ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism

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ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism (eBook) Pub. Date: 10/11/2011 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
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ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism Pub. Date: 3/2/2010 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

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Overview

Why are we in such a financial mess today? There are lots of proximate causes: over-leverage, global imbalances, bad financial technology that lead to widespread underestimation of risk.

But these are all symptoms. Until we isolate and tackle fundamental causes, we will fail to extirpate the disease. ECONned is the first book to examine the unquestioned role of economists as policy-makers, and how they helped create an unmitigated economic disaster.

Here, Yves Smith looks at how economists in key policy positions put doctrine before hard evidence, ignoring the deteriorating conditions and rising dangers that eventually led them, and us, off the cliff and into financial meltdown. Intelligently written for the layman, Smith takes us on a terrifying investigation of the financial realm over the last twenty-five years of misrepresentations, naive interpretations of economic conditions, rationalizations of bad outcomes, and rejection of clear signs of growing instability.

In eConned, author Yves Smith reveals:

—why the measures taken by the Obama Administration are mere palliatives and are unlikely to pave the way for a solid recovery

—how economists have come to play a profoundly anti-democratic role in policy

—how financial models and concepts that were discredited more than thirty years ago are still widely used by banks, regulators, and investors

—how management and employees of major financial firms looted them, enriching themselves and leaving the mess to taxpayers

—how financial regulation enabled predatory behavior by Wall Street towards investors

—how economics has no theory of financial systems, yet economists fearlessly prescribe how to manage them

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780230620513
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date: 3/2/2010
Pages: 368
Sales rank: 628,068
Product dimensions: 9.54 (w) x 6.40 (h) x 1.26 (d)

Meet the Author

Yves Smith is creator of the influential blog, Naked Capitalism, a top ranked economics and finance blog with over 250,000 unique visitors each month. Smith has been working in and around the financial services industry since 1980 as an investment banker, management consultant, and corporate finance advisor. Smith has appeared, on CNBC, CNN, and FOX Business News, and has written over 40 articles in venues such as The New York Times, Slate, and the Christian Science Monitor. She lives in Manhattan.

Ch. 1 The sorceror's apprentices 8

Ch. 2 Blinded by science 29

Ch. 3 Financial economics, courtesy P.T. Barnum 66

Ch. 4 Neoclassical economics : the triumph of simplistic math over messy facts 92

Ch. 5 How "free markets" was sold 105

Ch. 6 How deregulation led to predation 127

Ch. 7 Looting 2.0 160

Ch. 8 The Wizard of Oz 199

Ch. 9 The heart of darkness : the shadow banking system self-destructs 233

Ch. 10 Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose 270

Afterword 306

Appendix I 309

Appendix II 316

Notes 320

Bibliography 355

Index 358

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papicek

Posted April 9, 2010

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I Also Recommend:

Bravely Tackled, a must read

Yves Smith has the creds to back up her assertions about the Great Recession. She has worked in the financial markets, and writes with a commanding voice on both current economic conditions as well as the history of thought and debate which has brought us to this point in 2010. This is not a gossipy work on who-did-what-when, nor is it narrowly concerned with a single topic, but a high altitude tour over a landscape of shortsighted greed. Specifically, Smith takes on the prevailing economics orthodoxy that free markets work best and that free markets bring about the greatest social good. She illustrates exactly how this thinking was distorted and sold, how contrary thinking was at times suppressed, as well as documenting how policymakers have adopted this and brought about the current financial crisis.

To date, this is probably the most useful discussion on economic policy in the US.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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RolfDobelli

Posted January 24, 2012

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Econned

Neoclassical economists contend that the economy naturally seeks equilibrium, an optimal point where the supply of goods and services equals the demand. This intellectual view has encouraged politicians to deregulate markets to make them more competitive and efficient. But deregulation of financial markets has been a failed experiment in freeing banks and investment firms, says financial writer Yves Smith. She argues, convincingly, that the global financial crisis that began in 2007 has provided ample justification for greater regulation of banks and other related institutions. This book went to press in late 2009, prior to the 2010 passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, a sweeping reform of the US financial services industry that embodies some of the author’s proposed changes. getAbstract suggests Smith’s book to all those affected by the 2008 meltdown for its incisive description of the symptoms, causes of and cures for the financial crisis.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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