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While boys are being boys, could they be screwing up the economy?
Economists at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business looked at hundreds of real mergers and acquisitions and found that younger male CEOs are more likely to make bids to acquire companies, and also withdraw those bids if they’re rejected. It’s no coincidence, the study authors write in the journal Management Science, that those younger CEOs typically have more testosterone than older ones.
Like two rams bashing heads, “high testosterone levels make men more likely to undertake dominance-seeking behaviors,” explains Terry Burnham, a Harvard University economist who studies behavior. And that can wreck shareholder value.
We’ve all heard about male CEOs who seem to care more about strutting their big shotness than they care about, oh, investors or the economy. John Thain, former CEO of Merrill Lynch, for instance, was doling out $20 billion in bonuses and buying himself a $35,000 toilet for his office while the bank was fueling the mortgage crisis. Take a look at the guy’s Superman jawline – he’s clearly got some testosterone swirling around.
Burnham proved a link to testosterone in 2007 when he measured levels in males who played the “ultimatum game.” In the game, a “proposer” gets, say, $20. He must offer some of that to a responder. If the responder accepts, they both keep the agreed amounts. If the responder rejects, both get nothing. Rational economics says the responder would accept any ultimatum amount because, after all, he still comes out ahead. But often, when proposers offer low amounts, responders reject out of spite and Burnham showed that far more men with high testosterone levels reject low-ball ultimatums, turning both into losers.
“When your young male CEO is making an acquisition bid, you wonder whether there is economic justification such as shareholder value,” Sauder professor Kai Li said, “or sheer hormone effects at work.” His suggested check on runaway testosterone? “Risk management run by older guys, or females.”
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And this is news, how? Men behaving badly bacause their hormones are too high or out of whack has been going on for how long? But, women are the hormonal ones, right? LOL!
So they devised a game to measure aggressiveness and found that men with high testosterone were more aggressive.
How Earth shattering - this may change how we look at the World.
LOL
Yes ......... Nana Pelosi's hot flashes have been costing us dearly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
those are not hot flashes in her case, she really does think that way! She's crazy any day of the month!
I was just having the same thought Phillyme. Perhaps it is time to see if women can do a better job.
It's great to have balls!
You mean big balls right? If they have lots of testosterone they need a place to put it.
The real reason was not enough testosterone. Men didn't stand up and be men. Men with out integrity.
Bravo! Well said.
Dear MSNBC--------- I have just nominated you for the most inane attempt to run a news vine blog.
Please post address, as I am 100% certain you will be selected as the winner.
Please hurry and go bankrupt.
How stupid do you think we are? It was pure and simple greed. End of story.
And lack of for thought and who gives a sh**** about the other the rest of the people.
Yes it is Greed .....
The Greed of Envy on the part of Obama and his Union Puppet-masters ............
and ......... The Audacity of Arrogance on the part of Obama !
I'm guessing you blame Obama for your lack of intelligence as well?
Is this a joke? Men have testosterone, so thats what is crippling the economy? This is the most biased and sexist article to date! Come straight out and say men have ruined the economy. I mean, how dumb are we if something like this is to be believed? And the fact that younger men have more testosterone than older men? Again....DUH!!!! Thats why younger male animals mate more than older ones. Thats why the "two rams bashing heads" are bashing heads. To mate. To make the deal. This is complete trash for an article. And the author of this story probably thinks he'll score with a woman over this article. Why? Cause it made him more money, or attractive, to females. I think his testosterone needs to be questioned and then put in check. He could force himself on a woman due to high levels of male hormones that could lead to inappropriate touching, leaving him in jail to be dealt with by the legal system. Maybe this story didn't pay so well and now he's using a court-appointed attorney. That causes strain on our government, therefore crippling the system. All because he's a man!!! Evil, evil men ruining this country. I say ban testosterone, and you've solved the issues of the world.
I agree read my comment below...
You do realize women have testosterone, too, right? Just not as much. And men with low T tend to have less energy, less aggressiveness, etc. Without studies, we can *think* something's probably true, but we can't prove it. Remember when it was believed that regular smoking was good for your health?
I agree. At first I thought this was just another anti-male piece written by a sputtering, spitting feminist. But seeing it was written by a male, I have to wonder about HIS testerone level.
This article clearly doesnt take into account, Michelle Bachmann's mockery of the congressional process!
Michelle Bachmann has no power....they trot her and Palin out like prize ponies just to get these douchebag tea party boys off.
M.S.N.B.C. is at it again. Loopy journalists combined with a dopey liberal philosophy make for stories just like this.
It is hard to fathom that the greed of the ceo's and bankers ruined an economy. Let's not forget the unions. And not one entity has gone to jail for it. We know who they are, and what they did. Not one. For wrecking an economy of a nation. It's no wonder people are disregarding the law as it must not mean anything for anybody. And it's been how many years since the pinheads have controlled congress? And you can see, nothing has improved.
It certainly makes sense.
Testosterone is the reason for the invention of flight, it created the machine you are reading this on, it is the reason why we are who we are. Without it we would be living in caves. Sure a young CEO has some learning to do but to blame testosterone? WTF!? This is one more example of the weakening of Western men (especially Canadian men), and men bashing. If we keep this up in our culture, then testosterone from the Islamic countries and from the far East will be controlling us within a decade.
Well said. I am sick of an overly agressive feminator approach always wanting men be put to shame for who they are & men bashing in our culture!!
No dippy! Greed, not gender.
So, would it be safe to say that men built the ecomony? If men ruined it because of their choices, clearly those same people had a great impact on it by making the same type of choices. Going by that, men should grow the ecomony (because risk IS what will grow the economy), and then hand it over to women to manage and take care of because they are so tempermental (at least 25 of 30 days a month).
I like the spin about spending a rediculous amount of money on bonuses to employees who did a good job. Sunds reckless. Plus comparing a guy spending money on a nice toilet (albeit a good bit of cash). Women can cover that amount in shoes and purses in short time. You don't need snopes to disprove this article. Good try though.
How much testosterone do you need to sell your mother?
THESE GUYS would, in a heartbeat
I try not to take these kinds of studies seriously, but I see them so often that I have to respond to some of them.
The majority of the studies attack men in one way or another. Either ALL men are sex-crazed, prone to cheating, or spouse beaters. Or, they don't know how to clean a home, or can't cook for themselves. The way some of these studies make it seem, men are helpless without women. And, although men laugh & joke about these studies, the subliminal message is clear: All men are bad, and by inference, ALL women are good.
Testosterone the problem? Horse feathers! Greed - pure and simple, well, maybe not so pure and not so simple. Greed from the powerful, wanting more power, whether that be financial, social, or whatever. ("Charity" is merely exchanging one form of power - financial - for another - social - unless it is completely private.) AND, the greed of the less powerful, wanting even more somethings for the same nothings. Sex and hormone levels ain't got nothing to do with the situation. It's all greed, I want more and I deserve more. What a bogus article! (AND, my wife agrees!) (Did I make you smile, or laugh at me?)
The title says it all - why even read the text. TOO TRUE!!!!
No, we have facts, Bush Administration raised red flags about the housing collapse in 2001, the budget for 02 said Fanny and Freddie were potential problems. Financial trouble in either of them would cause strong repercussions in financial markets. 2003 Bush Administration's warning became redefined as a systemic risk that could spread beyond the housing sector. In fall of 2003 the Bush Administration was pushing for a new federal agencies to regulate and supervise Fanny and Freddie. Here comes Barney Frank saying Fannie May and Freddie Mac are not in a financial crises and the government should do more to encourage low income families into homes. He believed to many people have a sky is falling mentality, "the more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness. The more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses, which I do not see, I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios and even if they were a problem, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOESN'T BAIL THEM OUT, but the more pressure that is there then the less I think we see in term of affordable housing." Needless to say, the legislation was blocked...by Democrats. 2005 Fed Chairman Allen Greenspan joined in on calling for regulations for Fanny and Freddie after Fanny administrators admitted to major accounting screw ups, "Enabling these institutions to increase in size - and they will once the crisis in their judgment passes- we are placing the total financial system of the future at a substantial risk." Adding later "If we fail to strengthen GSE regulations we increase the possibility of insolvency and crisis." But in came Chuck Schumer saying, "I think Fanny and Freddie over the years have done an incredibly good job and are an intrinsic park of making America the best housed people in the world...if you look over the last 20 or whatever years, they have done a very very good job." Senator John McCain co-sponsored legislation pushing for regulation in 2006 "For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market... The GSE's need to be reformed without delay." 5/25/2006 All of the democrats voted against the legislation all the Republicans voted for it, it never made it to the Senate floor because Republicans couldn't pass it all because of the Democrat majority.
So, instead of electing the people who would have tried to stop this, you fools re-elected the fktards that got us in this mess and then blame the republicans. To poor gas on an inferno, you voted for color and elected Obama, who just made the whole thing insanely worse. If you think this fool is doing a good job you need to see a shrink. Go find out the FACTS yourself, people in the media have a political agenda FACTS do not.
I'm not sure that I understand exactly what you're saying, but I'll start with:
The FED said the housing market was in trouble. The Bush administration said, "yeah... we outta DO something about that" The REPUBLICAN Congress said, "who cares? It ain't big business"
IF THOSE MORONS HAD BOUGHT-UP DEFAULT HOME LOANS, THERE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A FAILURE. We could have recovered
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were gamed by Wall Street, with the default swaps
But, of course, it went back to "who cares? It's only people"
I want to go back to the start of it, though- ENRON bankrupted California and Bush- who was the ONLY one who could have stopped it- said "NO" His bud Swartzennager got elected after the recall of a fiscally responsible Democrat who took it in the rear along with the rest of California
Markets started sliding, right there, and never stopped. Those guys should have been shot as traitors to us all
Did you even bother to read the facts, every thing I wrote is documented fact this:
The FED said the housing market was in trouble. The Bush administration said, "yeah... we outta DO something about that" The REPUBLICAN Congress said, "who cares? It ain't big business" is not factual.
"fiscally responsible Democrat" oxymoron and quite funny.
The Democrats got us in this mess, it is facts sorry, make up what every you want it is still make believe just like the unicorn that craps rainbows of money and skittles Obama promised us.
The only problem with a 'boys will be boys' attitude, is THEY NEVER HAVE TO GROW UP and we have a tremendous lack of real MEN, just greedy little boys, all in it for everything they can get.
here we go again...blaming obama
History will blame Bush, but it's the Republican Congress that really let us all down
... Them and their corporate buds
UUUuum....history actually shows that Congress was controlled by Dems since 2006 and the economy began to weaken and eventually fall apart under Democratic dominance and control in 2008. The policies forced into play by said Democratic ruled Congress forced banks to issue loans/mortgages to those who couldn't pay for them based on "fairness"..the progressive choice word to justify most of their ideology. History shows that the colapse of the housing market has spread to the rest of the economy and along with more and more government control is leading us to a place we have never been before...ALL UNDER A DEMOCRATIC DOMINATED CONGRESS! Get your facts straight!
I smell the work of a "mental health professional" in all this...
Therapist: "How much is two plus two?"
Female patient: "Four."
Therapist: "And how does that make you feel?"
.... deep
I believe that our current generation of CEO's, Presidents, Politicians, etc. are just greedy, selfish, narcissistic, etc. To blame testosterone is just another excuse for men of power to say "It's a man thing" which is used in many other areas of life...........what happened to morals, making the right choice..........don't all human beings have a brain to know the difference between right or wrong, disrespect or respect, dishonesty or honesty, etc. It's all comes down to choice.
just get rid of all the people in the world that make twenty thousand a year or less
that would solve everything i will volunteer i only make 11 thousand
i would be better off dead so lets fire up the ovens that the georgia guidestones call for
only 500 million people on earth and just get rid of the other 6 billion
then the world will be alot better place for the billionaires to drive their boats and take their three month long vacations KILL THE POOR KILL THE POOR I AM POOR i SAY KILL THE POOR