A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of
Financial Innovation
Why do markets keep crashing and why are financial crises greater than ever
before?
As the risk manager to some of the leading firms on Wall Street–from Morgan Stanley
to Salomon and Citigroup–and a member of some of the world’s largest hedge funds, from
Moore Capital to Ziff Brothers and FrontPoint Partners, Rick Bookstaber has seen the ghost
inside the machine and vividly shows us a world that is even riskier than we think. The
very things done to make markets safer, have, in fact, created a world that is far more
dangerous. From the 1987 crash to Citigroup closing the Salomon Arb unit, from staggering
losses at UBS to the demise of Long-Term Capital Management, Bookstaber gives readers a
front row seat to the management decisions made by some of the most powerful financial
figures in the world that led to catastrophe, and describes the impact of his own
activities on markets and market crashes. Much of the innovation of the last 30 years has
wreaked havoc on the markets and cost trillions of dollars. A Demon of Our Own Design
tells the story of man’s attempt to manage market risk and what it has wrought. In the
process of showing what we have done, Bookstaber shines a light on what the future holds
for a world where capital and power have moved from Wall Street institutions to elite and
highly leveraged hedge funds.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments.
About the Author.
CHAPTER 1 ~ Introduction: The Paradox of Market Risk.
CHAPTER 2 ~ The Demons of ’87.
CHAPTER 3 ~ A New Sheriff in Town.
CHAPTER 4 ~ How Salomon Rolled the Dice and Lost.
CHAPTER 5 ~ They Bought Salomon, Then They Killed It.
CHAPTER 6 ~ Long-Term Capital Management Rides the Leverage Cycle to Hell.
CHAPTER 7 ~ Colossus.
CHAPTER 8 ~ Complexity, Tight Coupling, and Normal Accidents.
CHAPTER 9 ~ The Brave New World of Hedge Funds.
CHAPTER 10 ~ Cockroaches and Hedge Funds.
CHAPTER 11 ~ Hedge Fund Existential.
Conclusion: Built to Crash?
Notes.
Index.
304 pages, Paperback