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The Gordon Gekko Effect: The Role of Culture in the Financial Industry

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  • Andrew W. Lo

Abstract

Culture is a potent force in shaping individual and group behavior, yet it has received scant attention in the context of financial risk management and the recent financial crisis. I present a brief overview of the role of culture according to psychologists, sociologists, and economists, and then present a specific framework for analyzing culture in the context of financial practices and institutions in which three questions are answered: (1) What is culture?; (2) Does it matter?; and (3) Can it be changed? I illustrate the utility of this framework by applying it to five concrete situations—Long Term Capital Management; AIG Financial Products; Lehman Brothers and Repo 105; Société Générale’s rogue trader; and the SEC and the Madoff Ponzi scheme—and conclude with a proposal to change culture via “behavioral risk management.”

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew W. Lo, 2015. "The Gordon Gekko Effect: The Role of Culture in the Financial Industry," NBER Working Papers 21267, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21267
    Note: AP CF IO LS POL PR
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hill, Claire A. & Painter, Richard W., 2015. "Better Bankers, Better Banks," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226293059.
    2. A. Joanne Kellermann & Jakob de Haan & Femke de Vries (ed.), 2013. "Financial Supervision in the 21st Century," Springer Books, Springer, edition 127, number 978-3-642-36733-5, January.
    3. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2013. "The Determinants of Attitudes toward Strategic Default on Mortgages," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1473-1515, August.
    4. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 23-48, Spring.
    5. Thomas M. Eisenbach & Andrew F. Haughwout & Beverly Hirtle & Anna Kovner & David O. Lucca & Matthew Plosser, 2015. "Supervising large, complex financial companies: what do supervisors do?," Staff Reports 729, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
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    Cited by:

    1. Priyank Gandhi & Benjamin Golez & Jens Carsten Jackwerth & Alberto Plazzi, 2019. "Financial Market Misconduct and Public Enforcement: The Case of Libor Manipulation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(11), pages 5268-5289, November.
    2. Bäumer, Marcus, 2020. "What matters to investment professionals in decision making? The role of soft factors in stock selection," EIKV-Schriftenreihe zum Wissens- und Wertemanagement, European Institute for Knowledge & Value Management (EIKV), Luxembourg, volume 44, number 44, January.
    3. Jennifer Kunz & Mathias Heitz, 2021. "Banks’ risk culture and management control systems: A systematic literature review," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 439-493, December.
    4. Hagen Rafeld & Sebastian G. Fritz-Morgenthal & Peter N. Posch, 2020. "Whale Watching on the Trading Floor: Unravelling Collusive Rogue Trading in Banks," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(4), pages 633-657, September.
    5. Anthony Asher & Tracy Wilcox, 2022. "Virtue and Risk Culture in Finance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 223-236, August.
    6. Francesco Feri & Caterina Giannetti & Pietro Guarnieri, 2017. "Risk taking for others: an experiment on ethics meetings," Discussion Papers 2017/229, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    7. Ramiro de Ávila Peres, 2020. "Equality and Responsibility in Financial Crisis: an ethical approach to the regulation of bail-outs, moral hazards and accountability," Working Papers Series 520, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    8. Goodhart, Charles, 2018. "Behavioural perspectives on bank misdeeds," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87507, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Bunderson, Stuart & Thakor, Anjan V., 2022. "Higher purpose, banking and stability," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    10. Huang, Sheng & Maharjan, Johan & Thakor, Anjan V., 2020. "Disagreement-induced CEO turnover," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    11. Barth, Andreas & Mansouri, Sasan, 2021. "Corporate culture and banking," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 46-75.
    12. Song, Fenghua & Thakor, Anjan V., 2019. "Bank culture," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 59-79.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

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