Liaquat Ahamed

Last updated
Ahamed in 2022 Liaquat Ahamed (52030023441).jpg
Ahamed in 2022

Liaquat Ahamed (born 14 November 1952 in Kenya) is an American author. [1]

Contents

Life and work

Liaquat Ahamed was born in Kenya, where his grandfather had emigrated to from Gujarat, India by way of Zanzibar in the late 19th century. [2] He was educated at Rugby School in England, at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Harvard University. [3] [4]

Ahamed worked at the World Bank in Washington D.C., where he headed the bank's investment division, and at the New York-based partnership of Fischer, Francis Trees and Watts, a fixed-income business and subsidiary of BNP Paribas, where he served as Chief Investment Officer and from 2001 to 2004 as CEO.[ citation needed ] From October 2007 he has been a director of Aspen Insurance Holdings and in addition advises several hedge funds, including Rock Creek Group and The Rohatyn Group. He is (as of 2010) a member of Board of Trustees at the Brookings Institution and is involved with the New America Foundation. [3] [5] [6]

Through his production company, Red Wine Pictures, Ahamed was a producer on the 2006 film The Situation , set in Iraq. [6] [7]

Lords of Finance

Ahamed is the author of Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (2009). The book was awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for History, [8] the 2010 Spear's Book Award (Financial History Book of the Year), the 2010 Arthur Ross Book Award Gold Medal, the 2009 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. For 2009 it was recognized as one of Time magazine's "Best Books of the Year", New York Times "Best Books of the Year" and Amazon.com's "Best Books of the Year". It was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. It is published by Penguin Books (USA) Inc. ISBN   978-1-59420-182-0.

The book narrates the events preceding the Black Tuesday stock market crash of 1929 and the disastrous response of the world's major central banks. It follows the life and actions of the then chiefs of the central banks: Benjamin Strong Jr. of the New York Federal Reserve, Montagu Norman of the Bank of England, Émile Moreau of the Banque de France, and Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank. John Maynard Keynes, a British well-known economist of the time appears on many occasions in the book in a role opposing the central bankers. The main theme of the book is the role played by the central bankers' insistence to adhere to the gold standard "even in the face of total catastrophe". [9]

In June 2012, Ahamed himself drew a similar parallel in a Financial Times column, saying that "during the past few months, as the crisis in Europe has spiralled out of control", he had "begun to fear that the world might in fact be repeating some of th[e] same errors" as those made in the 1920s and 1930s. While the 21st-century central bankers and banks were starkly different from their 19th-century predecessors, Ahamed said that "as they experiment with unconventional monetary tools to get the global economy moving, ironically they may find their years of training less useful than their instincts. ... [S]ome of the same intractable factors that their predecessors of the 1930s had to contend with will overwhelm them once again", today's bankers fear. France, Ahamed pointed out, was the strongest economy and financial system in 1930s Europe, while Germany was reeling. And like Germany seemingly in 2012, France in the 1930s could not find a way to use its strength to help its neighbor. Ahamed in June 2012 concluded with a question: "If, over the next few months, a financial accident takes place in Europe, as is likely, is there any European institution willing and able to act as fast and with such vigour [as the 2008, Lehman-bankruptcy-era US Fed and Treasury] to prevent a disaster?" [10]

Personal life

Ahamed comes from the Nizari Ismaili Shia sect, and he is a non-practising Muslim. [11] His wife, Meenakshi "Meena" Singh, is an Indian freelance journalist who is active with Médecins Sans Frontières and other charitable organizations. [6] Their daughter Tara is married to actor Jonathan Tucker. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montagu Norman, 1st Baron Norman</span> Governor of the Bank of England

Montagu Collet Norman, 1st Baron Norman DSO PC was an English banker, best known for his role as the Governor of the Bank of England from 1920 to 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Tucker</span> American actor (born 1982)

Jonathan Moss Tucker is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films The Virgin Suicides (1999), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Hostage (2005), In the Valley of Elah (2007), The Ruins (2008), and Charlie's Angels (2019). He has appeared in the television series The Black Donnellys (2007), Parenthood (2011–2013), Kingdom (2014–2017), Justified (2015), Snowfall (2018), Westworld (2018–2022), City on a Hill (2019), and Debris (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Reserve Bank of New York</span> Member Bank of Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the State of New York, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey, Fairfield County in Connecticut, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Located at 33 Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan, it is the largest, the most active, and the most influential of the Reserve Banks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Chernow</span> American writer (born 1949)

Ronald Chernow is an American writer, journalist, and biographer. He has written bestselling historical non-fiction biographies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Haslett</span> American writer and journalist (born 1970)

Adam Haslett is an American fiction writer and journalist. His debut short story collection, You Are Not a Stranger Here, and his second novel, Imagine Me Gone, were both finalists for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Academy in Berlin. In 2017, he won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Charles Gasparino is an American journalist, blogger, and occasional radio host. He frequently serves as a panelist on the Fox Business Network program segment The Cost of Freedom and the stocks/business news program Cashin' In.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudolf Havenstein</span>

Rudolf Emil Albert Havenstein was a German lawyer and president of the Reichsbank during the hyperinflation of 1921–1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Johnson (writer)</span> American novelist and short story writer (born 1967)

Adam Johnson is an American novelist and short story writer. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2012 novel, The Orphan Master's Son, and the National Book Award for his 2015 story collection Fortune Smiles. He is also a professor of English at Stanford University with a focus on creative writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Leonhardt</span> American journalist and columnist (born 1973)

David Leonhardt is an American journalist and columnist. Since April 30, 2020, he has written the daily "The Morning" newsletter for The New York Times. He also contributes to the paper's Sunday Review section. His column previously appeared weekly in The New York Times. He previously wrote the paper's daily e-mail newsletter, which bore his own name. As of October 2018, he also co-hosted "The Argument", a weekly opinion podcast with Ross Douthat and Michelle Goldberg.

The 2010 Pulitzer Prizes were awarded on Monday, April 12, 2010. In journalism, The Washington Post won four awards while The New York Times won three. For the first time, an online source, ProPublica, won in what had previously been the sole province of print. A musical, Next to Normal, won the Drama award for the first time in 14 years. Country singer-songwriter Hank Williams, who died at age 29 in 1953, received a special citation. The winner(s) in each category are:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Duhigg</span> American journalist and author

Charles Duhigg is an American journalist and non-fiction author. He was a reporter for The New York Times, currently writes for The New Yorker Magazine and is the author of three books on habits and productivity, titled The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Smarter Faster Better and Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection. In 2013, Duhigg was the recipient, as part of a team of New York Times reporters, of the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for a series of ten articles on the business practices of Apple and other technology companies.

<i>Lords of Finance</i> 2009 book by Liaquat Ahamed

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World is a nonfiction book by Liaquat Ahamed about events leading up to and culminating in the Great Depression as told through the personal histories of the heads of the Central Banks of the world's four major economies at the time: Benjamin Strong Jr. of the New York Federal Reserve, Montagu Norman of the Bank of England, Émile Moreau of the Banque de France, and Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank. The text was published on January 22, 2009 by Penguin Press. The book was generally well received by critics and won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for History. Because the book was published during the midst of the financial crisis of 2007–2010, the book subject matter was seen as very relevant to current financial events.

Michael Hudson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist. He is currently head of investigations at the Guardian US.

<i>Financial Times</i> Business Book of the Year Award Annual business book award established in 2005

Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award is an annual award given to the best business book of the year as determined by the Financial Times. It aims to find the book that has "the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues". The award was established in 2005 and is worth £30,000. Beginning in 2010, five short-listed authors each receive £10,000, previously it was £5,000.

Peter S. Goodman is an American economics journalist and author. Goodman has worked for The Washington Post and The Huffington Post, was the editor of the International Business Times, and is currently the European economics correspondent for The New York Times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Strong Jr.</span> American banker (1872–1928)

Benjamin Strong Jr. was an American banker. He served as Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for 14 years until his death. He exerted great influence over the policy and actions of the entire Federal Reserve System and indeed over the financial policies of all of the United States and Europe.

Diana Blackmon Henriques is an American financial journalist and author working in New York City. Since 1989, she has been a reporter on the staff of The New York Times working on staff until December 2011 and under contract as a contributing writer thereafter.

Sebastian Christopher Peter Mallaby is an English journalist and author, Paul A. Volcker senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and contributing columnist at The Washington Post. Formerly, he was a contributing editor for the Financial Times and a columnist and editorial board member at The Washington Post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Wessel</span> American journalist and writer (born 1954)

David Meyer Wessel is an American journalist and writer. He has shared two Pulitzer Prizes for journalism. He is director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution and a contributing correspondent to The Wall Street Journal, where he worked for 30 years. Wessel appears frequently on National Public Radio's Morning Edition.

Charles William Calomiris is an American financial policy expert, author, and Director of the Center for Politics, Economics and History at UATX. Previously, he was a professor at Columbia Business School, where he was the Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions and the Director of Columbia Business School Program for Financial Studies.

References

  1. Nocera, Joe. "Flying Blind", The New York Times , 13 February 2009.
  2. “India, China should wish the rest of the world also grows”, The Economic Times , 17 January 2011. Retrieved 2019-06-07
  3. 1 2 “Liaquat Ahamed Pulitzer Prize Biography”, The 2010 Pulitzer Prize Winners. Retrieved 2012-04-05
  4. "Trinity Members Online". alumni.trin.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  5. “Liaquat Ahamed Profile”, Forbes.com. Retrieved 2012-04-05
  6. 1 2 3 “Lunch with BS: Liaquat Ahamed”, Business Standard, 19 May 2009. Retrieved 2012-04-05
  7. “The Situation Cast & Crew IMDB”, Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2012-04-05
  8. The 2010 Pulitzer Prize Winners
  9. Krugman, Paul "What's Our Gold Standard", The New York Times , 27 March 2009.
  10. Ahamed, Liaquat, "Europe’s bankers have forgotten the lessons of the Depression", Financial Times, June 22, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
  11. Kanika Datta (January 22, 2011). "'I write slowly'". Business Standard. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  12. "Tara Ahamed, Jonathan Tucker". The New York Times. 2012-06-17. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-06-12.