European Tribune - Comments - European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch

European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 23. September | 140 comments (139 topical, 1 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: European Salon de News, 23 Sept (4.00 / 7)

I think there is a bit of both:

Certainly as Jerome notes, many people knew there were problems and turned a blind eye. The head of Citigroup was quoted saying "while the music is playing, we'll keep dancing"...
I've observed amongst the quants I've known that many times they are systematically excluded from understanding the connection between the systems they create and the "market realities" involved. In part this is an issue of IP, the people in charge don't want the quants to understand too much of the model, in case they go work for someone else. But I also believe in part it's because they want to restrict the labour power of the quants they employ too.

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Tue Sep 23rd, 2008 at 05:41:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: European Salon de News, 23 Sept (none / 1)

That, and, at least in France, it is not unheard for Mathematicians to have a weak grasp of the realities they model, already in Physics. No reason why it'd be different in Finance, where the "realities" are even further from common sense.

In my experience, the computer programmers were often barely aware of such concepts as "what's a CDS"...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Sep 23rd, 2008 at 09:15:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]

European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 23. September | 140 comments (139 topical, 1 editorial, 0 hidden)

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