Lying for Money

It is highly unlikely that the optimal level of fraud is zero.

Rating: 3.5/5 – A fun overview of financial crimes.

I picked up Lying for Money on the recommendation of Patrick McKenzie (aka Patio11), one of my favorite people on the internet.

The book is exactly what it says on the tin: a broad overview of financial crimes, their perpetrators, and the implications of those crimes on our understanding of the modern financial systems. Many of these crimes and characters are entertaining in hindsight and Lying for Money is a delightful read because of this.

The book is probably best remembered for it’s assertion that eliminating all fraud is both: not possible and not preferable! Davies’ details how most frauds are the results of equilibrium conditions in our economic ecosystem, and alterations to that balance will often have undesired and suboptimal consequences, given the inherent limitations of human operators.

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in modern finance, or someone looking for a quick, entertaining sojourn through a cast of recent history’s more colorful characters.

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