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
Full Product Details
Author: Yves Smith
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan
Dimensions:
Width: 16.00cm
, Height: 3.10cm
, Length: 24.20cm
Weight: 0.541kg
ISBN: 9780230620513
ISBN 10: 0230620515
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 15 April 2010
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: In Print
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.
Reviews
'There are a lot of phenomenal economics blogs that I find helpful and consult daily. My single favorite: Naked Capitalism. It provides a smart, daily insider look at how Wall Street works and is responding to the crisis.' - Adam Davidson, NPR Correspondent, International Business and Economics, editorial director for Planet Money, NPR's multimedia project covering the global economy 'Yves Smith has been working in financial services since 1980 and she brings all her experience to bear in her Naked Capitalism blog. One of the most respected financial bloggers, Smith routinely rips into dodgy economic assumptions and her worldly analysis makes for indispensable reading.' - Proinsias O'Mahony, Irishtimes.com 'I'm going to recommend this week a blog called nakedcapitalism...no one to my mind is covering the Fannie Mae/Freddy Mac crisis any better than Yves...He (sic) does an enormous amount of linking through to the Financial Times and various other financial outlets and then comments upon them with a remarkable acuity. We're in the midst of something so huge and something so tectonic...The blow up of these two entities which have been part of American life for decades is a massive story and it's been completely misreported... and the best place to really learn about it really are the blogs.' - Stephen Metcalf, Slate Culture Critic. Slate cultural gabfest, Sept. 10, 2008
Author Information
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 Manhatan.
