Financial innovations : revolution or conformity ?

• Jean-Louis BERTRAND
  Researcher, ESSCA École de Management
  Consultant, METNEXT
  
• Christian WALTER
  Researcher, EMLYON Business School, CEFRA, and the Maison des sciences de l'homme
  

Summary

Can one attribute the 2008 financial crisis to incessant financial innovations or, on the contrary, to the extreme traditionalism of those in the financial sector ? The use of models, which are recommended by academics and used by professionals, represents strong opposition to the marked improvement which various methods used by current, dominant models would bring. Jean-Louis Bertrand illustrates the conformity of the financial sector by saying that it is very difficult both to assess the economic and financial impact of a natural disaster and explain the use of weather derivative (financial) products. Christian Walter condemns the domination of methods of Brownian representation of uncertainty and risk which have caused chaos for financial professionals and regulators and, by weakening the financial systems, have exposed them to never-ending crises.

Summary translated from French by Rachel MARLIN.

• The entire article was written by Élisabeth BOURGUINAT.

To obtain this article, you can :

• download it in French (PDF help) using your password or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference RT260510).

The entire article appears in French in the Journal de l'École de Paris du management N° 87.