Pandora's Risk: Uncertainty at the Core of Finance

Every financial regulator should have this book. Every academic burdened by the lies of Modern Portfolio Theory should get this book. Anyone who fancies himself to be a risk manager should have this book. If you want to understand why financial markets are inherently uncertain, this book will teach you well.–David Merkel “Seeking Alpha “

This is an important book on financial risk, bringing together some little-known threads while adding significant new work. It is topical, actionable, and rigorous.–Aaron Brown, chief risk officer at AQR Capital Management and author of The Poker Face of Wall Street

While the rest of us are scrabbling around in the gutters, Kent Osband has set his sights on Mount Olympus in his latest book. Using math and imagination, he illuminates the key drivers of financial risk, the shortcomings of current risk management, and the potential for constructive reform. My one concern is that under the current system of compensation in the financial sector, even the gutters are lined with gold, and this will deter people from implementing his ideas. Still, I’m on Kent’s side in his goal of educating people on the dangers and the possibilities of risk management. I want risk managers and regulators everywhere to read his work.–Paul Wilmott, founder of Wilmot and Wilmott.com and author of Frequently Asked Questions in Quantitative Finance

With impressive breadth, Pandora’s Risk offers a tour through economic history and modern global finance and persuasively argues that the confusion between ‘risk’ and ‘uncertainty’ has been a vital feature in risk management failures. Kent Osband’s writing is passionate but not doom-laden. His is a fast-paced, lively, and hugely engaging book, full of humor as well as valuable, practical insight. Everyone in the business of financial risk will enjoy reading this volume and will learn something useful in the process.–Mary Hardy, University of Waterloo