Confidence Games: Money and Markets in a World Without RedemptionAwash in a sea of data that seems to have no meaning and bombarded by images and sounds transmitted from around the globe 24/7, people are no longer sure what is real and what is fake. Artists recycle ads in their paintings and businesses use images of artists in their ads; politicians mount campaigns based on hit films; and bankers make billions trading incomprehensible financial products backed by nothing more than abstract figures and signs. In Confidence Games, Mark C. Taylor considers the implications of these developments for our digital and increasingly virtual economy. According to Taylor, money and markets do not exist in a vacuum but grow in a profoundly cultural medium, reflecting and in turn shaping their world. To understand the recent changes in our economy, it is not enough to analyze the impact of politics and technology—one must consider the influence of art, philosophy, and religion as well. Bringing John Calvin, G. W. F. Hegel, and Adam Smith to Wall Street by way of Las Vegas, Taylor first explores the historical and psychological origins of money, the importance of religious beliefs and practices for the emergence of markets, and the unexpected role of religion and art in the classical understanding of economics. He then moves to an account of economic developments during the past four decades, exploring the dawn of our new information age, the growing virtuality of money and markets, and the complexity of the networks by which monetary value is now negotiated. Returning full circle to a version of the market first proposed by Adam Smith when he used theology and aesthetics to rethink economics, Confidence Games closes with a plea for a conception of life that embraces uncertainty and insecurity as signs of the openness of the future. Like religion and economics, life is a confidence game in which the challenge is not to find redemption but to learn to live without it. "Before the global credit system began its collapse in 2007, Mark Taylor had connected the dots between increasingly complex financial instruments and larger cultural forces. Anyone who wants to understand the disappearing foundation of our financial markets needs to read this book immediately."—Michael Lewitt, editor, The HCM Market Letter “Beyond simply dealing with ‘money and markets,’ Confidence Games is a fascinating and wide-ranging tour of modern and postmodern ideas and conditions from Aristotle to Nietzsche, from Wall Street to Las Vegas.”—Craig Bay, Journal of Markets & Morality |
Other editions - View all
Confidence Games: Money and Markets in a World Without Redemption Mark C. Taylor Limited preview - 2004 |
Confidence Games: Money and Markets in a World without Redemption Mark C. Taylor No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
aesthetic analysis Andy Warhol argues artists assets banks Barneys became become bonds capital century commodities companies complex adaptive systems confidence game created critical culture currency decades developed dot-com economic economists efficient market efficient market hypothesis emerging equilibrium exchange figure financial instruments financial markets Gaddis game theory genetic algorithms Guggenheim hedge hedge fund Hegel Ibid important increased individual Instinet institutions interest rates Internet investment investors Krens Long-Term Capital Management LTCM machine market makers Marx Mary Meeker models modern monetary Museum NASDAQ neoliberal network economy nomic notion options philosophy play policies political portfolio postmodern principle profit programs reality relation religion religious risk securities self-organized criticality self-organizing sell significant signs Simmel social stock market strategy structure swap theology theory tion trading trans transformed turn understand Vegas virtual volatility Wall Street William Gaddis York
References to this book
Tragicomic Redemptions: Global Economics and the Early Modern English Stage Valerie Forman No preview available - 2013 |