In this episode of "Keen On", Andrew is joined by William L. Silber, the author of The Power of Nothing to Lose: The Hail Mary Effect in Politics, War, and Business, to explore the phenomenon in politics, war, and business, where situations with a big upside and limited downside trigger gambling behavior like with a Hail Mary.
William L. Silber is a Senior Advisor with Cornerstone Research and was a chaired professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, most recently as the Marcus Nadler Professor of Finance and Economics (2002-2019) and before that as the Dean Abraham Gitlow Professor of Economics and Finance (1990-2002) He was also the Director of the Glucksman Institute for Research in Securities Markets at NYU Stern between 1985 and 2018. In the business world he has been a member of the New York Mercantile Exchange where he traded options and futures contracts, has managed an investment portfolio for Odyssey Partners, and has also been a Senior Vice President, Trading Strategy, at Lehman Brothers. In government service, he has been a Senior Economist with the President's Council of Economic Advisors and was a member of the Economic Advisory Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University and is a graduate of Yeshiva College.
He has consulted for various government agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget, the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services, and the President's Commission on Financial Structure and Regulation. He has testified in Congress and has been an expert witness in a number of court cases. In 1980 he received the Excellence in Teaching Award at NYU's Stern School of Business and was voted Professor of the Year by MBA students in 1990, 1997, and 2018. In 1999 he was awarded NYU's Distinguished Teaching Medal.
William L. Silber on The Hail Mary Effect in Politics, War, and Business