Why did the financial scandals really happen? Why are they continuing to happen? In
The Death of Corporate Reputation, Yale’s Jonathan Macey reveals the real, non-intuitive reason, and
offers a new path forward.
For over a century law firms, investment banks, accounting firms, credit rating agencies and companies seeking regular access to U.S. capital markets made large
investments in their reputations. They treated customers well andsometimes endured losses in transactions or business deals in order tosustain and nurturetheir
reputations as faithful brokers and “gate-keepers.” This has changed completely. The existing business model among leading participants in today’s capital markets no longer treats
customers as valued clients whose trust must be earned and nurtured, but asone-off“counter-parties” to whom no duties are owed and no loyalty is required. The rough
and tumble norms of the market-place have replaced the long-standingreputational model in U.S. finance.
This book describes the transformation inAmerican financefrom the old reputational model to the existing laissez faire model and argues that the change came as a
result ofthree factors: (1) the growth of reliance on regulation rather than reputation as the primary mechanism for protecting customers and (2) the increasing complexity of
regulation, which made technical expertise rather than reputation the primary criterion on which customers choose who to do business with in today’s markets; and (3) the rise of the
“cult of personality” on Wall Street, which has led to a secular demise in the relevance of companies’ reputations and the concomitant rise of individual “rain-makers” reputation as the basis
for premium pricing of financial services.This compelling book will drive the debate about the financial crisis and financial regulation for years to come--both inside
and outside the industry.
