Two
studies of the role of stress hormones in financial trading. One concluded that “the hormones testosterone and cortisol may
destabilize financial markets by making traders take more risks, according to a
study.” The other – that “high levels of the
stress hormone cortisol may contribute to the risk aversion and 'irrational
pessimism' found among bankers and fund managers during financial crises.” What are we to make of such contrasting
findings in “behavioral finance”? Perhaps, one way or another, allostatic
overload will wreck financial speculation – which has become the lifeblood of
Western civilization? Unless most trading is handed over
to female recruits – since the
second study also confirmed that women make slightly better decisions under conditions
of chronic stress? As we were once told as
teenage military conscripts, this is a prospect you can see only through a
crooked tubino (its Bulgarian version, that is).
