Comments on: Math & Physics versus Wall Street http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/ Macro Perspective on the Capital Markets, Economy, Geopolitics, Technology, and Digital Media Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:59:24 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: ben22 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-152413 ben22 Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:58:01 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=21367#comment-152413 @LB It wasn't just the hedge funds that used the quants to get money from suckers, check out the Ameriprise "Active Portfolio's" fund of funds line up. @LB

It wasn’t just the hedge funds that used the quants to get money from suckers, check out the Ameriprise “Active Portfolio’s” fund of funds line up.

]]> By: Jojo http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-152410 Jojo Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:42:04 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=21367#comment-152410 Wired magazine has a good Quant article this month: WIRED MAGAZINE: 17.03 Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street By Felix Salmon Email 02.23.09 In the mid-'80s, Wall Street turned to the quants--brainy financial engineers--to invent new ways to boost profits. Their methods for minting money worked brilliantly... until one of them devastated the global economy. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant ALSO WIRED MAGAZINE: 17.03 Road Map for Financial Recovery: Radical Transparency Now! By Daniel Roth Email 02.23.09 The financial world doesn't need new regulations. It needs radical transparency. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_reboot Wired magazine has a good Quant article this month:

WIRED MAGAZINE: 17.03
Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street
By Felix Salmon Email 02.23.09

In the mid-’80s, Wall Street turned to the quants–brainy financial engineers–to invent new ways to boost profits. Their methods for minting money worked brilliantly… until one of them devastated the global economy.

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant

ALSO

WIRED MAGAZINE: 17.03

Road Map for Financial Recovery: Radical Transparency Now!
By Daniel Roth Email 02.23.09

The financial world doesn’t need new regulations. It needs radical transparency.

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_reboot

]]> By: arogersb http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-152404 arogersb Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:26:31 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=21367#comment-152404 Check the book Inventing Money, the story behind LTCM. Check the book Inventing Money, the story behind LTCM.

]]> By: Mark E Hoffer http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-152397 Mark E Hoffer Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:10:02 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=21367#comment-152397 Because the i-bankers and hedge funds could use the quants to con inwestors out of their cash. 2 and 20 baby. it’s all about the fees… not more complex than that, nice sum, lb.. Because the i-bankers and hedge funds could use the quants to con inwestors out of their cash.
2 and 20 baby. it’s all about the fees…

not more complex than that, nice sum, lb..

]]> By: leftback http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-152389 leftback Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:33:02 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=21367#comment-152389 "One wonders why quants were useful to i-banks and hedge funds?" Because the i-bankers and hedge funds could use the quants to con inwestors out of their cash. 2 and 20 baby. it's all about the fees... “One wonders why quants were useful to i-banks and hedge funds?”

Because the i-bankers and hedge funds could use the quants to con inwestors out of their cash.
2 and 20 baby. it’s all about the fees…

]]> By: Mark E Hoffer http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-152369 Mark E Hoffer Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:51:05 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=21367#comment-152369 Beefy, they never made The List: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry fiction Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald fiction The Corrections by Johnathan Franzen audio cassette fiction, fiction Cane River by Lalita Tademy fiction Stolen Lives - 20 Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitousi 365.45 OUF Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio Compact Disc Fiction, fiction We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates fiction House of Sand and Frog by Andre Dubus III fiction, large print fiction Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz fiction Open House by Elizabeth Berg fiction, large print fiction ... http://www.neptunepubliclibrary.org/oprah.htm ~~ Beefy,

they never made The List:

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
fiction

Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
fiction

The Corrections by Johnathan Franzen
audio cassette fiction, fiction

Cane River by Lalita Tademy
fiction

Stolen Lives – 20 Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitousi
365.45 OUF

Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
Compact Disc Fiction, fiction

We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
fiction

House of Sand and Frog by Andre Dubus III
fiction, large print fiction

Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz
fiction

Open House by Elizabeth Berg
fiction, large print fiction

…
http://www.neptunepubliclibrary.org/oprah.htm
~~

]]> By: Mr Beefy http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-152363 Mr Beefy Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:41:17 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=21367#comment-152363 Quick question - shouldn't these books have been read when they came out? It would seem that their ideas would have been more effective ex ante. :). Quick question – shouldn’t these books have been read when they came out? It would seem that their ideas would have been more effective ex ante. :) .

]]> By: joseph.price http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-152343 joseph.price Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:55:04 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=21367#comment-152343 sorry about the spelling sorry about the spelling

]]> By: joseph.price http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-152342 joseph.price Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:54:07 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=21367#comment-152342 steel breeze: Economists where useful to banks and hedge funds in the same way priests were useful to the feudal aristocracy. The quants were the alter boys - getting everything organised and occasionally submitting to a vigourous rogering steel breeze:

Economists where useful to banks and hedge funds in the same way priests were useful to the feudal aristocracy. The quants were the alter boys – getting everything organised and occasionally submitting to a vigourous rogering

]]> By: steel breeze http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/math-physics-versus-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-152315 steel breeze Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:02:58 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=21367#comment-152315 joseph.price Says: March 10th, 2009 at 11:16 am <i> As a physicist who used to work in a US investment bank (until it went bankrupt in spectacular style), my view is that the tools of physics are very poorly suited to the world of finance. </i> This is a view that Emmanuel Derman also shares in his book ( #4 in Barry's list ). One wonders why quants were useful to i-banks and hedge funds? joseph.price Says:
March 10th, 2009 at 11:16 am

As a physicist who used to work in a US investment bank (until it went bankrupt in spectacular style), my view is that the tools of physics are very poorly suited to the world of finance.

This is a view that Emmanuel Derman also shares in his book ( #4 in Barry’s list ).

One wonders why quants were useful to i-banks and hedge funds?

]]>