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Best Wishes For Wall Street

Eight Things I Wish for Wall Street Bloomberg View

BoingBoing directed me to Michael Lewis’ new prescription list for Wall Street, along with this priceless view of Arturo Di Modica’s ‘Charging Bull’, located in front of the New York Stock Exchange.

3. Women will henceforth make all Wall Street trading decisions.

Men are more prone to financial risk-taking, and overconfidence, and so will be banned from even secondary roles on Wall Street trading desks — though they will be permitted to do whatever damage they would like in their private investment accounts. Trading is a bit like pornography: Women may like it, but they don’t like it nearly as much as men, and they certainly don’t like it in ways that create difficulties for society. Put them in charge of all financial decision-making and the decisions will be more boring, but more sociable. Of course, this raises a practical question: How will our society find enough women older than 35, with no special intellectual ability, to fill all of Wall Street’s trading jobs? Well …

4. Wall Street will take the resources it once hurled at Harvard and Yale universities, to recruit their students, and invest in America’s leading retirement communities, to recruit their swelling population of elderly women, most of whom are currently wasting valuable trading hours.

Lenman Sisters Wouldn’t Have Failed Big Think

Writer John Cookson explains why women are probably better constituted biochemically to work on Wall Street as traders and fund managers. You see, men tend to go all hormonal!

Men’s cortisol levels respond very powerfully from competitive situations, and women not so much.  Women’s cortisol responses and stress responses seem more powerful from social stressors.”  According to this theory, which (John) Coates has begun testing, a male’s cortisol-fueled stress response might exacerbate a bear or middling market by responding with skewed memories and anxiety to events, whereas a female risk response would be more stable across a variety of circumstances.

The numbers don’t lie, says Coates. “Women have been found over a long period of time to outperform men by up to two percent return—which is a lot,” he says. According to BusinessWeek, hedge funds run by women turned an annual rate of return of 9% between 2000 and 2009—versus 5.82% from funds run by men over the same period. A study by U.C. Davis researchers also found that men in the financial industry make 45 percent more trades than their female counterparts do—a gap that reduces their net returns by 2.65 percentage points per year compared with the 1.72 percentage points women lose on their trading fees.

The truth behind testosterone: why men risk it all Wired UK

CTPartners

In wake of controversy, CTPartners loses a client New York Post

Embattled Wall Street recruiter CTPartners may have ‘mommy issues’ New York Post

After ‘boozy romp’ claims, firm’s stock takes a dive New York Post

Phallic shadows, naked scrums, and a very bad day for CTPartners MarketWatch

It all started early Monday when the New York Post reported some colorful claims of discrimination against women. Not only did female workers “routinely” have profitable accounts taken away and given to their male counterparts, they were also subjected to some inappropriate “booze-fueled” behavior, according to the complaint.

One exec called himself “daddy” and offered a spanking. Four others formed a naked rugby-like scrum in front of a mixed crowd of coworkers and ran into the ocean. Another would call women into his office to talk about how the shadows on the buildings outside looked like “penises.” All told, there were more than a dozen different sexual-harassment complaints brought internally in the New York office in 2012, according to the Post.

Have Wall Street’s Gay and Female Diversity Policies Gone Too Far or Not Far Enough Vault

Uber News

Uber’s Delhi Rape Incident Has Opened A Hidden Entrepreneurial Door Forbes

Delhi is not unlike most major metropolises in the world – safety is a matter of concern in the same way as it is in New York or London or Paris. Being street-wise and conscious of one’s movements and actions is just as pertinent here as it is anywhere.

The difference is this: the average male in a population of a billion is raised to believe that he is better than the average female, and can therefore live his life in any way he chooses, while the females are told they must remain in fear.

Uber Driver Charged With Kidnapping, Sexual Assault Boston.com

Let Uber Operate With Less Regulation And Riders Can Make Their Own Choice Forbes

Uber says it will toughen background checks CNN

He said Uber is developing biometric and voice verification to enhance driver screening, and building ways for passengers to communicate with the company immediately in case of emergency. It will also start working with partners with expertise in issues like women’s safety, conflict resolution and road safety to provide additional training to the company, he said.

After a spate of bad press for Uber, some turn back to traditional taxis NY Daily News