Darya Sinusoid, Author at Shortform Books

Russia’s Shock Therapy: Neoliberalizing Russia

Who instituted Russia’s shock therapy? How did economic shock therapy affect the Russian economy? In Russia, shock therapy didn’t have the promised results. Yeltsin swore that there would be around six bad months, but by the end of his year of emergency powers, Russia would recover and be a world superpower again. However, a year later, millions of Russians had lost their life savings and a full third of the people had fallen into poverty. In this article, you’ll learn how shock therapy unfolded in Russia, and what happened in its aftermath.

Attributes of a Great Leader: Would You Make the Cut?

What makes a great leader? What qualities would you ascribe to a leader you’d be willing to follow? Since the mid-1980s, Barry Posner and James Kouzes, the authors of The Leadership Challenge, have been conducting studies asking people in both business and government what qualities they value in a leader. They’ve found that consistently people want the same qualities in a leader whose leadership they would be willing to follow. Here are the four attributes of a great leader, according to Posner and Kouzes.

Shock and Awe: Iraq War Economics

What is Shock and Awe? What was the reason the United States invaded Iraq in 2003? The term “Shock and Awe” is typically used to refer to the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq under George Bush’s administration. Bush sold the project to Americans with a simple promise that they were bringing freedom to a troubled area. Many mistook this for a promise of free and fair democracy. However, the real objective was to create the freedom for private companies to harvest as much of the country’s wealth and resources as possible. In this article, we’ll discuss the real motives

How to Inspire a Shared Vision in Your Team

Does your team share in your vision of your organization’s way forward? What can you do to inspire a common vision in the people you lead? People are naturally drawn to leaders who inspire a shared vision of a better world because they want to feel like they are a part of something important. In their book The Leadership Challenge, bestselling authors and long-time research partners James Kouzes and Barry Posner outline two guidelines for inspiring a shared vision in your team: 1) envision a positive future, and 2) get others on board. Here is how you can inspire a shared

Why the Asian Tigers’ Economies Collapsed in the 90s

How did the Asian Tigers’ economies grow so fast? What development strategies did they employ to spearhead their economic growth? And why did their economies start to collapse in the 1990s? Some economists attribute the growth of the Asian Tigers to unrestricted free markets. However, the Tigers owed their growth to heavy government intervention, and strict policies preventing foreigners from owning land or national firms. The trouble began when an unsubstantiated rumor spread that Thailand couldn’t sustain its currency, which triggered a chain of domino reactions that led to the near-collapse of the Asian Tigers’ economies. In this article, we’ll

Ramit Sethi: How to Make More Money Investing

Do you want to level up your investing game? What are some things you can do to increase your investment earnings? Once you start seeing your investments grow—even by a little bit—you’ll start thinking about how to feed your financial growth even further. According to Ramit Sethi, the author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich, the first step to leveling up your investment game is to define a concrete reason for growing your wealth. Otherwise, you’ll risk what Sethi calls “living in the spreadsheet”: becoming so fixated on making money that you forget the purpose of having money

I Will Teach You to Be Rich: Book Overview

What is I Will Teach You to Be Rich about? What are the key points of Ramit Sethi’s money advice? In his book I Will Teach You to Be Rich, self-taught expert in personal finance Ramit Sethi distills the basics of personal money management. You’ll learn how to use credit cards wisely, choose the right bank accounts and investment accounts, plan out your spending, and ultimately create a financial system that grows your money automatically. Below is a brief overview of the key points.

General Pinochet: Chile’s Savior?

How did general Pinochet become the President of Chile? What changes did Pinochet implement upon coming to rule? Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was a Chilean Army General who became the president of Chile by launching a coup and seizing the country from President Allende. Pinochet was an avid proponent of the neoliberal ideas of the Chicago School of Economics. In this article, we’ll discuss Pinochet’s instrumental role in implementing them in Chile.

Index vs. Mutual Funds: What Is the Difference?

What are the benefits of investing in a fund? What is the difference between index vs. mutual funds? Both index funds and mutual funds allow you to invest in a diverse group of investments. The main difference is that index funds invest in a specific group of assets (e.g. S&P 500 stocks), while mutual funds invest a changing list of assets, selected by a fund manager. In this article, we’ll explain the difference between index funds and mutual funds: how they work, their benefits, and their disadvantages.

Important Things to Consider When Choosing a Bank

What makes a “good” bank? What are some things you need to consider when choosing where to do your banking? Taking a little bit of time to choose a good bank now will save you time, money, and frustration down the line. There are many things to consider when choosing a bank, fees and reputation being the most reliable indicators of a bank’s trustworthiness. In this article, you’ll learn how banks make money off their customers and how to tell the difference between trustworthy banks and predatory banks.