Books about Asymmetric from Amazon.com

“4GW (Fourth Generation Warfare) is the only kind of war America has ever lost. And we have done so three times â€" in Vietnam, Lebanon, and Somalia This form of warfare has also defeated the French in Vietnam and Algeria, and the USSR in Afghanistan…As the only Goliath left in the world, we should be worried that the world’s Davids have found a sling and stone that work.” â€" Chapter 1, The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century

The War in Iraq. The War on Terror. These types of “asymmetrical” warfare are the conflicts of the 21st century â€" and show how difficult it is for the world's remaining superpower to battle insurgents and terrorists who will fight unconventionally in the face of superior military power. This change in military conflict may seem sudden..
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Phantom Soldier: The Enemy’s Answer to U.S. Firepower may be the best treatise on Oriental warfare ever produced in the West. Well researched and illustrated, it sheds new light on what an Eastern infantry unit can do in combat: (1) alternate between guerrilla, mobile, and positional warfare; (2) use “ordinary forces” to engage and “extraordinary forces” to beat an opponent; and then (3) run away when fighting holds no more strategic import. While what occurred in history does not change, one’s perception of it does — as he comes to better understand his former adversary. Well versed in the Asian arts of deception and delay, the author explains in detail what really occurred at Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, Hue City, and other Vietnam battlefields. It would seem that former adversaries have used strategic retreat and tactical withdrawal not only to save their soldiers, but also to undermine U.S. resolve. By revealing how Eastern soldiers could hold their own without resupply, tanks, or air support, Phantom Soldier shows what U.S. infantrymen must do to survive the more lethal weaponry of the 21st century. This is must reading for any combat leader or concerned citizen..
Price: $8.80 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In Asymmetric Returns, financial expert Alexander Ineichen elevates the critical discussion about alpha versus beta and absolute returns versus relative returns. He argues that controlling downside volatility is a key element in asset management if sustainable positive compounding of capital and financial survival are major objectives. Achieving sustainable positive absolute returns are the result of taking and managing risk wisely, that is, an active risk management process where risk is defined in absolute terms and changes in the market place are accounted for. The result of an active risk management process-when successful-is an asymmetric return profile, that is, more and higher returns on the upside and fewer and lower returns on the downside. Ineichen claims that achieving Asymmetric Returns is the future of active asset management.

Alexander M. Ineichen, CFA, CAIA, is Managing Director and Senior Investment Officer for the Alternative Investment Solutions team, a key provider within Alternative and Quantitative Investments, itself a business within UBS Global Asset Management. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIAA). Ineichen is the author of the two UBS research publications In Search of Alpha—Investing in Hedge Funds (October 2000) and The Search for Alpha Continues—Do Fund of Hedge Funds Add Value? (September 2001). As of 2006 these two reports were the most often printed research papers in the documented history of UBS. He is also author of the widely popular Absolute Returns—The Risk and Opportunities of Hedge Fund Investing, also published by John Wiley & Sons..
Price: $40.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

There is a wide spectrum of potential threats to the U.S. homeland that do not involve overt attacks by states using long-range missiles or conventional military forces. Such threats include covert attacks by state actors, state use of proxies, independent terrorist and extremist attacks by foreign groups or individuals, and independent terrorist and extremist attacks by residents of the United States. These threats are currently limited in scope and frequency, but are emerging as potentially significant issues for future U.S. security. In this comprehensive work, Cordesman argues that new threats require new thinking, and offers a range of recommendations, from expanding the understanding of what constitutes a threat and bolstering Homeland defense measures, to bettering resource allocation and improving intelligence gathering and analysis. No pattern of actual attacks on U.S. territory has yet emerged that provides a clear basis for predicting how serious any given form of attack might be in the future, what means of attack might be used, or how lethal new forms of attack might be. As a result, there is a major ongoing debate over the seriousness of the threat and how the U.S. government should react. This work is an invaluable contribution to that debate..
Price: $39.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

While the original works on Malliavin calculus aimed to study the smoothness of densities of solutions to stochastic differential equations, this book has another goal. It portrays the most important and innovative applications in stochastic control and finance, such as hedging in complete and incomplete markets, optimisation in the presence of asymmetric information and also pricing and sensitivity analysis. In a self-contained fashion, both the Malliavin calculus with respect to Brownian motion and general Lévy type of noise are treated.

Besides, forward integration is included and indeed extended to general Lévy processes. The forward integration is a recent development within anticipative stochastic calculus that, together with the Malliavin calculus, provides new methods for the study of insider trading problems.

To allow more flexibility in the treatment of the mathematical tools, the generalization of Malliavin calculus to the white noise framework is also discussed.

This book is a valuable resource for graduate students, lecturers in stochastic analysis and applied researchers.

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Price: $51.78 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In recent years, the nature of conflict has changed. Through asymmetric warfare radical groups and weak state actors are using unexpected means to deal stunning blows to more powerful opponents in the West. From terrorism to information warfare, the Wests air power, sea power and land power are open to attack from clever, but much weaker, enemies.

In this clear and engaging introduction, Rod Thornton unpacks the meaning and significance of asymmetric warfare, in both civilian and military realms, and examines why it has become such an important subject for study. He seeks to provide answers to key questions, such as how weaker opponents apply asymmetric techniques against the Western world, and shows how the Wests military superiority can be seriously undermined by asymmetric threats. The book concludes by looking at the ways in which the US, the state most vulnerable to asymmetric attack, is attempting to cope with some new battlefield realities.

This is an indispensable guide to one of the key topics in security studies today..
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Translates the cogent lessons of recent events into workable strategies for tomorrow's leaders..
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Asset prices are driven by public news and information that is often dispersed among many market participants. These agents try to infer each other's information by analyzing price processes. In the past two decades, theoretical research in financial economics has significantly advanced our understanding of the informational aspects of price processes. This book provides a detailed and up-to-date survey of this important body of literature.

The book begins by demonstrating how to model asymmetric information and higher-order knowledge. It then contrasts competitive and strategic equilibrium concepts under asymmetric information. It also illustrates the dependence of information efficiency and allocative efficiency on the security structure and the linkage between both efficiency concepts. No-Trade theorems and market breakdowns due to asymmetric information are then explained, and the existence of bubbles under symmetric and asymmetric information is investigated.

The remainder of the survey is devoted to contrasting different market microstructure models that demonstrate how asymmetric information affects asset prices and traders' information , which provide a theoretical explanation for technical analysis and illustrate why some investors "chase the trend." The reader is then introduced to herding models and informational cascades, which can arise in a setting where agents' decision-making is sequential. The insights derived from herding models are used to provide rational explanations for stock market crashes. Models in which all traders are induced to search for the same piece of information are then presented to provide a deeper insight into Keynes' comparison of the stock market with a beauty contest. The book concludes with a brief summary of bank runs and their connection to financial crises..
Price: $67.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In this concise and penetrating study, Roger Barnett illuminates the effect of operational, organizational, legal, and moral constraints on the ability of the United States to use military force. As the tragic events of September 11 demonstrated, potential adversaries can take advantage of these limitations, thus spawning "asymmetrical warfare." Barnett defines asymmetrical warfare as not simply a case of pitting one’s strength against another’s weakness but rather of taking the calculated risk to exploit an adversary’s inability or unwillingness to prevent, or defend against, certain actions. For instance, launching chemical, biological, or suicide attacks; taking indiscriminate actions against critical infrastructure; using hostages or human shields; deliberately destroying the environment; and targeting noncombatants all constitute possible asymmetrical warfare scenarios. Against these acts, the United States has not prepared any response in kind—indeed the United States either cannot or will not undertake such responses—thus making these attacks especially difficult to counter. This refusal to retaliate in "an eye for an eye" fashion complicates the dilemma of American policymakers who seek to wield power and influence on the world stage while simultaneously projecting a peaceful and benign image. Barnett concludes that the United States must create a formal system of selectively eliminating the constraints that dictate our response to certain situations or scenarios. Failure to make such changes will only increase paralysis and, when the use of force is required, contribute to the already heightened risks..
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