Join us at this event where Gary Stevenson will talk about his new book, The Trading Game: A Confession.
Ever since he was a kid, kicking broken footballs on the streets of east London in the shadow of Canary Wharf's skyscrapers, Gary wanted something better. Something a whole lot bigger. Then he won a competition run by a bank: 'The Trading Game'. The prize: a golden ticket to a new life, as the youngest trader in the whole city. A place where you could make more money than you'd ever imagined. Where your colleagues are dysfunctional maths geniuses, overfed public schoolboys and borderline psychopaths, yet they start to feel like family. Where soon you're the bank's most profitable trader, dealing in nearly a trillion dollars. A day. Where you dream of numbers in your sleep - and then stop sleeping at all.
But what happens when winning starts to feel like losing? When the easiest way to make money is to bet on millions becoming poorer and poorer - and, as the economy starts slipping off a precipice, your own sanity starts slipping with it? You want to stop, but you can't. Because nobody ever leaves.
Would you stick, or quit? Even if it meant risking everything? Gary's book is an outrageous, unvarnished, white-knuckle journey to the dark heart of an intoxicating world - from someone who survived the game and then blew it all wide open.
Meet our speakers and chair
Gary Stevenson (@garyseconomics) left his trading career behind, convinced that solving inequality was the only way to repair the world economy. He has since studied for an MPhil at Oxford, worked with economic think-tanks and founded a YouTube channel, GarysEconomics, teaching people about real-world economics. He regularly appears on television and radio and has written for the Guardian and OpenDemocracy, among others. Gary is an alumnus of LSE.
Rebecca Gowland is the Executive Director of Patriotic Millionaires International. She previously worked in development for 15 years and led global campaigns on poverty and inequality, with notable success on tax reform in the UK and at the international level. Prior to this, Rebecca worked as a careworker and has always been heavily involved in work on progressive economies and community rights.
Mike Savage (@MikeSav47032563) is Martin White Professor of Sociology at LSE. Between 2015 and 2020 he was Director of LSE’s International Inequalities Institute, which hosts the Atlantic Fellow’s Programme, the largest global program in the world devoted to challenging inequalities. Mike is the author of eight books, including most recently The Return of Inequality: social change and the weight of the past.
More about this event
This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.
The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) brings together experts from many of the School's departments and centres to lead cutting-edge research focused on understanding why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.
Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEIII
Podcast & Video
A podcast of this event is available to download from The trading game.
A video of this event is available to watch at The trading game.
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.