On March 14, 2012, more than three million people read Greg Smith's bombshell Op-Ed in the New York Times titled "Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs." The column immediately went viral, became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter, and drew passionate responses from former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, legendary General Electric CEO Jack Welch, and New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg. Mostly, though, it hit a nerve among the general public who question the role of Wall Street in society -- and the callous "take-the-money-and-run" mentality that brought the world economy to its knees a few short years ago. Smith now picks up where his Op-Ed left off.
His story begins in the summer of 2000, when an idealistic 21-year-old arrives as an intern at Goldman Sachs and learns about the firm's Business Principle #1: Our clients' interests always come first. This remains Smith's mantra as he rises from intern to analyst to sales trader, with clients controlling assets of more than a trillion dollars.
From the shenanigans of his summer internship during the technology bubble to Las Vegas hot tubs and the excesses of the real estate boom; from the career lifeline he received from an NFL Hall of Famer during the bear market to the day Warren Buffett came to save Goldman Sachs from extinction-Smith will take the reader on his personal journey through the firm, and bring us inside the world's most powerful bank.
Smith describes in page-turning detail how the most storied investment bank on Wall Street went from taking iconic companies like Ford, Sears, and Microsoft public to becoming a "vampire squid" that referred to its clients as "muppets" and paid the government a record half-billion dollars to settle SEC charges. He shows the evolution of Wall Street into an industry riddled with conflicts of interest and a profit-at-all-costs mentality: a perfectly rigged game at the expense of the economy and the society at large.
After conversations with nine Goldman Sachs partners over a twelve-month period proved fruitless, Smith came to believe that the only way the system would ever change was for an insider to finally speak out publicly. He walked away from his career and took matters into his own hands. This is his story.

Written by a leading financial analyst, this book provides a detailed overview of the regulatory environment facing the financial industry at the end of the 20th century. Whilst the 1980s and early 1990s focused on de-regulation within the financial sector, today a key point of interest has become re-regulation in a global setting. The new rules of supervision stress transparency and market discipline, which has an impact on trading strategies and lending patterns as well as the ways of managing assets and liabilities. Written for analysts, traders, technologists and managers of financial institutions, this book provides coverage of the aftermath of this regulatory environment, and the implications of globalization and technological developments.

The recent banking crisis has brought into question the business model used by most large banks. This collection of essays explores the success of 'alternative banks' - savings banks, cooperative banks, and development banks, using case studies from around the world and discussion of both the historical and theoretical context of banking practices.

Is money precious and scarce, necessitating iron fiscal discipline? Must the government always balance the books or risk ruin? Or is money, in fact, a flexible tool that can be used to mobilize our collective resources to serve those who need them? In this book, leading Modern Money Theory (MMT) advocate Randy Wray explains that the only real constraints on public policy are physical resources, technological capacity and political will: but never money. He shows how modern sovereign governments spend by keystroking money to bank accounts. While taxes serve other important purposes, they do not - contrary to popular belief - fund spending. If we recognize this, and totally reframe how we think about money and debt, we can marshal our national wealth to make us all richer, eliminate unemployment and "look after our own." We can make money work for us - the US. This book's account shows how MMT can become a new American political and economic orthodoxy, replacing the dominant conservative framework forever. It is essential reading for all progressives.

The two most topical issues in current financial markets deal with the causes of the recent financial crisis and the means to prevent future crises. This book addresses the latter and stresses a major shift in most countries toward a better understanding of financial stability and how it can be achieved. In particular, the papers in this volume examine the recent change in emphasis at central banks with regard to financial stability. For example: What were the cross-country differences in emphasis on financial stability in the past? Did these differences appear to affect the extent of the adverse impact of the financial crisis on individual countries? What are perceived to be the major future threats to financial stability? These and related issues are discussed in the book by well-known experts in the field - some of the best minds in the world pursuing financial stability. Following the global financial crisis, significant reforms have been initiated in many countries to address financial stability more directly, frequently focusing on macroprudential policy frameworks in which central banks play a more active role.

Since 2000, the Gulf Coast states - Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida - have experienced a series of hurricanes, multiple floods and severe storms, and one oil spill. These disasters have not only been numerous but also devastating. Response to and recovery from these unprecedented disasters has been fraught with missteps in management. In efforts to avoid similar failures in the future, government agencies and policy practitioners have looked to recast emergency management, and community resilience has emerged as a way for to better prevent, manage, and recover from these disasters. How is disaster resilience perceived by local government officials and translated into their disaster response and recovery efforts? Ashley D. Ross systematically explores and measures disaster resilience across the Gulf Coast to gain a better understanding of how resilience in concept is translated into disaster management practices, particularly on the local government level. In doing so, she presents disaster resilience theory to the Gulf Coast using existing data to create county-level baseline indicators of Gulf Coast disaster resilience and an original survey of county emergency managers and elected municipal officials in 60 counties and 120 municipalities across the Gulf States. The findings of the original survey measure the disaster resilience perceptions held by local government officials, which are examined to identify commonalities and differences across the set of cases. Additional analyses compare these perceptions to objective baseline indicators of disaster resilience to assess how perceptions align with resilience realities. Local Disaster Resilience not only fills a critical gap in the literature by applying existing theories and models to a region that has experienced the worst disasters the United States has faced in the past decade, but it can also be used as a tool to advance our knowledge of disasters in an interdisciplinary manner.

This book proposes a bank risk aggregation framework based on financial statements. Specifically, bank risk aggregation is of great importance to maintain stable operation of banking industry and prevent financial crisis. A major obstacle to bank risk management is the problem of data shortage, which makes many quantitative risk aggregation approaches typically fail. Recently, to overcome the problem of inaccurate total risk results caused by the shortage of risk data, some researchers have proposed a series of financial statements-based bank risk aggregation approaches. However, the existing studies have drawbacks of low frequency and time lag of financial statements data and usually ignore off-balance sheet business risk in bank risk aggregation. Thus, by reviewing the research progress in bank risk aggregation based on financial statements and improving the drawbacks of existing methods, this book proposes a bank risk aggregation framework based on financial statements. It makes full use of information recorded in financial statements, including income statement, on- and off-balance sheet assets, and textual risk disclosures, which solves the problem of data shortage in bank risk aggregation to some extent and improves the reliability and rationality of bank risk aggregation results. This book not only improves the theoretical studies of bank risk aggregation, but also provides an important support for the capital allocation of the banking industry in practice. Thus, this book has theoretical and practical importance for bank managers and researchers of bank risk management.

This reissue, first published in 1984, presents a study of the key phenomenon of global banking, carried out from special financial centres in underdeveloped countries, which contributed heavily to the contemporary debt crisis. This book gathers together previously disparate and unpublished data to give a detailed picture of the scope and the effects of transnational banking in the new international financial centres which have largely been set up since 1970.

Gathering together the papers presented at the Madrid Conference on Optimum Currency Areas in 1970 this volume represents one of the first complete surveys of the theory and policy implication of monetary integration. The book discusses: the economics of fixed exchange rates relevant to monetary relations within an integrated monetary area the evolution of economic doctrine and a survey of optimum currency area theory problems of policy co-ordination within a currency area relevance of the monetary-fiscal policy mix problems of monetary union in developing countries the book predicted the establishment of an European currency but presented the case for greater flexibility of exchange rates as an alternative to currency unification.

This book discusses contemporary banking and monetary policy issues from the perspective of the Austrian School of Economics. Based on the heritage of the Austrian school, leading scholars and practitioners offer a coherent diagnosis and analysis of the factors leading to Europe's current financial crisis. The first part of the book discusses Ludwig von Mises's and Friedrich August von Hayek's ideas on banking and monetary policy from both historical and economic standpoints. It includes contributions on Austrian monetary dynamics and micro-foundational business cycle theory, von Mises's concepts of liquidity and solvency of fractional-reserve banks, and liberalism of Austrian economics. The second part analyzes the measures taken by the European Central Bank (ECB) in light of the ideas of von Mises and Hayek. It includes contributions on non-neutrality of money, ECB monetary policy, and the future of the ECB. The third and final part presents discussions on monetary reforms, including contributions on Bitcoins, Cryptocurrencies and anti-deflationist Paranoia.

Investment Banking: Institutions, Politics, and Law provides an economic rationale for the dominant role of investment banks in the capital markets, and uses it to explain both the historical evolution of the investment banking industry and also recent changes to its organization. Although investment decisions rely upon price-relevant information, it is impossible to establish property rights over it and hence it is very hard to coordinate its exchange. The authors argue that investment banks help to resolve this problem by managing "information marketplaces," within which extra-legal institutions support the production and dissemination of information that is important to investors. Reputations and relationships are more important in fulfilling this role than financial capital.
The authors substantiate their theory with reference to the industry's evolution during the last three centuries. They show how investment banking networks were formed, and identify the informal contracts that they supported. This historical development points to tensions between the relational contracting of investment banks and the regulatory impulses of the State, thus providing some explanation for the periodic large-scale State intervention in the operation of capital markets. Their theory also provides a technological explanation for the massive restructuring of the capital markets in recent decades, which the authors argue can be used to think about the likely future direction of the investment banking industry.

The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are two of the world's major institutions conducting development projects. Both banks recognize the importance of transparency, participation and accountability. Responding to criticisms and calls for reform, they have developed policies that are designed to protect these values for people affected by their projects. This original and timely book examines these policies, including those recently revised, through the prism of human rights, and makes suggestions for further improvement. It also analyzes the development of the Banks' stance to human rights in general.This unique book contains valuable and deeply insightful information drawn from extensive face-to-face interviews with relevant actors, including key personnel from both banks, consultants to the banks and members of civil society organizations. It expands the scope of research/discussion on the human rights obligation of International financial institutions that will prove insightful for both academics and students. Practitioners will gain a great deal from the detail given on the standards of transparency, participation and accountability and their applicability to the day-to-day operations of development institutions. Contents: Foreword by Paul Hunt Introduction 1. The World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Human Rights 2. Human Rights Critique of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank's Information Disclosure Policy 3. Human Rights Critique of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank's Participation Policy 4. Human Rights Critique of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank's Inspection Policy 5. Case Studies: Human Rights Analysis of Inspection Cases of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank Conclusion Bibliography Index

The crisis of the current global financial speculative order is challenging us to critically reflect about the way this order has been driven and the development outcomes produced by its central political and economic actors.This book offers one of the few, independent and grounded investigation concerning the political economic role of the Regional Development Banks (RDBs) via an investigation of the world leading regional development bank, the Inter-American Development Bank. The book examines the impact on development of what we call the power-balance legitimisation. That is, the RDB's development capacity - via its technical, political and financial interventions - to frame policy alternatives, absorb opposition forces and justify a particular direction of development, all in order to legitimizes a specific political economic projects led by market-led pro-reform coalitions aligned with global financial forces and financial guidelines of development Applying a version of the new International Political Economy (new IPE) approach, Vivares traces the dynamics of the Latin American political economy of financing development, situating the IDB's development mission and role within the framework of globalisation, regionalism and multilateralism. This book examines the structural forces shaping the nature of the IDB and its role in the region throughout the period of the internationalisation of production and globalisation of development financing. In so doing, it draws particular attention to the IDB's changing development mandate and its interventions in the region in relation to its hemispheric, regional and global commitments, revealing the dynamics of its technical, financial and political capabilities.

An internationally acknowledged authority on all aspects of the theory of international trade and payments, this book collects Harry Johnson's contributions to the study of international trade, including a critique of the theory of effective protection. The book discusses: the integration of income distribution and other aspects of the economy into the positive theory of tariffs the issues raised by the use of tariffs to promote economic development the implications of distortions of various kinds in the working of competition for tariff theory and policy the costs of protection the implications of effective protection for world economic development and the economic effects of trade preferences the question of free trade and the extent to which it requires the harmonization other aspects of economic policy.

This book seeks to explain the global financial crisis and its wider economic, political, and social repercussions, arguing that the 2007-9 meltdown was in fact a systemic crisis of the capitalist system. The volume makes these points through the exploration of several key questions: What kind of institutional political economy is appropriate to explain crisis periods and failures of crisis-management? Are different varieties of capitalism more or less crisis-prone, and can the global financial crisis can be attributed to one variety more than others? What is the interaction between the labour market and the financialization process? The book argues that each variety of capitalism has its own specific crisis tendencies, and that the uneven global character of the crisis is related to the current forms of integration of the world market. More specifically, the 2007-09 economic crisis is rooted in the uneven income distribution and inequality caused by the current financial-led model of growth. The book explains how the introduction of more flexibility in the labour markets and financial deregulation affected everything from wages to job security to trade union influence. Uneven income distribution and inequality weakened aggregate demand and brought about structural deficiencies in aggregate demand and supply. It is argued that the process of financialization has profoundly changed how capitalist economies operate. The volume posits that financial globalization has given rise to growing international imbalances, which have allowed two growth models to emerge: a debt-led consumption growth model and an export-led growth model. Both should be understood as reactions to the lack of effective demand due to the polarization of income distribution.

First published in 1967, this is a unique study of the establishment of the Bank of Rhodesia and Nyasland - a central bank and London-type money market in a financially externally dependent economy. The book deals with the adaptation and initiation of financial institutions in a developing country previously completely dependent on external financial centres and externally controlled financial institutions. Dr Sowelem's authoritative and detailed study provides valuable information on the inter-related questions of central bank control and the development of specialist money markets in developing countries.

A sequel to Essays in Monetary Economics, this book develops the ideas on domestic and international monetary issues, with reference to specific events and crises of the 1960s and 70s. These essays are distinguished by the author's expert grasp of the analytical techniques and contemporaneous policy problems of both domestic and international monetary economics.

Reprinting the second edition (which included a new introduction explaining developments which had emerged since first publication) this book discusses explorations in the fundamental theory of a monetary economy, a theoretical critique of the 'Phillips Curve' approach to the theory of inflation and the theory of the term structure of interest rates in terms of the theory of forward markets pioneered by David Meiselman.

The 2008 financial crisis has severely shaken confidence in liberal economic theory and policy. However, the sharply divergent experiences of the six Anglo-Saxon 'liberal market economies' (LMEs) suggest that the reality is not so simple. This book traces the evolution of liberal capitalism, from its rebirth amidst the challenges of the 1970s to its role in the genesis of the 2008 crisis - and debates the assumptions underpinning the liberal capitalist paradigm.

Close examination reveals variety within liberal capitalism. Not only was there the familiar, "hands off" libertarian approach adopted by the US, UK and Ireland, but more bounded, better regulated and apparently more stable varieties of economic liberalism also emerged, through the more pragmatic approach taken by Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The evidence is compelling. Whereas the American, British and Irish financial systems were severely damaged by the crisis, those of Canada, Australia and New Zealand proved more robust. This volume explores the degree to which these divergent experiences were a result of better and more intensive supervision, differences in business or political culture, broader commitment to social norms, and the pace of liberalisation.

Detailed comparative case studies reveal fundamental differences in the economic and political environments in which economic liberalisation took place, in approaches to finance and in the degree to which it was seen to be an engine for growth. The book concludes that this had a major influence on the evolving economic and financial systems, and consequently, their relative resilience when confronted with the challenges of the 2008 crisis.

This book investigates the impact of both real and financial integration to growth and to welfare, and to enquire whether increases in either or both forms build the linkage between the real and financial economy. It contributes to the following two areas: (1) Research of economic developments in East Asia, the most dynamic and populous region in the world, in itself is important for researchers, policy makers, journalists, business people and others. East Asia s economic developments influence peoples lives not only in East Asia but also in other parts of the world. (2) Many aspects of East Asian experiences in economic development are unique, making research of East Asia attractive and important to discern mechanisms of economic development.

The first part of this study begins with chapters that address the measurement of regional integration compared with the engagement with the global economy and how this influences the aggregate behavior of the economies. The second part turns to consideration of the financial sector and the efficiency and performance of banking in the region. This allows a discussion whether, in the current crisis, the banking sector was an important channel of financial shock into real behavior. The third part turns to the corporate sector. Using data on firms, type of finance used by firms, its impact on their performance, and ownership structure influence over the productivity growth are discussed. Based on the findings, the book presents several policy recommendation and future research agenda for further economic integration in East Asia.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), founded in 1930, works as the "Bank for Central Banks". The BIS is an international forum where central bankers and officials gather to cope with international financial issues, and a bank which invests the funds of the member countries. This book is a historical study on the BIS, from its foundation to the 1970s. Using archival sources of the Bank and financial institutions of the member countries, this book aims to clarify how the BIS faced the challenges of contemporary international financial system. The book deals with following subjects: Why and how the BIS has been founded? How did the BIS cope with the Great Depression in the 1930s? Was the BIS responsible for the looted gold incident during WWII? After the dissolution sentence at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, how did the BIS survive? How did the BIS act during the dollar crisis in the 1960s and the 1970s? A thorough analysis of the balance sheets supports the archival investigation on the above issues. The BIS has been, and is still an institution which proposes an "alternative views": crisis manager under the Great Depression of the 1930s, peace feeler during the WWII, market friendly bank in the golden age of the Keynesian interventionism, and crisis fighter during the recent world financial turmoil. Harmonizing the methodology of economic history, international finances and history of economic thoughts, the book traces the past events to the current world economy under financial crisis.

Originally published in 1968, Richard Chapman's pioneering work illuminates the process of decision making by analysis of a particular example: the decision to raise the Bank Rate in September, 1957. The legal responsibility for a decision may be easy to pinpoint; in this case the Court of Directors of the Bank of England bear this but six weeks of negotiation separate their formal statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer's advice to the Treasury to consider effecting 'a measure of deflation in the economy'. These six weeks of consultation between the Bank and the Treasury proceeding in 'the pattern of a formal dance' are analysed and a necessary by-product of this case-study is a closer understanding of how the Treasury and the Bank of England work together. These details are derived mainly from the evidence, and deductions from it, presented to the Bank Rate Tribunal and the Radcliffe Committee on the Working of the Monetary System. Professor Chapman gives his particular findings about decision making a wider application still by forming reasoned hypotheses and informed generalisations about public administration in Britain.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When the links in the chain represent development projects, if individual projects fail to achieve their purpose, the development program's effectiveness is compromised. When the chain's links are strong and well-connected, the results are improved for the sector, country, and region. The role of multilateral banks is crucial; they inform the impact of development operations and support policymakers in decision making. This volume" "emphasizes that some crucial links in development tend to be systematically overlooked. In these matters, preoccupation with the immediate exigencies seems to come at the expense of attention to enduring problems--at a great cost to society.

Development practitioners should apply policies that have produced results over time, ensuring that the links in the chain are strong, but too often they overlook those links--because of myopia, complexity, tradition, or special interests. This book will help policy makers and practitioners focus on the links that measure progress, apply lessons, and matter for lasting results.

This book provides a new way of understanding modern money and markets by stressing their self-fulfilling/self-destructive properties as institutions from evolutionary perspectives. In contrast to an unrealistic view of the neoclassical general equilibrium theory that models the price mechanism of a "concentrated market" without using money, presented here is an alternative theory of markets on how a realistic "dispersive market" using a stock of money and inventory as buffers can work as a multilayered price-quantitative adjustment system. The central features of modern sovereign moneys seen in inconvertible IOUs of central banknotes can be depicted as "The Emperor's New Clothes" that correspond to the U.S. dollar and the Euro void of their own value. The image captures such characteristics of national currencies as "self-fulfilling ideas" by the inertia of conventions in the past and expectations of an uncertain future. Both ideas normally make money more acceptable and circulative so that its value can become more stable unless expectations for the future turn very pessimistic. The same logic also applies to such other currencies as Bitcoin and community currencies. Their recent diffusion has shown that Hayek's idea of denationalization of money and competition between multiple currencies in terms of its qualities, not its quantities sought as in ongoing quantitative easing, become more relevant under current situations. The qualities of money refer not only to stable monetary values and low transaction costs, but also to high ability in creating, sharing, and communicating social and cultural value. The potential of the logic of self-fulfillment of ideas can thus open up a new economic society when we realize that such various non-national currencies all depend on the same logic of money.

The financial market events in 2007-2009 have spurred renewed interest and controversy in debates regarding financial regulation and supervision. This book takes stock of the developments in EU legislation, case law and institutional structures with regards to banking regulation and supervision, which preceded and followed the recent financial crisis. It does not merely provide an update, but anchors these developments into the broader EU law context, challenging past paradigms and anticipating possible developments. The author provides a systematic analysis of the interactions between the content of prudential rules and the mechanisms behind their production and application European Prudential Banking Regulation and Supervision includes discussions of the European banking market structure and of regulatory theory that both aim to circumscribe prudential concerns. It scrutinises the content of prudential norms, proposes a qualification of these norms and an assessment of their interaction with other types of norms (corporate, auditing and accounting, consumer protection, competition rules). It also features an analysis of the underpinning institutional set-up and its envisaged reforms, focusing on the typical EU concerns related to checks and balances. Finally, the book attempts to revive the debate on supervisory liability, in light of the developments discussed. This book will be of great value to all those interested in financial stability matters (practitioners, policy-makers, students, academics), as well as to EU law scholars.