Capital Ideas Evolving

Summary

In all of history and in all fields of intellectual endeavor, a tension has existed between theory and practice. Those who earn a living in the real world seldom want to appear as slaves to some set of abstract ideas. It was no surprise, therefore, that the word “baloney” was Wall Street’s greeting to the pioneering theories of finance developed by a small group of academics from 1954-1972. Yet those breakthrough theories would in time earn five Nobel Prizes in Economic Science. Baloney they were not. Bernstein, today’s foremost financial historian expands here upon his groundbreaking book of 1992, Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street, to recount how these financial theories finally migrated from towers of ivory to towers of glass on Wall Street and other financial centers around the world. The result has been a global revolution in the nature of financial markets, the menu of investment strategies, the development of exotic financial instruments, and the role of an uncertain future in all investment decisions. Even the academics who originally developed these theories are active today in the markets and in the creation of new financial structures and strategies. Based on personal interviews with leading practitioners and theorists, this audio describes how today’s key practical applications developed from the core ideas of finance theory into the new and exciting formats of the investment process found in today’s environment. This engaging and insightful audio book brings to life the individuals, ideas and issues that are transforming the financial landscape.