WHY ICELAND?: HOW ONE OF THE WORLD’S SMALLEST COUNTRIES BECAME THE MELTDOWN’S BIGGEST CASUALTY

Book ID/图书代码： 14940309B31514

English Summary/英文概要： Iceland transformed itself from one of Europe’s poorest countries to one of its wealthiest in the space of one generation. Iceland’s small population has been called the happiest in the world. At the top of the UN’s league table comparing relative living standards, Icelanders came out on top. Health care and education were free in Iceland, and its inhabitants have amongst the highest life expectancy on the planet. The trouble is, all this came at a huge cost. The country’s banks had been running up huge debts and the combined size of Icelandic banks’ balance sheets had ballooned to more than 11 times the country’s GDP of $14bn. Iceland in effect was "the world’s first sovereign hedge fund.”
Today Iceland can be viewed as the biggest casualty of the global economic crisis so far. In a stunning turn of events, and within the course of one single week in early October of ’08, the vast majority of Iceland’s once-proud banking sector collapsed and was seized by the government. They later signed a $US2.1 billion emergency loan with the International Monetary Fund to help stabilize Iceland’s economy, but the latter was not enough to cover the country’s extraordinary leverage. The devastating effects of the Icelandic bank collapse quickly spread across the country’s boarders and into all corners of British life, with charities, health trusts and other investors revealing they had all lost millions of pounds in the crisis. In total, UK investors are believed to have about £8 billion in Icelandic banks and institutions, and the losses are still unfolding, the full effect of the collapse yet to be seen.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 歐洲邊緣漁業小國晉身國際銀行帝國
冰島如何締造驚人的經濟奇蹟？
2008年10月的一周內，冰島破產再歸零
其破產真正原因？
冰島的未來與國際銀行業的未來又該何去何從？！
冰島金融危機前最大銀行--Kaupthing銀行首席經濟學家
分享第一手資訊與精彩分析

2008年震驚全世界的冰島破產，影響深遠。這個漁業小國如何「漁夫變銀行家」成為世界最富有的國家之一？2008年又如何在1周內破產？
1980年代冰島僅是歐洲邊緣鱈漁業小國。然而，20世紀末，北緯六十四度，人口僅有30萬人的冰島卻締造驚人的經濟奇蹟，建立國際銀行帝國，在世界金融扮演舉足輕重的角色。然而漁夫變成千萬、億萬富翁的經濟美景卻在2008年10月的一個禮拜內都崩壞了，甚至造成冰島破產，光是英國的投資者就損失了8萬億英鎊，此次危機延燒全世界，引起所有世人與媒體的注目。
冰島金融危機前在該國最大的銀行--Kaupthing銀行擔任首席經濟學家的Ásgeir Jónsson，親身見證了此次金融巨變，經歷的許多幕後的過程。例如2008年一月在雷克雅維克一間酒吧中一群國際避險基金經理人討論冰島經濟，卻成為日後金融監督管理委員會金融犯罪調查的重要事件。
擁有學術與實務背景的Ásgeir Jónsson從冰島的崛起說起，冰島如何從歐洲最窮的國家搖身一變成為最富有的國家之一；到2008年一瞬間的金融巨變，10月的那一周內到底發生什麼徹底摧毀銀行業，是否真的是受到國際貨幣避險基金的「攻擊」，英美在此扮演甚麼角色，又受到什麼樣的衝擊；冰島的未來與國際銀行業的未來又該何去何從？！
同樣身為島國的台灣，不可不借鏡冰島！！

中文相關報導：商業周刊-國際話題-全球話題-現場直擊》冰島破產(1/9)：http://www.businessweekly.com.tw/webarticle.php?id=34692
冰與火之國：冰島靠什麽成世界最宜居國家？：http://www.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1005/6/2/2/100562204.html?coluid=7&kindid=0&docid=100562204
http://mag.udn.com/mag/world/itempage.jsp?f_SUB_ID=3671
(VC)

Awards/获奖情况：版權已售：德國

"Fearsome Vikings discovered Iceland. Hedge funds knocked it down. It was a humiliating tumble for the former financial powerhouse, which was proud of its status in Europe. A late bloomer, Iceland had been the last country in Europe to be settled, the Nordic nation rapidly caught up with its wealthier relations. It was all fine until October 2008, when country’s banking system collapsed in a week. Written by an Icelandic economist, Why Iceland? chronicles the meltdown, in the context of the nation’s history."---New York Post (A "Required Reading" Selection) (20090816)

“very readable account that explains the financial engineering that led to Iceland’s boom and bust.”---Reuters review

About the Author/作者介绍： Ásgeir Jónsson 是Kaupthing銀行的首席經濟學家，Kaupthing銀行是冰島金融危機前最大的銀行，2004年之前曾經是冰島大學銀行學與國際金融助理教授，曾出版過數本關於冰島經濟與歷史的書籍。

Format:HARDCOVER

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：NOT AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：

原文第一章内容：暂无

手稿：暂无

大纲：暂无