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The Gordon Gekko effect: The role of culture in the financial industry (2016) [pdf]

What HN thinks

Greed is good, apparently, but arguing about whether Gekko is the villain is better.

Charismatic villains get idolized
Many argue Gekko was meant as a villain but Douglas's charisma and the film's framing made him a role model, a recurring problem with antihero films.
Seduction is the point
Others say the film clearly punishes wrongdoing and that showing tempting self-justifications is necessary to depict human weakness honestly, citing Scorsese, Solzhenitsyn and Pascal.
Structure and tax policy matter more
Some argue culture is secondary to incentives like debt's tax shield, risk models and capitalism's dynamics, with debate over pension reversions and dividend taxation.

Consensus: There is no firm consensus, though most agree Gekko's appeal far outlived the film's moral message and that the Boesky origin of the speech is a striking detail.

Recommended in the comments

The Big Short (other): Praised for entertainingly explaining mortgage risk correlation.
Pensées ↗ (book): Quoted on how people chase diversion because they cannot sit quietly.
The Gulag Archipelago (book): Quoted on the line between good and evil running through every heart.

Summarised by Claude from the comment thread 5 days ago.

Points: 80
Comments: 52
Best rank: #14
Posted: 2026-11-07 by tylerdane
Category: Finance & crypto

financial-industry corporate-culture federal-reserve behavioral-finance andrew-lo wall-street

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