["Traders, Guns & Money"]

[fiefoe]

Satyajit Das is quite cynical about the people he worked (and presumably earned a lot of money) with. A typical sentence reads 'Management rarely advances. They are usually in retreat.'

I was hoping that the book would be a pleasant review of what I learned in Econ 225. 'Basis risk', 'trading risk' vs. 'funding risk'. Or, straddle vs. strangle. Too bad the author's war stories get in the way.

Anecdotes a: The Chinese delegates in his class didn't even have a concept for interest.
Anecdotes b: A Japanese company had to ask for a 10,000 year business plan (in hope of a 10-year one) from consultants after a request for a 3-year plan yielded only a 1-month plan.