Declare Appertaining To Books More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite
| Title | : | More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite |
| Author | : | Sebastian Mallaby |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 496 pages |
| Published | : | June 10th 2010 by Penguin Press (first published January 1st 2010) |
| Categories | : | Economics. Finance. Business. Nonfiction. History |
Sebastian Mallaby
Hardcover | Pages: 496 pages Rating: 4.04 | 6355 Users | 227 Reviews
Relation In Favor Of Books More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite
Based on author Sebastian Mallaby's unprecedented access to the industry, including three hundred hours of interviews, More Money Than God tells the inside story of hedge funds, from their origins in the 1960s and 1970s to their role in the financial crisis of 2007-2009.Wealthy, powerful, and potentially dangerous, hedge fund moguls have become the It Boys of twenty-first century capitalism. Ken Griffin of Citadel started out trading convertible bonds from his dorm room at Harvard. Julian Robertson staffed his hedge fund with college athletes half his age, then he flew them to various retreats in the Rockies and raced them up the mountains. Paul Tudor Jones posed for a magazine photograph next to a killer shark and happily declared that a 1929-style crash would be "total rock-and-roll" for him. Michael Steinhardt was capable of reducing underlings to sobs. "All I want to do is kill myself," one said. "Can I watch?" Steinhardt responded.
Finance professors have long argued that beating the market is impossible, and yet drawing on insights from physics, economics, and psychology, these titans have cracked the market's mysteries and gone on to earn fortunes. Their innovation has transformed the world, spawning new markets in exotic financial instruments and rewriting the rules of capitalism.
More than just a history, More Money Than God is a window on tomorrow's financial system. Hedge funds have been left for dead after past financial panics: After the stock market rout of the early 1970s, after the bond market bloodbath of 1994, after the collapse of Long Term Capital Management in 1998, and yet again after the dot-com crash in 2000. Each time, hedge funds have proved to be survivors, and it would be wrong to bet against them now. Banks such as CitiGroup, brokers such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, home lenders such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, insurers such as AIG, and money market funds run by giants such as Fidelity-all have failed or been bailed out. But the hedge fund industry has survived the test of 2008 far better than its rivals. The future of finance lies in the history of hedge funds.
Mention Books As More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite
| Original Title: | More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite |
| ISBN: | 1594202559 (ISBN13: 9781594202551) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Nominee for Shortlist (2010) |
Rating Appertaining To Books More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite
Ratings: 4.04 From 6355 Users | 227 ReviewsPiece Appertaining To Books More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite
This is a wonderful book. It is well-researched such that, regardless of your initial biases toward the financial services industry, you can accept Mallaby's perspectives as legitimate. He concludes by arguing that hedge funds are safer for the country than large banks. He also argues that, despite popular belief, hedge funds are democratic by managing money for many non-profit and educational investors.The story-telling is superb. This book contains the tales (though keep in mind, all these are real, with verifiable sources) of hedge fund managers, from start with A.W. Jones all the day to the modern master of the universes. This is a narrative with both in depth insight and enthralling exposition. This mix of sound economic reasoning with institutional knowledge is rare.The author understands the role of hedge funds, moral hazard, and the institutional details of the hedge fund industry.
The book is a first-rate piece of non-fiction. Mallaby scans the history hedge funds over the past 60 or so years, with most chapters focusing in on an economic event and particular fund manager or hedge fund responding to such. (One minor quibble is Mallaby never quite says why A.W. Jones gets credit for developing the first hedge fund over, say, Benjamin Graham or John Maynard Keynes.)Along the way you learn quite a bit, also, about the financial scene going on at the time; from the
In 1949, an American sociologist and a former diplomat and anti-Nazi operative decided to get rich. He organized a "hedged [sic] fund" that bought shares in the companies he deemed promising, and sold short shares in the companies he deemed unpromising, doing all this on borrowed money. The top marginal income tax rate at the time being 91%, he took 20% of the profits on the investments, which were taxed at the much lower capital gains rate of 25%. If all of the original $100,000 had stayed with
MMTG provides an insider's take on the history of hedge funds using language that is appealing to the outsider. Sebastian Mallaby presents colorful characterizations ("[Robert Mercer] never recalled having a nightmare") of the major players behind some of the largest financial undertakings you have never heard about. Extremely detailed research is reduced to a cascade of brilliance--a triumph of tight editing. Sebastian introduces new ideas and debates criticisms without ever skirting myopia.
At one time this book seemed interesting so I got it to listen. And when I came back from vacation, having no books to read, I started. It's a bit dry but it does cover the nature of hedge funds and their contributions (liquidity) to society as well as the dangers (damage to the markets). It was interesting enough to get through, but I can't say it kept me riveted. I did learn quite a bit about the functions of a hedge fund and how a number of smart folks can seek out inefficiencies,
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