Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial MarketsAs the global financial crisis unfolds people everywhere are seeking to understand how markets devolved to this perilous, volatile state. In this dazzling and meticulously researched work of financial history, first published in 2003, and now thoroughly revised and updated, law professor and financial expert Frank Partnoy tells the story of how "classical" Wall Street securities like stocks and bonds were quietly eclipsed by ever more "quantum" products like derivatives. He documents how, starting in the mid-1980s, each new level of financial risk and complexity obscured the sickness of corporate America, and how Wall Street's evolving paradigm moved farther and farther beyond the understanding -- and regulation -- of ordinary investors and government overseers, leading inevitably to disaster. |
Contents
1 | |
7 | |
9 | |
2 Monkeys on Their Backs 34 | 34 |
3 Wheat First Securities 60 | 60 |
4 Unreconciled Balances 82 | 82 |
5 A New Breed of Speculator 110 | 110 |
Incubation | 137 |
Epidemic | 223 |
8 The Domino Effect 225 | 225 |
9 The Last One to the Party 265 | 265 |
10 The Worlds Greatest Company 294 | 294 |
11 Hot Potato 348 | 348 |
Epilogue 397 | 397 |
Notes 421 | 421 |
Acknowledgments 455 | 455 |
Other editions - View all
Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets Frank Partnoy Limited preview - 2010 |
Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets Frank Partnoy Limited preview - 2009 |
Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets Frank Partnoy Limited preview - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
accounting analysts Andersen Andy Krieger Arbitrage Arbitrage Group Askin assets Bankers Trust began bets Bloomberg bonds Boston bought Brickell Bruntjen called Capital Management CDOs Cendant Citron clients collapse companies complex corporate credit default swaps credit-rating agencies CSFP currency options dealers deals debt derivatives earnings economists employees Enron EnronOnline Exchange executives Fastow Federal fees financial instruments financial markets financial statements firm firm's Frank Quattrone fraud Gibson Greetings Global Crossing Gutfreund interest rates Internet investment bank investors ISDA J. P. Morgan Jett Kidder legal rules Levitt loans Long-Term Capital Management losses LTCM Meriwether Merrill Lynch million mortgage Mozer numbers Orange County paid percent peso profits Quattrone regulators regulatory revenues Rhythms NetConnections risk Rite Aid Salomon Brothers Sanford securities sell shareholders shares sold sophisticated stock options stock price strategy structured notes tion trading transactions Treasury volatility Wall Street Journal Wheat Winnick WorldCom