The Problem of Twelve: When a Few Financial Institutions Control Everything
John Coates
Aug 2023 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Sean Patrick Hopkins
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4 hr 11 min
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About this audiobook
The forces behind an economic crisis in the making
A “problem of twelve” arises when a small number of institutions acquire the means to exert outsized influence over the politics and economy of a nation. The Big Three index funds of Vanguard, State Street, and BlackRock control more than twenty percent of the votes of S&P 500 companies—a concentration of power that’s unprecedented in America.
Then there’s the rise of private equity funds such as the Big Four of Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR, which has amassed $2.7 trillion of assets, and are eroding the legitimacy and accountability of American capitalism, not by controlling public companies, but by taking them over entirely, and removing them from the government’s regulation.
What can be done to check this level of power? Harvard law professor John Coates argues that only politics can fight the problem of twelve.
* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF that contains charts and illustrations from the book.
A “problem of twelve” arises when a small number of institutions acquire the means to exert outsized influence over the politics and economy of a nation. The Big Three index funds of Vanguard, State Street, and BlackRock control more than twenty percent of the votes of S&P 500 companies—a concentration of power that’s unprecedented in America.
Then there’s the rise of private equity funds such as the Big Four of Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR, which has amassed $2.7 trillion of assets, and are eroding the legitimacy and accountability of American capitalism, not by controlling public companies, but by taking them over entirely, and removing them from the government’s regulation.
What can be done to check this level of power? Harvard law professor John Coates argues that only politics can fight the problem of twelve.
* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF that contains charts and illustrations from the book.
About the author
JOHN COATES is the John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard Law School. Before joining Harvard, he was a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, specializing in financial institutions and M&A. He has testified before Congress and provided consulting services to the Department of Justice, the Department of Treasury, and the New York Stock Exchange.
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