Infectious Greed - How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets - Hardcover

Partnoy, Frank

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1861974388 ISBN 13: 9781861974389

Publisher: Profile Books, 2003

Synopsis

Good Condition. The book is in good condition overall, but the dust jacket is slightly creased and the pages have somewhat yellowed. The still-developing financial story is terrifying. One by one, major corporations such as Enron, Global Crossing, and Worldcom have imploded, prey to a greed-driven culture and dubious or illegal corporate finance and accounting. Stockmarkets have plunged. Confidence in corporate accounts and standards of behaviour have fallen dramatically. The global financial system has suddenly reached a perilous crossroads. In a compelling and disturbing narrative, Frank Partnoy brings to bear all of his skill and experience as a securities attorney, financial analyst, law professor, and best selling author to tell the story of the rise of the trading instruments and corporate financial structures that now imperil the global economy and have already brought the US low. Starting in the mid-1980s with the introduction of the first proto-derivatives, and taking us through such high-profile disasters as Barings Bank and Long Term Capital Management, Partnoy traces a seamless progression to the dangerous manipulations that have and continue to come to light. He documents how each new level of financial risk and complexity obscured the sickness of the company in question, and required ever more ingenious deceptions. The story becomes more alarming with each passing day, but mercifully Partnoy offers a clear vision of the route back from the precipice.

About this title

Product Description

Enron was an energy trading company. Its business model was hailed as revolutionary. Analysts were unanimous in recommending investors to buy Enron shares. The share price soared to 1,990 dollars in April 2001. Eight months later it all fell apart. It transpired that Enron's accounts were disguised by a raft of off-balance sheet items; that the company had been up to its neck in trading derivatives of such Byzantine complexity that almost no-one understood them; that Enron's top management had made fortunes by selling shares when the price was sky high and when they knew that the company was in danger; and that Enron had spent millions buying political favours in every country it operated. Enron's nasty smell pervaded Congress and reached the Oval office, and the collapse of the company hit banks, pension funds and private investors around the world. But what Enron had been doing was no different to what many companies - aided by their auditors - do all the time, what they put on their balance sheet and what they hide off it, and how they exploit unfathomable derivatives.

Review

" Ambitious . . . a useful book, bringing together details of half-forgotten scandals from the past fifteen years." -- "The New York Times Book Review" " Frank Partnoy knows the landscape from the inside . . . a good, snappy read." -- "The Washington Post"

About this edition

• Publisher: Profile Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1861974388
• ISBN 13: 9781861974389
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 466