Economic Thoughts 2023 01 08

Firewalls serve to restrain complex and tightly coupled systems; small recessions are preferable to systemic failures. The political wish to avoid recessions by neutering small corrections only paves the way for greater failures.

Too Much Information

Aug. 10, 2011

Despite this constant free flow of information … we are caught unaware as one crisis after another devastates the financial markets. The temptation is to think that information and openness will enable us to risk and eliminate market crisis. As

How to Make a Problem Worse

Jul. 30, 2011

As a result of the depressed economy the difference in income between whites and minorities have widened. While the most shrill will find this to be clear testament to the inherent racism in the GOP, the reality is that both

Why Accounting Has Failed Us

Jun. 21, 2011

Accounting has failed us as investors and managers. Accounting should be about generating sufficient statistics to assess the state of a firm. It is more than simply taking numbers and putting them in the appropriate bin based on generally accepted

Do Regulations Increase the Risk of Catastrophic Failure?

May. 13, 2011

The implications of complexity in financial markets are more pointed than for most other industries: In the financial markets, some participants have a self- interest in gaming the system. Traders do not act as uninvolved parties. They are ready to

The Regulation Trap

Apr. 08, 2011

The natural reaction to market breakdown is to add layers of protection and regulation. But trying to regulate a market entangled by complexity can lead to unintended consequences, compounding crisis rather than extinguishing them because the safeguards add even more

Tag Archives