%0 Book Section %B Aftershocks: Economic Crisis and Institutional Choice %D 2010 %T The Significance of Politics %A Peter A. Hall %X Chapter based on an interview appearing in Aftershocks: Economic Crisis and Institutional Choice, edited by Anton Hemerijck, Ben Knapen and Ellen van Doorne, eds., (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press):93-102."My first indication of the risks of potential crisis came when the financial press began to speak openly about the 'bets' that international financial institutions were making, whether on the direction of the markets , on takeovers, or the like. Banks were no longer making investments; they were making bets. It was commonly understood that the character of banking had changed over the past 15 years, as financial institutions dramatically increased their leverage using new derivatives. But the level of risk taking described by Susan Strange as 'Casino Capitalism' was a new phenomenon.i A few years prior to the crisis, respected financial publications began explicitly using the word 'bet' to describe the investments institutions were making. That was when I began to worry, realizing that this had become a fundamentally different banking sector than the one I grew up with." %B Aftershocks: Economic Crisis and Institutional Choice %I Amsterdam University Press %C Amsterdam %P 93-102 %G eng %U http://www.amazon.ca/Aftershocks-Economic-Crisis-Institutional-Choice/dp/9089641920