Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Risk taking provides the financial system with the Lebensraum it needs to grow sturdy

The better the credit ratings are, and the better our risk models are, the better will we stack our financial system, for a while, but then also the higher¸ in Nassim Taleb´s terms, its fragility, or its brittleness will be. 

If we want a flexible, a sturdy, or in Nassim Taleb´s terms an anti-fragile system, then our financial system need risk-taking, a lot of it, of many varied kinds. Risk-taking is not only the oxygen of economic growth it is also what allows our financial system the Lebensraum it needs.. 

Risk-taking is “anti-fragility”, which is why in our churches we can hear the prayer of “God make us daring!” Our current problem is that our nanny bank regulators in the Basel Committee completely forgot all about it… or perhaps they never knew.