As a quick supplement to my prior post, check out The Minds Behind the Meltdown in today’s Wall Street Journal. Scott Patterson’s column highlights the key themes of his new book, “The Quants,” which documents how a small but very influential group of people essentially eschewed reality in favor of digital data only to “analyze” away billions of dollars.
And for those of you interested in learning more about the history and key factors that spawned this rampant data-driven and hyper-analytic mentality, be sure to check out the excellent NYT piece, Risk Mismanagement, by Joe Nocera.