3 Questions: Vincent Lépinay on bankers unleashed
Financial institutions have had a tumultuous two years, from the meltdowns involving Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and AIG to the scandal surrounding Société Générale, the French investment bank whose "rogue trader" Jérôme Kerviel lost billions of Euros and sent global markets plunging in January 2008. Vincent Lépinay, an assistant professor in MIT's Program on Science, Technology, and Society, has a unique perspective on these matters. As part of his graduate research, Lépinay worked at Société Générale over a period of two years. His first book, "Codes of Finance," to be published in 2010 by MIT Press, brings an anthropological eye to the subject while explaining how mathematicians and physicists have imported arcane financial instruments to the banking world. With governments around the world still debating how to regulate banks, Lépinay spoke with MIT News about the industry. Q. You worked in the same unit at Société Générale that...