Wall Street Values: Business Ethics and the Global Financial Crisis

This timely book answers complex and perplexing questions raised by Wall Street's role in the financial crisis. What are the economic and moral connections between Wall Street and the overall economy? How did we arrive at this point in history where our most powerful financial institutions thwart rather than promote free markets, prosperity, and even social cohesion? Can the fractured relationship between Wall Street and Main Street be repaired? Wall Street Values chronicles the transformation of Wall Street's business model from serving clients to proprietary trading and explains how this shift undermined the ethical foundations of the modern financial industry. Michael A. Santoro and Ronald J. Strauss argue that post-millennial Wall Street is not only "too big to fail" but also a threat to the economy even when it succeeds. They describe how, more than a year before the government acknowledged the financial crisis, Wall Street icon Goldman Sachs saved itself by misleading its clients and impeding the information flow needed for the efficient functioning of free markets, thereby prolonging the mortgage bubble and adding to the financial and human cost of the crisis. They also present a nuanced critique of the government's role not only for the economic miscalculations leading to financial deregulation but also for failing to check the irrational exuberance of 2007 and 2008. Looking to the future, Santoro and Strauss make a compelling case for vigorous government enforcement of the Dodd-Frank Act in the face of Wall Street's opposition. They also argue, however, that effective government regulation is not enough; economic prosperity will be sustainable only if Wall Street professionals themselves begin an urgently needed conversation about their values and business ethics.

Author: Michael A. Santoro, Ronald J. Strauss
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 12/17/2012
Pages: 244
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.60w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9781107017351

About the Author
Strauss, Ronald J.: - Ronald J. Strauss is an Assistant Professor at the School of Business, Montclair State University. His research and teaching focuses on business and accounting ethics in light of the global financial crisis. Prior to joining academia, Dr Strauss worked in the financial services industry for more than twenty-five years and is a CPA in New York State. He holds a PhD in Management from Rutgers University.Santoro, Michael A.: - "Michael A. Santoro is a Professor of Management and Global Business at Rutgers Business School in New Jersey, where he has taught since 1996. Professor Santoro's books include China 2020: How Western Business Can - and Should - Influence Social and Political Change in the Coming Decade (2010), Ethics and the Pharmaceutical Industry (Cambridge University Press, 2005, co-edited with Thomas M. Gorrie) and Profits and Principles: Global Capitalism and Human Rights in China (2000). A frequent commentator in the mainstream media on business ethics, he holds a JD from New York University School of Law and a PhD in public policy from Harvard University."