Global Bargain Hunting: The Investors Guide to Profits in Emerging Markets

by Burton G. Malkiel and J.P. Mei

Book Overview

A RANDOM WALK AROUND THE WORLD With the same clarity and insight that made Burton Malkiel's enormously popular A Random Walk Down Wall Street an influential bestseller, Global Bargain Hunting shows... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684835185
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Volatility guarantees a bumpy ride!

1. 85 percent of the worlds population produce a combined 21 percent of the world's production of goods and service. 2. In a ten year period, the economies of Asian and Latin America economies grown three times the rate of growth in the United States, encompassing, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand. 3. Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand have relied on free-market incentives, in the last twenty years, to produced economic miracles. 4. Since 1978, China has recorded an 10 percent growth rate and lifted 170 million rural farmers out of poverty and created 120 million new jobs. 5. China's leadership understands that their survival depends on the "elimination of revolutionary conditions." 6. China's capitalism has beat India's socialism, hands down, foreign investment is flowing in, state own business are being sold, and subsidies cut. 7. Chile market reform has been impressive, as it, adopts a free-market policy, privatized state-owned enterprise, moderated inflation, improved democracy replacing authoritarian oligarchy. 8. The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland have been successful in economic transition, with rapid output growth, and moderate inflation. 9. The global demographic trend is the decreasing size of the U.S consumer market relative to the rest of the world. Each US citizen has about $5,000 purchasing power per year. 10. In the mid-1990s, US institutional investors held close to 95 percent of their equity funds in domestic stocks. In 1997, the great majority of large institutional investors indicated their goal of increasing their portfolio share of non-us stocks to 10 percent or even higher. 11. Free markets are far more effective than government control in promoting growth. 12. By the mid-1990s, Chinese companies signed approximately six thousand technology transfer agreements with developed nations worth $50 billion. 13. Debt financing is more likely to be in the form of long-term bonds than short term borrowing. Emerging markets have experienced a ten fold increase in direct foreign investment since the 1990s. By 1996, the worldwide direct foreign investment reached $500 billion. 14. Emerging markets take a long time to reach the developed countries level of capitalization. 15. We do not expect Russia to reverse their economic reforms and return to planned economic systems. 16. Today's investors rely on the self-interest of developing countries to help guarantee returns. 17. In 1994, Mexico violent political development forced the withdrawal of foreign short-term capital. Large trade deficit drove the peso downward as it free falled against the dollar. Interest rates soared and Mexico was in recession. U.S. investors sold Mexican stock, in peso, and converted them into dollars. Pesos converted into few dollars. The Mexican stock market lost about 70 percent of its value in U.S dollar terms from 1994 to 1995. 18. In China, 1992, Happy Flying, a consumer electronics company trade

A very good primer on EM

This is an interesting read, it presents a very bullish argument for investing in emerging markets based on the tremendous economic transformation that emerging markets are undergoing as a result of globalisation. Overall this is a simple little book, not a particularly challenging read but worthwhile nonetheless. Its a very decent primer but doesn't seek to go into a huge amount of depth. The author argues that index funds are overall the most effective way to gain exposure to EM, mainly on the basis of the high transaction costs and thin trading in emerging markets, which more than offset any potential gains that professional investors may make from stock picking and exploiting inefficiencies. At the very least it does make a good argument for putting a proportion of your portfolio into emerging markets index funds and is a useful book to have in one's library, especially for financial advisors like myself who may find some of the passages in this book very quoteable and useful for explaining the asset class to clients.

Don't Listen to the Naysayers

This book was disparaged in several reviews. It is obvious the naysayers have an interest in the investing public avoiding index funds. They likely earn (used loosely) their living from the generation of fees. However, the record speaks for itself. Index funds beat the majority of actively managed funds a very high percentage of the time. The divergence is so great that active management of ones money should not even be considered by a thoughtful, prudent, odds appreciating investor. And the odds are the only thing that matters when investing money.This book will convince the intelligent reader there really is no argument anymore. All one has to do is look at the performance gap between indexed funds and actively managed funds over the intermediate to long term. It is amazing that anyone would make an argument for actively managed mutual funds given the hard facts. Actually, not amazing, but merely self serving at the expense of others. The emerging markets have recently awakened from a long slumber. Reading this book will help you understand the huge potential available overseas and the most efficient way to capture it.

One of thebestbooks inthearea of in emerging fincial market

In Malkiel and Mei's book, "Global Bargain Hunting", the authors provides vehement yet sound arguments to urge investors to consider putting foreign financial assets into their portfolios. The authors carefully explain the risk of investing in emerging markets and devise a strategy to control the risk while increasing the returns. The authors then provide a step-by-step guide to help the investors into this investment opportunity. This book can be considered as an extension to the first author's book, "Random Walk down Wall Street" . Because of the fast economic growth in Southeast Asia the idea of investing in emerging markets is not new to many investors. People heard stories of success a failure with exaggeration. However, little formal analysis was put forth to help interested investors. This is where the book makes its impact. The main contribution s of the book are in its calm and calculating analysis on the risk of investing abroad, and in the strategy to diversify this risk. The book provides a sound approach to the issue. Of course, interesting and exciting stories were told to stimulate the readers' interest, also, to provide historical background. For those who are familiar with Malkiel's "Random Walk down Wall Street", they will find that these analyses and advices are not completely different from the ones in the "Random Walk" book. This shows some kind of consistency in the application of sound financial strategy. Investing in emerging market can be beneficial to both investors and the markets being invested because it implies capital flow to a possibly more productive use. This book, by providing a balances treatment is one of the best on the issue of investing in emerging markets.

Interesting and useful for both laymen & professional

There are few books that can discuss difficult ideas of investment theories in a friendly language. The book is one the few. Actually, it is enjoyable to read the book. The book's structure and writing are interesting and smooth. Its exhibits are clear and well connected to the text. One can easily grasp the important investment ideas without going through the hard time of struggling with bizarre termenology and equations. It is really an interesting and useful book for both laymen and professionals.