The Wisdom of Finance

Finance as the Villain

Professor Desai points out that, in spite of all the ways in which people apply the basic principles of finance to their daily lives, the subject of finance draws consistently negative reactions around the world. Stories abound in literature and the arts about short-sighted, callous and grasping characters in the financial world.

For instance, Desai relates Leo Tolstoy’s tale about Pakhom the peasant’s effective use of financing to secure real estate and enrich himself to show how greed – goaded by the Devil – made Pakhom’s desire for even more land the cause of his death. The infamous banker Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street is also cast as a modern-day villain, extolling the virtues of avarice.