Category Archives: Lists

HBCU Money™ Business Book Feature – The Bankers’ New Clothes: What’s Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It

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What is wrong with today’s banking system? The past few years have shown that risks in banking can impose significant costs on the economy. Many claim, however, that a safer banking system would require sacrificing lending and economic growth. The Bankers’ New Clothes examines this claim and the narratives used by bankers, politicians, and regulators to rationalize the lack of reform, exposing them as invalid.

Admati and Hellwig argue we can have a safer and healthier banking system without sacrificing any of the benefits of the system, and at essentially no cost to society. They show that banks are as fragile as they are not because they must be, but because they want to be–and they get away with it. Whereas this situation benefits bankers, it distorts the economy and exposes the public to unnecessary risks. Weak regulation and ineffective enforcement allowed the buildup of risks that ushered in the financial crisis of 2007-2009. Much can be done to create a better system and prevent crises. Yet the lessons from the crisis have not been learned.

Admati and Hellwig seek to engage the broader public in the debate by cutting through the jargon of banking, clearing the fog of confusion, and presenting the issues in simple and accessible terms. The Bankers’ New Clothes calls for ambitious reform and outlines specific and highly beneficial steps that can be taken immediately.

HBCU Money™ Business Book Feature – Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict

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This sobering look at the future of warfare predicts that conflicts will now be fought over diminishing supplies of our most precious natural resources.

From the barren oilfields of Central Asia to the lush Nile delta, from the busy shipping lanes of the South China Sea to the uranium mines and diamond fields of sub-Saharan Africa, Resource Wars looks at the growing impact of resource scarcity on the military policies of nations. International security expert Michael T. Klare argues that in the early decades of the new millennium wars will be fought not over ideology but over resources, as states battle to control dwindling supplies of precious natural commodities. The political divisions of the Cold War, Klare asserts, are giving way to an immense global scramble for essential materials, such as oil, timber, minerals, and water. And as armies throughout the world define resource security as their primary mission, widespread instability is bound to follow, especially in those places where resource competition overlaps with long-standing disputes over territorial rights.

A much-needed assessment of a changed world, Resource Wars is a compelling look at the future of warfare in an era of heightened environmental stress and accelerated economic competition.

HBCU Money™ Business Book Feature – Black Students. Middle Class Teachers

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This compelling look at the relationship between the majority of African American students and their teachers provides answers and solutions to the hard-hitting questions facing education in today’s black and mixed-race communities. Are teachers prepared by their college education departments to teach African American children? Are schools designed for middle-class children and, if so, what are the implications for the 50 percent of African Americans who live below the poverty line? Is the major issue between teachers and students class or racial difference? Why do some of the lowest test scores come from classrooms where black educators are teaching black students? How can parents negotiate with schools to prevent having their children placed in special education programs? Also included are teaching techniques and a list of exemplary schools that are successfully educating African Americans.

Webometrics’ 2013 Top 20 African Diaspora Colleges & Universities

HBCU Money™ presents the Top 20 ranked African Diaspora colleges and universities. The rankings are based on the world rankings from Webometrics, an initiative of the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain.

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • 9 of the 20 colleges and universities come from South Africa.
  • African American colleges & universities come in second with 4 of the 20 colleges and universities present on the list.
  • No African Diaspora colleges or universities are present in the top 100 in Webometrics’ world rankings.

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Below are the objective and methodology per the Webometrics website:

Objective: The original aim of the Ranking was to promote Web publication. Supporting Open Access initiatives, electronic access to scientific publications and to other academic material are our primary targets. However web indicators are very useful for ranking purposes too as they are not based on number of visits or page design but on the global performance and visibility of the universities.

Methodology: The Webometrics is the largest academic ranking of Higher Education Institutions. Since 2004 and every six months an independent, objective, free, open scientific exercise is performed by the Cybermetrics Lab (Spanish National Research Council, CSIC) for the providing reliable, multidimensional, updated and useful information about the performance of universities from all over the world based on their web presence and impact.

COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY – WORLD RANK – COUNTRY

  1. University of Kwazulu Natal – 381 – South Africa
  2. University of Cape Town – 391 – South Africa
  3. Stellenbosch University – 462 – South Africa
  4. Makerere University – 696 – Uganda
  5. University of the Witwatersrand – 719 – South Africa
  6. University of Pretoria – 746 – South Africa
  7. Howard University – 753 – United States
  8. University of the Western Cape – 834 – South Africa
  9. Obafemi Awolowo University – 1113 – Nigeria
  10. Rhodes University – 1191 – South Africa
  11. Cairo University – 1206 – Egypt
  12. University of Dar Es Salaam – 1419 – Tanzania
  13. Norfolk State University – 1531 – United States
  14. University of South Africa – 1545 – South Africa
  15. Florida A&M University – 1557 – United States
  16. American University in Cairo – 1574 – Egypt
  17. Hampton University – 1581 – United States
  18. University of Nairobi – 1624 – Kenya
  19. Mansoura University – 1699 – Egypt
  20. University of Johannesburg – 1749 – South Africa

Source: Webometrics

HBCU Money™ Business Book Feature – The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language

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The first popular book to recount the exciting, very recent developments in tracing the origins of language, The First Word is at the forefront of a controversial, compelling new field. Acclaimed science writer Christine Kenneally explains how a relatively small group of scientists that include Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker assembled the astounding narrative of how the fundamental process of evolution produced a linguistic ape?in other words, us. Infused with the wonder of discovery, this vital and engrossing book offers us all a better understanding of the story of humankind.