Testosterone and high finance do not mix: so bring on the women. (2011)

“Gender inequality has been an issue in the City for years, but now ‘neuroeconomics’ is proving the point beyond doubt: hormonally-driven young men should not be left alone in charge of our finances…

Tim Adams,
The Observer, Sunday 19 June 2011

Gender inequality has been an issue in the City for years, but now the new science of ‘neuroeconomics’ is proving the point beyond doubt: hormonally-driven young men should not be left alone in charge of our finances…

“For the past few weeks I’ve had two books by my bed, both of which offer a first draft of what history may well judge the most significant event of our times: the 2008 financial crash. Read together, they are about as close as we might come to a closing chapter of The Rise and Fall of the American Empire.

As literature, one of them – the final report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission of the US Treasury – doesn’t always make for easy reading: there are far too many nameless villains for a start. And, quite pointedly, there is not a heroine in sight. Reading the report I became preoccupied by, among other things – the fairy steps from millions to billions to trillions, say – the overwhelming maleness of the world described. The words “she”, “woman” or “her” do not appear once in its 662 pages.

It is a book, like most historical tragedies, written about the follies and hubris of men.”

Read the full article here: Testosterone and high finance do not mix