Noah Smith, Columnist

How Finance Took Over the Economy

Competition doesn't seem to erode the industry's huge profits.

April 20, 2016 at 8:00 AM EDT

Noah Smith is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, and he blogs at Noahpinion.

Profit center.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

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A little while ago, Kevin Drum of Mother Jones -- a very smart and perceptive writer on economic and policy issues -- posed a big question: Why is finance so dominant in the U.S. economy?

I think we do know a partial answer -- or several partial answers -- to this question.

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