Includes index

Authors note pages : 183-214

Great writing can enlighten and encourage dialogue between disciplines, says Gary Morson The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return By Mihir A. Desai Profile Books, 240pp, £12.99 ISBN 9781788160049 Published 31 August 2017 I had always enjoyed stories,â[euro]? writes Mihir Desai in his new book The Wisdom of Finance , "but becoming an economist made me distrust them.â[euro]?How about Hamlet as illustrating opportunity costs or King Lear as a first attempt at understanding "principal-agent issuesâ[euro]?? The assumption is that economists have the answers, and writers, because they express themselves so well, provide nice pictures suitable for those with poor maths skills.In Desai's chapter on "Failing Forwardâ[euro]?, the case of the American Airlines bankruptcy, and of the CEO who long refused to file for it because he believed in the moral obligation to honour one's commitments, raises issues not only in finance but also in ethics more generally.With a PhD in political economy, Desai says he is "fully indoctrinatedâ[euro]? in abstract mathematical models and produces work "built on neoclassical theory and various quantitative empirical methods.