Managed by the Markets

a valuable, timely and gripping analysis by Gerald F. Davis... Davis's book should be required reading for anyone, whether academic, practitioner, or policy maker, who needs to think critically about finance which, rather than a mechanistic set of transactions, is presented in the book as a social phenomenon that is invading our lives. * Nihel Chabrak, Berkeley Electronic Press *
Timely and thought-provoking. * Choice *
an ambitious, magisterial, and yet not-too-long effort to sketch the social consquences of a finance-driven economy. * Matthew Yglesias, American Prospect *
A floodlight on the new economy with Davis' laser lighting up finance. Meltdowns, securitization, credit default swaps: all become frighteningly clear in his account of the fiscal revolution of the last two decades. * Charles Perrow, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Yale University *
In this intellectual tour de force, Jerry Davis describes the evolution of the American economy to where we are now -- where everything is a security or an option and, therefore, tradeable in some sort of market. He also details the profound costs we have paid for this evolution. Timely, engaging, and filled with facts and analysis, Managed by the Markets explains how we got to where we are and maybe, just maybe, where we need to go next. * Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University and author of What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management *
The meltdown of American financial markets has been catastrophic but the cause elusive. In Managed by the Markets, Gerald Davis offers a compelling explanation for it and so much more. To understand the dis-integration of big corporations, securitization of just about everything, and transformation of our zeitgeist from producing products to making money, this is the book: a gripping portrait of the triumph of financial markets over all else. * Michael Useem, Professor of Management and Director of the Leadership Center at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania *
Managed by the Markets gave me more food for thought than any of the other books mentioned in this review. In the past 20 years, finance did indeed triumph over other modes of enterprise in the U.S. and elsewhere. This was, as Davis says, a momentous shift. To the victor went the spoils, with far-reaching social and economic consequences. In contemplating the wreckage of the crisis, one should follow Davis's example, and ask whether this was inevitable or desirable, and what, if anything, we might learn from it. * Clive Crook, Strategy + Business, Best Books 2009 *