Do you know which ethnic group has the most influence in financial markets? That is Jewish people. They have founded many financial institutions and they are now the most powerful economic group leading financial markets. This book is about these Jewish people and economic history. The author of this book, Hong La-hi, worked for the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and experienced a variety of economic environments in New York, Milan, Madrid and Sao Paulo. These experiences made her interested in Jewish people and how they went from being slaves to leaders of finance. She discovered that there have always been Jewish people in the financial and service industries because historically the founders and leaders of distribution, financial, service industries are Jewish. That is why she thinks that the world economy is led by Jewish people. This book starts with the beginning of the Jews. The ancestor of the Jews is Abraham who lived in Ur, the center of Sumer. Ur was a developed city with commerce and trade. He left for Canaan (the Palestine of today), which is 900 km from Ur, with his extended family and that is the start of the Jewish people, based on the Bible. After that the Jewish people have a history of wandering for 4000 years. The writer explains the Jews' long history from their many years of hardship to “the way of favor," The most interesting story to me is the story of the Rothschild family. The story is about Mire Armshell Rothchild and his five sons earning astronomical amounts of money with their financial business. Each of the five sons was sent to a different city in Europe: London, Paris, Vienna, Frankfurt, Naples. They knew the importance of information and time. They shared information with each other very quickly so they could take advantage of developing situations. For example, the third son who was in London got information about the victory at Waterloo more quickly than others so he bought 62% of England’s treasury bonds. When I read this book, I was surprised by two things. First, Jewish people underwent a lot of suffering and persecution throughout history. They wandered for a very long time because they didn't have any place to live. They were also enslaved in Egypt, and even after they escaped from Egypt, they often became slaves in other places. Second, even though Jews are a minority race, they still founded a lot of financial companies. There are also a lot of influential people in various economies who have come from Jewish families. The writer of this book believes that Jews are the largest group involved in economics and finance, so the world economy is lead by them. Anyone can easily read and enjoy this book even if they are not interested in economics or finance. Furthermore you can learn more about the story of the Jews. If you want to get information about this influential minority race, I recommend this book.
