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The Dao of Capital

The Dao of Capital Austrian Investing in a Distorted World

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  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • ISBN: 9781118347034
  • Published In: September 2013
  • Format: Hardback , 368 pages
  • Jurisdiction: India ? Disclaimer:
    Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only
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    As today's preeminent doomsday investor Mark Spitznagel describes his Daoist and roundabout investment approach, “one gains by losing and loses by gaining.” This is Austrian Investing, an archetypal, counterintuitive, and proven approach, gleaned from the 150-year-old Austrian School of economics, that is both timeless and exceedingly timely.

    In The Dao of Capital, hedge fund manager and tail-hedging pioneer Mark Spitznagel—with one of the top returns on capital of the financial crisis, as well as over a career—takes us on a gripping, circuitous journey from the Chicago trading pits, over the coniferous boreal forests and canonical strategists from Warring States China to Napoleonic Europe to burgeoning industrial America, to the great economic thinkers of late 19th century Austria. We arrive at his central investment methodology of Austrian Investing, where victory comes not from waging the immediate decisive battle, but rather from the roundabout approach of seeking the intermediate positional advantage (what he calls shi), of aiming at the indirect means rather than directly at the ends. The monumental challenge is in seeing time differently, in a whole new intertemporal dimension, one that is so contrary to our wiring.

    Spitznagel is the first to condense the theories of Ludwig von Mises and his Austrian School of economics into a cohesive and—as Spitznagel has shown—highly effective investment methodology. From identifying the monetary distortions and non-randomness of stock market routs (Spitznagel's bread and butter) to scorned highly-productive assets, in Ron Paul's words from the foreword, Spitznagel “brings Austrian economics from the ivory tower to the investment portfolio.”

    The Dao of Capital provides a rare and accessible look through the lens of one of today's great investors to discover a profound harmony with the market process—a harmony that is so essential today.

  • Foreword xvii

    Introduction xxiii

    Chapter One: THE DAOIST SAGE
    Klipp's Paradox 1

    The Old Master 3

    The Soft and Weak Vanquish the Hard and Strong 6

    Into the Pit 9

    The Privileges of a Trader 12

    Robinson Crusoe in the Bond Pit 15

    Fishing in "McElligot's Pool" 18

    Enter the Austrians: A von Karajan Moment 18

    A State of Rest 21

    Guiding into Emptiness . . . 23

    Moving On 26

    The Wisdom of the Sages 29

    Chapter Two: THE FOREST IN THE PINECONE
    The Roundabout and the Logic of Growth 33

    The Forest and the Tree 36

    The Slow Seedling 39

    Wildfire and Resource Reallocation 41

    The Conifer Effect 43

    A Logic of Growth 49

    Chapter Three: SHI
    The Intertemporal Strategy 51

    The Dao of Sun Wu 56

    Shi and the Crossbow 58

    Li—The Direct Path 59

    Shi and Li at the Weiqi Board 60

    A Common Thread, from East to West 64

    An Attack of Misunderstanding 68

    On War—An Indirect Strategy 70

    Shi, Ziel, Mittel, und Zweck 74

    Chapter Four: THE SEEN AND THE FORESEEN
    The Roots of the Austrian Tradition 75

    That Which Must Be Foreseen 78

    At the Viennese Crossroads Between East and West 85

    The Teleology of Baer’s Butterfly 88

    Menger Establishes the Austrian School 89

    Tutor to the Prince 93

    Methodenstreit 97

    Österreichische Schule 101

    Chapter Five: UMWEG
    The Roundabout Path of the Unternehmer 103

    Postulating the "Positive" 105

    Produktionsumweg 108

    Böhm-Bawerk, the Bourgeois Marx 113

    Faustmann’s Forest Economy 116

    Rings of Capital 122

    Henry Ford: The Roundabout Unternehmer 125

    The Roundabout of Life 134

    Chapter Six: TIME PREFERENCE
    Overcoming That Humanness About Us 139

    "Radical" Böhm-Bawerk and the Psychology of Time Preference 145

    The Curious Case of Phineas Gage 149

    The Shi and Li Brain 151

    The Subjectivity of Time 153

    The Trade-Off of an Addict 158

    No Zeal for Ziel on Wall Street 161

    Adapting to the Intertemporal 164

    Chapter Seven: "THE MARKET IS A PROCESS" 167
    The Man Who Predicted the Great Depression 169

    Fleeing the Nazis 173

    Human Action 175

    Unternehmer in the Land of the Nibelungen 179

    Genuine Change Is Afoot in Nibelungenland—A Market-Induced Drop in Interest Rates 187

    Distortion Comes to Nibelungenland—The Central Bank Lowers Rates 190

    Time Inconsistency and the Term Structure 194

    The Day of Reckoning Comes to Nibelungenland 198

    The Austrian View 199

    The Market Process Prevails 201

    Chapter Eight: HOMEOSTASIS
    Seeking Balance in the Midst of Distortion 203

    The Teleology of the Market 205

    The Yellowstone Effect 207

    Lessons from the Distorted Forest 209

    Market Cybernetics 213

    How Things "Go Right" 216

    Spontaneous Order 217

    Distortion 219

    The Sand Pile Effect 220

    Distortion’s Message: "Do Nothing" 222

    The Shi of Capital 223

    Chapter Nine: AUSTRIAN INVESTING I: THE EAGLE AND THE SWAN
    Exploiting Distortion with Misesian Tools 227

    Homeostasis en force 229

    Witness to the Distortion 231

    An Initial Misesian Investment Strategy 236

    The Eagle and the Swan 240

    Case Study: Prototypical Tail Hedging 244

    The Ziel and the Zweck: Central Bank Hedging 248

    The Roundabout Investor 251

    Chapter Ten: AUSTRIAN INVESTING II: SIEGFRIED
    Exploiting the Böhm-Bawerkian Roundabout 253

    Siegfried, the Dragon Slayer 255

    Case Study: Buying the Siegfrieds 263

    Value Investing: Austrian Investing’s Estranged Heir 269

    A Zweck Finally Attained 275

    Epilogue: THE SISU OF THE BOREAL FOREST 277

    The World Learns Sisu from the Victorious Finns 278

    Sisu—Of Character and Character-Building 284

    Notes 293

    Acknowledgments 309

    About the Author 311

    Index 313

  • Mark Spitznagel is the founder and President of Universa Investments, an investment advisor that specializes in equity tail-hedging—or profiting from extreme stock market losses as a means of enhancing investment returns. In addition to hedge fund investing, Spitznagel's twenty-year investment career has ranged from independent pit trader at the Chicago Board of Trade to proprietary trading head at Morgan Stanley. He also owns and operates Idyll Farms in northern Michigan.

  • "Spitznagel has written an essential new book. Indeed, The Dao of Capital: Austrian Investing in a Distorted World might be one of the most important books of the year, or any year for that matter."
    Forbes

    “The Dao of Capital: Austrian Investing In A Distorted World by Mark Spitznagel (Wiley, 2013) is a beautifully crafted book, one I can recommend to readers of all political/economic persuasions… it is impossible not to be shaped by its carefully presented history and logic.”
    Seeking Alpha

    “There is no shortage of market bears who take a grim view of the stock market. But Mr. Spitznagel has gained credibility in the investment world by predicting two market routs in the past decade, first in 2000 and then in 2008. Still, Mr. Spitznagel’s approach is unusual for a money manager.”
    The New York Times 

    “A fascinating and radical break from the investment dogma of the past several decades”
    Fortune

    “At last, a real book by a real risk-taking practitioner. You cannot afford not to read this!”
    Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author of The Black Swan

    “Investors of all kinds will find immeasurable value in this convincing and thoroughly researched book where Mark champions the roundabout.”
    Paul Tudor Jones II, Founder, Tudor Investment Corporation

    “A timely, original, right-economic principles and history-based approach to investing. Drawing on impressive philosophical building blocks, The Dao of Capital illuminates the wellsprings of capital creation, innovation and economic progress. Dazzling!”
    Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Forbes Media

    “This is a magnificent, scintillating book that I will read over and over again. Every page is eye-opening, with numerous areas for testing and profits in every chapter. Here’s an unqualified, total, heartfelt recommendation, which coming from me is a rarity, and possibly unique.”
    Victor Niederhoffer, Author of The Education of a Speculator

    The Dao of Capital is an impressive work. Spitznagel’s approach is refreshing—scholarly without being tedious. What a broad look at economic history it provides!”
    Byron Wien, Vice Chairman, Blackstone Advisory Partners LP

    “Wall Street gamblers who believe the Fed has their back need to read this book. Mark Spitznagel provides a brilliant demonstration that the gang of money printers currently resident in the Eccles Building have not repealed the laws of sound money nor have they rescinded the historical lessons on which they are based.”
    David Stockman, Former U.S. Congressman, Budget Director under Ronald Reagan, and Author of The Great Deformation

    “Mark Spitznagel assembles the best insights in human nature and economics to bring order out of the chaos of our world. Economists, investors and lay persons alike will find abundant treasures in The Dao of Capital, one remarkably useful and exciting book!”
    Lawrence Reed, President, Foundation for Economic Education and President Emeritus, Mackinac Center for Public Policy

    “Spitznagel’s excellent book is a powerful presentation of how monetary policy deceives entrepreneurs and investors into making poor investing decisions. I highly recommend The Dao of Capital as a guide to avoiding these deceptions and thus to better investment results.” 
    Marc Faber, Publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report

    “Spitznagel’s sound analytical foundations combined with shrewd strategic thinking provide the reader with a broad philosophy for long run success in wealth creation—where understanding the process that puts you in a position to win is more important than simply stating the goal of winning. I greatly recommend this book.”
    Peter Boettke, Professor of Economics and Philosophy, George Mason University

    “Mark Spitznagel has done a remarkable job summarizing, synthesizing, and extending the great Austrian tradition, and weaving it into a wonderful set of practical lessons. What’s more, he is a great writer and storyteller in the tradition of Bastiat, Hazlitt, and Rothbard, bringing subtle and sometimes complex ideas to life with memorable examples and sparkling prose. Highly recommended!”
    Peter Klein, Professor of Applied Economics, University of Missouri and Carl Menger Fellow, Ludwig von Mises Institute

    “A highly successful investor, Mark brings Austrian economics from the ivory tower to the investment portfolio.”
    Ron Paul, Former U.S. Congressman (from the Foreword)

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