Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown

13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown
13 Bankers The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown
Author: Simon Johnson, James Kwak
The Market's bargain prices are even better for Paperbackswap club members!
Retail Price: $26.95
Buy New (Hardcover): $18.39 (save 31%) or
Become a PBS member and pay $14.49+1 PBS book credit Help icon(save 46%)
ISBN-13: 9780307379054
ISBN-10: 0307379051
Publication Date: 3/30/2010
Pages: 320
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 2

3.5 stars, based on 2 ratings
Publisher: Pantheon
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

douglasawhite avatar reviewed 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown on + 9 more book reviews
While I think this book is a good history of the regulation changes that occurred in banking from the mid to late 90s, I do not think this book does that great a job explaining the recent banking crisis. The authors clearly believe that the changes in regulation and lax regulators caused the crisis and that better/stronger regulation would fix it. They however fail to explain how if the regulators are so co-opted by the big banks that regulation on its own will work. I also feel that the authors let Fred and Fannie Mae's role in the collapse and their cozy relationship with both parties in Washington off too lightly. I wish they had spent more time developing how we measure too big to fail and how we limit or break up banks that reach that threshold.
This book will appeal manly to people who have an interest in financial and economic history, otherwise it will seem a slow read. It is a good summery of the way banking has changed over the last three decades and does give good insight into how the regulators as well as the regulations failed us over the last five years.