Mi hija quiere entender el sistema financiero | Hernan Casciari | TEDxMontevideo
TEDx Talks
22 min, 32 sec
The speaker narrates a detailed allegorical story to his daughter, explaining the complexities of the financial crisis in terms a child can understand.
Summary
- The speaker begins by recalling the difficulty of explaining the 2012 financial crisis to his young daughter.
- He creates a children's story about a fictional village's experience with 'little papers' to metaphorically describe financial instruments like bonds and stocks.
- The story describes various characters and their roles, mirroring real-world financial entities such as investors, banks, and governments.
- The allegory covers the boom and bust cycle, the creation of complex financial products, and the eventual collapse caused by greed and mismanagement.
- The story ends with a lesson on the nature of dreams and the real-world consequences of financial crises.
Chapter 1
The speaker shares the challenge of explaining the financial crisis to his daughter during its occurrence in 2012.
- The speaker has a 13-year-old daughter who was eight or nine during the 2012 financial crisis.
- While watching the news about the stock market crash, his daughter looks to him for an explanation.
- The speaker, also a writer, decides to craft a children's story to explain the complex financial situation.
Chapter 2
The speaker tells a story of a man named Pepe who decides to open a bar and finances it by selling 'little papers' to villagers.
- Pepe, the main character, lives in a peaceful village and decides to open a bar since there are none.
- To finance the bar, Pepe sells 'little papers' promising to pay more coins in return later, attracting many investors.
- The villagers, inspired by Pepe, start their own projects and create their own 'little papers' to fund them.
Chapter 3
The story progresses with villagers creating more 'little papers' for various projects, leading to chaos in the market.
- The village square becomes overcrowded with people selling 'little papers' for all sorts of projects.
- The mayor introduces government 'little papers' to raise funds for public works and his own benefits.
- Trading 'little papers' becomes a frenzy, leading to new business practices and the creation of 'packages' of mixed papers.
Chapter 4
The story depicts the evolution of the village's financial system, with new financial instruments and services emerging.
- The mayor flees the village after selling 'little papers', leaving the village in disarray.
- New services like 'Quique's Peace of Mind' emerge, offering insurance-like protection against failed projects.
- The assistant uses a blackboard to rate the likelihood of project completion, influencing trading and prices.
Chapter 5
The speaker begins to draw parallels between the story's events and real-world financial concepts.
- The speaker explains to his daughter that 'The Little Papers Hall' is like the stock market and 'little papers' are like bonds or debt certificates.
- He compares 'Quique's Peace of Mind' to credit default swaps and the assistant's blackboard to credit reporting agencies.
- These explanations help his daughter understand the complexities of the financial crisis.
Chapter 6
The story concludes with the collapse of the village's financial system and Pepe's realization of the consequences.
- Pepe's bar is ready, but he finds the village in ruins with no horses left due to the financial collapse.
- Moncho's seemingly foolish project becomes the only way to reach Pepe's bar, and the villagers rally to support it.
- The speaker concludes the story, emphasizing the rarity of successful dreams in the face of greedy and ruinous behavior.
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