Problem with Derivatives

Last night a friend called and told me that I should listen to Fresh Air on NPR. I did turn it on in time to catch part of the interview with former Wall Street trader Frank Partnoy. I was able to catch part of it and plan to get the podcast and listen to all of it.

Partnoy wrote a book back in the 1990's about derivatives trading on Wall Street, called Fiasco:. What follows after that on the title seems to have changed with reprints and is now "The Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader". The first title was F.I.A.S.C.O. Blood in the Water on Wall Street. He also has a new book coming out called The Match King.

In between these books he also wrote Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets.

From what I heard, the interview is definitely worth hearing, and the books are probably worth reading. Check them out from your library, buy from Amazon, or swing buy your local bookstore.