num_pages: 384
description: A team of scholars with backgrounds in criminology sociology economics business government regulation and law examine the historical social and cultural causes of the 2008 economic crisis. Essays probe the workings of the toxic subprime loan industry the role of external auditors the consequences of Wall Street deregulation the manipulations of alpha hedge fund managers and the Ponzi-like culture of contemporary capitalism. They unravel modern finance's complex schematics and highlight their susceptibility to corruption fraud and outright racketeering. They examine the involvement of enablers including accountants lawyers credit rating agencies and regulatory workers who failed to protect the public interest and enforce existing checks and balances. While the United States was ground zero of the meltdown the financial crimes of other countries intensified the disaster. Internationally-focused essays consider bad practices in China and the European property markets and draw attention to the far-reaching consequences of transnational money laundering and tax evasion schemes. By approaching the 2008 crisis from the perspective of white collar criminology contributors build a more general understanding of the collapse and crystallize the multiple human and institutional factors preventing capture of even the worst offenders.
language: English
title: How They Got Away with It: White Collar Criminals and the Financial Meltdown
publisher: Columbia University Press