the country. His combustible skyscraper lasted only a decade, succumbing to a spectacular fire in 1818. (The hand-pumped water couldn't reach the flames on the upper floors.) What happened to the builder and defaulter? Dexter returned to the United States to found Montgomery, Ala., then died bankrupt. Engagingsocial history by a talented scholar with a distinct gift for narrative. Agent: Tina Bennett/Janklow & Nesbit Associates

New interesting textbook: The Art of Voice Acting or Mastering the Requirements Process

Principles of Corporate Finance

Author: Richard A Brealey

Principles of Corporate Finance is the worldwide leading text that describes the theory and practice of corporate finance. Throughout the book the authors show how managers use financial theory to solve practical problems and as a way of learning how to respond to change by showing not just how but why companies and management act as they do. The text is comprehensive, authoritative, and modern and yet the material is presented at a common sense level. The discussions and illustrations are unique due to the depth of detail blended with a distinct sense of humor for which the book is well known and highly regarded. This text is a valued reference for thousands of practicing financial managers. Richard A. Brealey and Stewart C. Myers welcome Franklin Allen as a new coauthor to this Eighth Edition. Sometimes the addition of a new coauthor means that one of the existing authors proposes to take a back seat. That is not the case with this team. Dr. Allen’s addi tion represents a genuine increase in capacity and brings fresh expertise and ideas to an already tremendously successful textbook and partnership.

Table of Contents:

Ch. 1	Finance and the financial manager	4
Ch. 2	Present values, the objectives of the firm, and corporate governance	14
Ch. 3	How to calculate present values	34
Ch. 4	The value of bonds and common stocks	56
Ch. 5	Why net present value leads to better investment decisions than other criteria	84
Ch. 6	Making investment decisions with the net present value rule	112
Ch. 7	Introduction to risk, return, and the opportunity cost of capital	146
Ch. 8	Risk and return	180
Ch. 9	Capital budgeting and risk	214
Ch. 10	A project is not a black box	244
Ch. 11	Strategy and the capital investment decision	274
Ch. 12	Agency problems, management compensation, and the measurement of performance	298
Ch. 13	Corporate financing and the six lessons of market efficiency	330
Ch. 14	An overview of corporate financing	360
Ch. 15	How corporations issue securities	382
Ch. 16	Payout policy	414
Ch. 17	Does debt policy matter?	444
Ch. 18	How much should a firm borrow?	468
Ch. 19	Financing and valuation	502
Ch. 20	Understanding options	540
Ch. 21	Valuing options	564
Ch. 22	Real options	596
Ch. 23	Valuing government bonds	624
Ch. 24	Credit risk	648
Ch. 25	The many different kinds of debt	668
Ch. 26	Leasing	698
Ch. 27	Managing risk	720
Ch. 28	Managing international risks	754
Ch. 29	Financial analysis and planning	782
Ch. 30	Working capital management	812
Ch. 31	Short-term financial planning	840
Ch. 32	Mergers	870
Ch. 33	Corporate restructuring	904
Ch. 34	Governance and corporate control around the world	930
Ch. 35	Conclusion : what we do and do not know about finance	956