Cities across the world are preparing to celebrate the new year. But in the face of budget deficits and government cut-backs, how much is appropriate to spend on New Years festivities? Australia, whose citizens are suffering under severe flooding after a tropical cyclone and record rain, spend $5 million on New Year’s celebrations.

In today’s latest installment in our Big Book series, Jeremy Hobson spoke to author Dan Charnas, author of the new book “The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip Hop.” Over the past two decades no music industry has grown faster than hip-hop. “The Big Payback” is a detailed and real to life accounting of the business of music, giving readers a behind-the-scenes look at how street music grew to be one of the business’s biggest industries.

Happy New Years from Marketplace Morning Report.