Economics

(The book) is an excellent attempt to re-insert social and ...

(Paul J Davies, Financial Times)

 

(The book) is an excellent attempt to re-insert social and psychological notions into our views of "the market" and its functions. At its heart is the understanding that "liquidity" is not the substantial, present and almost physical phenomenon so readily assumed even by sophisticated financial actors, but that it is in fact one of the most social, contingent and ultimately ephemeral notions of all.

(Paul J Davies, Financial Times)

 

There has always been a tendency to confuse money and ...

(Victoria Chick, University College Londo)

 

There has always been a tendency to confuse money and wealth. Anastasia Nesvetailova shows that, from the beginning of securitisation until the crisis, this confusion transferred to the creation of the bewildering array of new financial instruments. The belief that these instruments were creating wealth was based on an illusion: that these innovations were creating liquidity, while in fact, from a systemic perspective, they were reducing it. The illusion was in part fostered by far-reaching changes in the concept of liquidity itself. Nesvetailova gives a lucid analysis of these important matters as she takes us through the complex story of the changes which combined to bring about the crisis.

(Victoria Chick, University College London)

 

'Anastasia Nesvetailova is one of a small handful of economists ...

(Jan Toporowski, Reader in Economics and )

 

'Anastasia Nesvetailova is one of a small handful of economists who understands what has gone wrong in the financial markets. Without condescension or incomprehensible and uncomprehending jargon, she reveals the structural flaws in the financial system that was supposed to be the highest achievement and essential foundation of our business civilisation. Her insights into the world of finance make this book the best explanation of the financial crisis to have come out of that sorry episode.'

(Jan Toporowski, Reader in Economics and Chair of the Economics Department, The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and Research Associate in the Research Centre for the History and Methodology of Economics, University of Amsterdam)

 

In a crisply-written book that reads like a detective novel, ...

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In a crisply-written book that reads like a detective novel, Anastasia Nesvetailova shows how fraud, gaps in regulation, unchecked risk-taking, the sheer complexity of contemporary markets, and hubris by financial ‘masters of the universe’ have all played their part in the ongoing financial and economic crisis. The author then puts her finger on the hidden key to this crisis: all these markets and players bet on “the illusion of liquidity.” She demonstrates that ready liquidity became a defining feature of the financialized global economy – but in the end, liquidity proved fragile, a point of entry for crisis which no amount of financial engineering could paper over. Nesvetailova has provided an indispensable guide.

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