I have also had dealings with quants for years. Prior to 2007, they used to sneer at everybody as if they knew something that the rest of the world did not. If you understood the math and pointed out the flaws in their empirical work, they would wave you off as someone who just "did not understand". There was the unshakable faith of all and sundry in the financial industry that math had conquered risk. Those who worked at Lehman and their like were revered as servants of the Gods. It took the events of 2007 to show to the world the bullshit of these Wall Street rocket scientists.
Dude (?)
I'm not a Quant. Don't have the Phd and never learnt enough Math nor ever interested
I do supervise several Quants and they know shit about things like the IMF because political economy never did fit into comfy equations
Was never a believer in quantitative modelling (but do understand a fair amount of it) per se and hence, survived the Lehman crisis and even made $ from it. I'm not shoving anything down anybody's throat and do respect a diversity of views
My only peeve - people who don't respect facts
The current Euro crisis has shaken the faith the markets used to have in sovereigns
Look, if you worked in the industry, you will know that we all lost faith in sovereigns a long time ago ie. recall Russia and the LTCM crisis??
the IMF has somehow been rebranded to become some sort of super loanshark who never loses money. What is even more amazing is that although the IMF have lost their 3 largest contributors, there is this strange conviction that it is "safe" to pledge money to the IMF to bailout Europe. Some even likened it to depositing money in a bank which can be withdrawn at any time on demand.
Never said the Fund doesn't lose money.
Did say that the IMF loses money IT CAN AFFORD TO LOSE
big difference there
Also, the Fund is pretty well funded for an institution that lost it's biggest funders
Figure that out?
Why is it safe to make that Pledge (that many others have made too)
Because the IMF will never be allowed to (nor would it want to) commit suicide by lending Europe more than it can afford
That's why super loan shark will be around long after the euro bits the dust
Remember the IMF is run by POLITICIANS and not Economists or Quants!
And politicians are like roaches ie. hard to kill!
Will folly never cease ..
The folly lies in the belief that institutions like the IMF actually offer real help to anyone