Lincoln, Lenin, and Speculators

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2009/08/lincoln-lenin-and-speculators

Via a link in an article in the Financial Times comes a 2005 article from the journal Economic History with the scintillating title "Populists Versus Theorists: Futures Markets and the Volatility of Prices." It begins with a quote from Vladimir Lenin (the Gary Gensler of his day), saying, "For as long as we fail to treat speculators the way they deserve -- with a bullet in the head -- we will not get anywhere at all." And it quotes Abraham Lincoln as saying of Gold speculators, "For my part, I wish every one of them had his devilish head shot off." Frustrated as Lenin and Lincoln may have been and as Mr. Gensler may be, though, the author of the article, David Jacks of Simon Fraser University in Canada, finds that "futures markets are systematically associated with lower levels of commodity price volatility." (Emphasis ours.)

by Editor  |  Aug 5, 2009 at 9:48 am Related Topics:  Capital Markets Regulation receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list