The Banks Did It

An Anatomy of the Financial Crisis

The Banks Did It
Neil Fligstein
RRP:
NZ$ 75.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 64.59
Hardback
h235 x 156mm - 336pg
25 Jun 2021 US
International import eta 10-30 days
9780674249356
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
A comprehensive account of the rise and fall of the mortgage-securitization industry, which explains the complex roots of the 2008 financial crisis. More than a decade after the 2008 financial crisis plunged the world economy into recession, we still lack an adequate explanation for why it happened. Existing accounts identify a number of culprits? financial instruments, traders, regulators, capital flows? yet fail to grasp how the various puzzle pieces came together. The key, Neil Fligstein argues, is the convergence of major US banks on an identical business model: extracting money from the securitization of mortgages. But how, and why, did this convergence come about? The Banks Did It carefully takes the reader through the development of a banking industry dependent on mortgage securitization. Fligstein documents how banks, with help from the government, created the market for mortgage securities. The largest banks? Countrywide Financial, Bear Stearns, Citibank, and Washington Mutual? soon came to participate in every aspect of this market. Each firm originated mortgages, issued mortgage-backed securities, sold those securities, and, in many cases, acted as their own best customers by purchasing the same securities. Entirely reliant on the throughput of mortgages, these firms were unable to alter course even when it became clear that the market had turned on them in the mid-2000s. With the structural features of the banking industry in view, the rest of the story falls into place. Fligstein explains how the crisis was produced, where it spread, why regulators missed the warning signs, and how banks' dependence on mortgage securitization resulted in predatory lending and securities fraud. An illuminating account of the transformation of the American financial system, The Banks Did It offers important lessons for anyone with a stake in avoiding the next crisis.
Neil Fligstein' s new book reads like a financial crime novel, but with a twist. Instead of asking ' who done it? ' we are told up front that the banks did it, and the real mystery concerns why they did it, when they did it, and how it produced a global crisis in 2008. Why did US banks become so deeply involved in industrial-scale origination and securitization of home mortgages? Who would loan money to borrowers that almost certainly couldn' t repay? Why didn' t banks change course when it became clear that the bubble was about to burst? Fligstein weaves together a huge amount of evidence as he identifies key turning points, refutes simplistic explanations, and presents a coherent and sophisticated account of an extraordinarily consequential sequence of events. -- Bruce G. Carruthers, Northwestern University Fligstein is the most influential economic sociologist at work today. Hands down. He is also one of the most successful sociological discipline-spanners, with wide influence outside of sociology. This eminently readable book will be of great interest beyond sociology, to historians, political scientists, and economists. The Banks Did It is erudite, carefully researched, and powerfully argued. It does not disappoint. -- Frank Dobbin, Harvard University Well-structured, well-evidenced, attractively written, and based on over a decade of research, The Banks Did It is a brilliant work by a scholar who has reshaped how we should think about markets. -- Donald MacKenzie, University of Edinburgh
Neil Fligstein is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Center for Culture, Organization, and Politics at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. His previous books include The Transformation of Corporate Control, The Architecture of Markets, and Euroclash. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780674249356
Published: 25 Jun 2021
Published In: United States
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Format: Hardback
Height: 235mm
Width: 156mm
Pages: 336

In stock - for items in stock we aim to dispatch the next business day. For delivery in NZ allow 2-5 business days, with rural taking a wee bit longer.

Locally sourced in NZ - stock comes from a NZ supplier with an approximate delivery of 7-15 business days.

International Imports - stock is imported into NZ, depending on air or sea shipping option from the international supplier stock can take 10-30 working days to arrive into NZ. 

Pre-order Titles - delivery will vary depending on where the title is published, if local stock is available in NZ then 5-7 business days, for international imports it can be 10-30 business days. In all cases we will access the quickest supply option.

Delivery Packaging - we ship all items in cardboard sleeves or by box with either packing paper or corn starch chips. (We avoid using plastics bubble bags)

Tracking - Orders are delivered by track and trace courier and are fully insured, tracking information will be sent by email once dispatched.

View our full Order & Delivery information