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Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Andy Krieger was one of those kids who, it seemed, could do everything..." (more)
Key Phrases: prudency reserves, prepaid swaps, proxy basket, Bankers Trust, Wall Street, First Boston (more...)

4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Partnoy's previous book, F.I.A.S.C.O., was an inside story of a Wall Street derivatives trader. It argued that recklessness and lack of regulation made derivatives trading (trading financial instruments that have no intrinsic value) a threat to the financial system. Turning from autobiography to history, this new work makes the same points by examining financial disasters caused by derivatives of the last 15 years. "Patient Zero" is Andy Krieger, whose $80 million mismarking of currency options embarrassed Bankers Trust in 1988. Partnoy profiles other derivatives abusers, too, including Nick Leeson, who bankrupted Barings Bank; Robert Citron, who did the same for Orange County; and Joseph Jett, whose "forward recon" trades helped end the independent existence of Kidder Peabody and Long Term Capital Management. These accounts of 20th-century disasters are neither original nor deep, but readers interested in the subject will be pleased to see the links among them. Taken together, common features emerge that are hard to see in detailed accounts of individual collapses. For example, Partnoy makes a revisionist case that credit rating agencies and federal regulators, including Alan Greenspan and Arthur Levitt, bear most of the blame. The author carries his story into mid-2002, evaluating Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing. His analysis here is more original, reversing the popular perception by claiming Enron was a profitable company that should have survived, while WorldCom and Global Crossing had no economic substance.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Why the economy is so unstable; from law professor Partnoy.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (January 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0805075100
ISBN-13: 978-0805075106
Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces

Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #434,114 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Andy Krieger was one of those kids who, it seemed, could do everything. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
prudency reserves, prepaid swaps, proxy basket, arbitrage group, three percent rule, zooo annual report, complex financial fraud, trading currency options, various international crises, junior piece, credit default swaps, late zooz, merger reserve, securities lawsuits, mortgage derivatives, complex swaps, structured notes, mercenary culture, derivatives deals, global crossing, derivatives dealers, derivatives regulation, modern financial markets, dark fiber, inverse floaters

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bankers Trust, Wall Street, First Boston, Orange County, United States, New York, Andy Krieger, Salomon Brothers, Waste Management, Merrill Lynch, General Electric, Rite Aid, Allen Wheat, Federal Reserve, Gibson Greetings, Morgan Stanley, Arthur Andersen, Charlie Sanford, Ken Lay, Arthur Levitt, Kidder Peabody, Long-Term Capital Management, Alan Greenspan, American Express, Freddie Mac

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 35 books:

Stocks for the Long Run : The Definitive Guide to Financial Market Returns and Long-Term Investment Strategies by Jeremy J. Siegel on page 271, and Back Matter
Inventing Money: The Story of Long-Term Capital Management and the Legends Behind It by Nicholas Dunbar in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Fourth Edition 1985 by Burton G. Malkiel on page 90, and Back Matter
Rogue Trader (Penguin Readers, Level 3) by Leeson on page 243, and Back Matter
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: Including a Life-Cycle Guide to Personal Investing by Burton G. Malkiel on page 90, and Back Matter

See all 35 books this book cites

16 books cite this book:

Pump and Dump: The Rancid Rules of the New Economy by Robert H. Tillman on 6 pages
The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead by David Callahan in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
Gangster Capitalism: The United States and the Globalization of Organized Crime by Michael Woodiwiss in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Trust and Antitrust in Asian Business Alliances by Frank-Jurgen Richter on page 82
The Politics of Everyday Life: Making Choices, Changing Lives by Professor Paul Ginsborg on page 60

See all 16 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald

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Fiasco by Frank Partnoy

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The House of Morgan by Ron Chernow

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Bull! by Maggie Mahar

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	69% buy the item featured on this page: Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets 4.6 out of 5 stars (28)
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	9% buy FIASCO: Blood in the Water on Wall Street 3.6 out of 5 stars (44) $11.53
	8% buy The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals 4.2 out of 5 stars (12) $17.79

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Customer Reviews

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4.6 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)

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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get this book if you want to understand Wall Street antics, July 14, 2003

By	Srikumar S. Rao (Commack, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets (Hardcover)

This book is an absolute must read if you want to understand Wall Street shenanigans. Partnoy has done a phenomenal job of demystifying the world of swaps, derivatives and other exotic financial instruments. Even better, he shows how investment banker antics have affected Main Street inhabitants including yourself. How did Orange County and so many other municipalities get so deeply in trouble? The author explains.

I have a Ph.D in business and many finance courses under my belt, but I never quite understood the systemic dangers of the 'financial innovation' that is sweeping our markets. Now that I have, I will sleep much less well at night.

Partnoy describes the evolution of exotic instruments and the characters involved in this evolution. How CS First Boston made securites of virtually any type of debt, Salomon pioneered the CMO and so on. He details the specific wrongdoings of companies like Enron, Global Crossing and WorldCom. He shows you the enabling role played by gatekeepers like accounting firms, law firms, analysts and credit rating agencies.

Even more important, he shows you exactly how the collusion happened and why. He gives you both an aerial view of the markets and a down-in-the-trenches description. I often wondered why, in efficient markets, participants voluntarily involved themselves in such convoluted transactions that had high costs in terms of record-keeping and fees. The answer, as Partnoy shows, is that virtually all of these arrangements permit some set of parties to subvert law or regulation or both. This is true domestically and internationally.

He graphically describes how lobbying keeps regulators at bay and the venality and ineffectuality of politicians. The chairperson of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, for example, exempted important parts of Enron's business from regulation and, just weeks later, joined Enron' board. There are many such stories that show exactly how self-serving our legislators and regulatory guardians are.

My quibbles are minor. While Partnoy is clear, his language is colorless. Perhaps his legal background has something to do with this. Given the strength of his material and the depth of his research, he could have made this book a popular bestseller if he had used more forceful colloquial expression.

Also, he does not talk at all about the role of technology in this evolving mess. Greedy, incredibly smart bankers have always been with us. What has permitted them to have this huge impact now is the ability of computers to churn massive amounts of data, pick out the faintest of patterns and keep records of incredibly complex transactions involving dozens of parties over vast stretches of time.

This said, this is the best book I have yet come across that explains how and why large scale financial malfeasance happens. And why it is hardly ever punished. You will understand why the perpetrators of Enron, Global Crossing, Adelphia, WorldCom, Sunbeam and so many others will walk and hold on to their vast gains. Start praying that there is justice beyond our courts.

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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A chilling summary with very thorough analytical background, June 23, 2003

By	S. L. Cranshaw (Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets (Hardcover)

In a much more serious project than his previous FIASCO, Partnoy gives an extremely persuasive explanation of how the interaction between financial product developments, legal change and administrative character have led to the series of financial scandals witnessed over the last twenty years. Few books on the subject have managed to explain the bizarre stories of Enron or LTCM in an understandable way but Frank puts together a convincing interpretation. The story depends not just on developments of financial products but also on accounting and legislative reforms, which he details. I'm not sure any other book on the subject approaches this one in detail and scope. Many have been written on individual cases but this is perhaps the first work to explain an overall pattern of corruption and it's evolution. The most familiar scandals are no longer bizarre events but can be seen as almost a logical consequence of a system going off the rails.
Other reviews have suggested that Frank is anti-derivatives but this is not at all the case. He makes it clear that derivatives are in many case useful structures with a role to play but that they have been used at other times to less beneficial ends. There is an undertone of indignation in the writing but such anger is surely more than justified considering the huge injustices which have gone more or less unpunished.
The suggestions for financial reform at the end of the book should be a blueprint for new legislation worldwide.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good book, but not of the FIASCO type, November 11, 2003

By	ServantofGod - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets (Hardcover)

I always regard FIASCO as the Morgan Stanley version of Liar's Poker. Both of them are outrageous. It's certainly great fun to read insider stories, which are interesting but fifthy, of how the supposedly honorable banks screwed their customers. Naturally I had very high expectation of this book before I started reading it. To my minor surprise, the author had adopted a completely different style writing this book, making it a very serious and exhaustive account of how big banks like Bankers' Trust, CSFB, LTCM, Morgan Stanley and gigantic conglomerates like Enron, Worldcom, Orange County made use of dubiously legal practice for their own profits or demise, but certainly at the expense of shareholders. This material is really qualified to be a testimony before the Congress, which the author really did.

I do appreciate the author's sincerity of warning the public about the legal and moral problems of the real financial world with the advance in technology and financial techniques. A reviewer here said that the author was living in an ivory tower. I feel so sorry for that critic and those who thought so. As a professional trader, I assure you that the real world is indeed more dangerous and fifthy. Anyway, I do recommend this book as an indispensable material for anyone, especially govt officials (though I doubt very much they will humbly read and take this book seriously) who want to look into this. For those who just want to read for fun, FIASCO might be a better choice.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The only sure bets were the fat fees
From the 1980s onward, a financial `revolution' (better: disaster) took place. Top executives were paid with stock options. Read more

Published 4 days ago by Luc REYNAERT

5.0 out of 5 stars All We Need Is Honest Politicians- Where Are They?
For those who hope to understand what has gone wrong in a dysfunctional American economy, this book is like the joke about ten thousand lawyers at the bottom of a chasm- a good... Read more

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Written a full five years before the 2008 Financial Meltdown, this book explains to anyone with a basic understanding of the English language how and why our financial... Read more

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5.0 out of 5 stars On the Mark
Frank Partnoy has made an important contribution to understanding our latest fiasco of Wall Street machinations. Read more

Published 3 months ago by R. Bono

5.0 out of 5 stars An Infectiously Well Written History of the Financial Markets Over the Past Twenty Years
Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets is an unfortunately named book. It is just hard to take a book with such a dramatic title seriously. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Ubaid Dhiyan

5.0 out of 5 stars Con Men at the Highest Level
The book reveals some nasty deeds and even nastier people. What's interesting is he names names, uncommon in the high finance world which allows culprits to move on. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Patrick L. Morris

5.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 stars.The author demonstrates that when financial markets become speculative the end results are recessions or depressions
Partnoy's entire approach in this book is presented for the reader on p.3.He first gives a brief historical summary of events leading up to the crash of the NASDAQ and other stock... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Michael Emmett Brady

5.0 out of 5 stars Infectious Greed
Informatiive.This book was written in 2003, the scandals in Wall Street are still applicable today. This book gives us a lot of insight as to the root of the financial problems we... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Tak Keung Ip

5.0 out of 5 stars essential
Mr. Partnoy has done America an enormous service in writing this book. It is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the origins of the current financial crisis, and... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Joe

3.0 out of 5 stars Infectious Greed- Here to stay
Great historical perspective of the out-of-this world greed and borderline illicit trading that began in the 80s...if not before. Read more

Published 12 months ago by T. Ottinger

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