Review: Banks bet their lives on neurochemistry
By Martin Hutchinson
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Trading is mostly about neurochemistry. That is the persuasive argument of former trader and current neuroscientist John Coates in his book “The Hour Between Dog and Wolf”. The implication is clear: men have too many of the wrong hormones to be trusted.
Review: The trappings of global money
By Robert Cole
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
When it comes to describing what went wrong, Robert Pringle’s new book, “The Money Trap”, is hard to fault. The editor of the trade journal Central Banking is also right that finance needs reform so it can better serve people, rather than financiers. Pringle deserves praise for offering an alternative financial architecture. But his bold prescription, though intriguing, is imperfect and unrealistic.
Review: A woman’s view of the boys at Facebook
By Megan Miller
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
A childish approach to life can be profitable. It has certainly worked well for the founders and backers of Facebook, as Katherine Losse demonstrates in “The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network.” The engaging and pithy book is a memoir of the author’s five years at the company, before it developed a slick corporate persona.
Review: Financial whodunit clues into bankers
By Jeffrey Goldfarb
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
To fictionalize the Wall Street events of 2008 satisfyingly requires more than just borrowing from them. The real-life narrative was so spectacular and has been retold so often that engaging even a casual follower of financial news takes more than a little extra imagination. Go figure then that a fact-based chronicler of the times would be the one to accomplish the feat.
Review: Looking for an honest man
By Martin Langfield
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
It is said that the philosopher Diogenes the Cynic roamed ancient Athens with a lamp in daylight to search for an honest man. Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics, uses more modern research techniques for a similar quest. He reports his findings in a new book, “The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty.”
Review: Is inequality a crisis or just capitalism?
By Richard Beales
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Is rising U.S. income inequality a disaster, or just capitalism? In “The Great Divergence”, Timothy Noah analyses the 30-odd year trend, and concludes it’s a crisis. Yet earning differences are inevitable in any kind of market system. It’s arguably not so much inequality per se as the real decline in middle-class incomes that justifies serious concern.
Review: Groupon’s baby CEO grows up – to a point
By Megan Miller
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
Few companies have grown from an idea to a nearly $17 billion company as swiftly as Groupon, the daily deals website. Frank Sennett’s new book, “Groupon’s Biggest Deal Ever,” gives a blow-by-blow account of the startup’s rapid ascent, including its founder’s audacious rejection of a $6 billion takeover bid by Google two years ago. What Sennett’s book fails to deliver, however, is an insight into how Groupon can sustain its position.
Review: Low finance can get into trouble, too
By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
All financial institutions – not just those deemed too big to fail – need strong regulatory oversight. That is one lesson of Kirsten Grind’s new book about the demise of Washington Mutual, “The Lost Bank.” Grind, who covered the bank for Seattle’s Puget Sound Business Journal before moving to the Wall Street Journal, offers decent coverage of the bank’s demise in September 2008. But her incredibly well-researched account of how the bank got there is more captivating.
Review: Nations fail when people can’t hope
By Pierre Briançon
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
The book begins in Nogales, a city divided by a fence along the border of Arizona and Mexico, and ends 450 pages later in China, with the story of a young entrepreneur arrested in 2004 for having started a large steel plant competing with the state-owned companies. In between “Why Nations Fail” is a highly readable narrative of a breathtaking trip: from the Neolithic Revolution to 16th century England, from Spain’s Philip II to Stalin, from the Mayan city-states to the Portuguese colonisation of the Moluccan archipelago.
Review: Fulfilling paper promises
By Robert Cole
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Do you want to know how global financial system came to be and what it has become? Do you want to re-examine what you think you know? Paper Promises, by journalist Philip Coggan, is a good place to look for answers to those questions.
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