Cover of The bankers' new clothes

The bankers' new clothes

by Anat R. Admati · first published 2013

8mentions
3recommended by
3HN commenters
2015–2024first – last mentioned

100% recommend

"What is wrong with today's banking system? The past few years have shown that risks in banking can impose significant costs on the economy. Many claim, however, that a safer banking system would require sacrificing lending and economic growth. The Bankers' New Clothes examines this claim and the narratives used by bankers, politicians, and regulators to rationalize the lack of reform, exposing them as invalid. Admati and Hellwig argue we can have a safer and healthier banking system without sacrificing any of the benefits of the system, and at essentially no cost to society. They show that ba

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What Hacker News says

  • FabHK · May 3, 2017 · Recommends

    …government to go bust". So, I think everyone was in it to an extent (while formally "correct" and "safe"), cashing out merrily, and hoping for the best. Another great book on this, by the way, is The Bankers' New Clothes: What's Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It by Anat Admati and Martin Hellwig. (Funny side note: I searched "bankers new clothes" on Amazon to get the author names right, and got a page with dress…

    on “Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis” ↗
  • FabHK · Oct 9, 2017 · Recommends

    …then, to the extent that their assumption was that the payment system and economy does not collapse, it was predicated on a public bail out. Anat Admati, Stanford econ prof, has a popular book out, The Bankers' New Clothes that makes a case for much simpler and stricter bank regulation (basically, force them to hold much more capital (i.e. equity)), which makes a lot of sense to me.

    on “The Prize in Economic Sciences 2017” ↗
  • FabHK · Oct 11, 2018 · Recommends

    …crash) that limits risk taking, for example capital requirements (=equity) for banks. Your narrative has been, in my opinion, comprehensibly refuted by, for example, Anat Admati & Martin Hellwig in *The Bankers' New Clothes" [1], or Krugman already in 2008 [2]. An overview over the debate is given in [3], including this quote from Krugman: > “for any public figure to go with the Congress-did-it argument at this stage is…

    on “SEC tightens the noose on ICO-funded startups” ↗
  • FabHK · Mar 14, 2020 · Recommends

    …markets, IPOs, the finance industry), not so much on the monetary system, macro, and institutions. On banking and banking regulation, making a case for higher capital (=equity) requirements for banks, The Bankers' New Clothes: What's Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It by Anat Admati and Martin Hellwig is a good read [1]. I can’t think of a good book on money and the various theories about - if someone has a recommendation…

    on “Ask HN: Book recommendations for understanding financial systems?” ↗
  • FabHK · Mar 14, 2020 · Recommends

    …secondary to what the OP is requesting though. I think a history of banking, and the events that led to the current regulatory framework, would be suitable. Can’t think of a good book though (except the Bankers’ New Clothes I recommended below).

    on “Ask HN: Book recommendations for understanding financial systems?” ↗
  • ellio · Oct 21, 2015 · Recommends

    Check out the book "The Bankers' New Clothes," which addresses the intentionally obscure language of finance

    on “Has It Become Impossible to Prosecute White-Collar Crime?” ↗
  • sandstrom · Sep 27, 2017 · Recommends

    A great book on this subject is The Bankers New Clothes. It explains the history of banking, why banks are useful and also why many banks today are dysfunctional and harmful.

    on “How Big Banks Became Our Masters” ↗
  • FabHK · Mar 4, 2024 · Mentions

    …equity (even if, my god, that reduces the return on equity earned - with a concomitant reduction in risk, though, thus making the equity no less valuable, theoretically speaking). See for example The Bankers' New Clothes: What's Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It (2014) by Anat Admati and Martin Hellwig.

    on “Exodus Bitcoin Wallet: $490k swindle” ↗

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