The High-Beta Rich: How the Manic Wealthy Will Take Us to the Next Boom, Bubble, and Bust Hardcover - 2011

Media reviews

“Fascinating.”—Financial Times

“The High-Beta Rich is one that deserves to be read, and not just because it provides the rest of us with a cathartic dose of schadenfreude at the expense of the super-wealthy. Robert Frank makes a new, contrarian argument with important implications for economic policymaking: modern wealth is a far more volatile substance than is commonly believed.” ¯The Economist
 
“Frank writes in a pleasingly breezy style and makes a convincing argument that the volatile earnings and spending of the high-beta rich have wound up distorting communities, the economy and government.” ¯Bloomberg
 
“While the recession continues to wreak havoc in the economic lives of the nation’s middle- and low-income population, Frank provides a cogent explanation of how megabillionaires have contributed to today’s economic conditions and heightened economic inequities. Furthermore, he shows that few are genuinely interested in job creation or the long-term prosperity of others.”
¯Publishers Weekly

“When most people write about the very wealthy, they cannot stop themselves from either sneering or drooling with envy. Robert Frank is different. He writes with great panache -- and insight, and curiosity -- about a slice of Americana whose behavior affects the rest of us more than we might think. A great read."
--Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics

“Robert Frank has uncovered one of the most important new forces shaping our economy: the increasing volatility of the wealthy. Filled with gripping human stories and ground-breaking analysis, The High-Beta Rich will change the way you think about wealth and the American economy.  Funny, smart and memorable.”
--Nouriel Roubini, Economist, author of Crisis Economics
 
“Lively and insightful. Money, a primitive but useful motivator, also exacerbates the most basic human tendencies and amplifies a society's characteristics and cycles, like the US's overconsumption binge. The High-Beta Rich gives an excellent portrait of these excesses.”
--Nicolas Berggruen, billionaire financier, philanthropist

“The High-Beta Rich vividly illustrates how the wealthy and those they employ have become increasingly tied to the vicissitudes of the stock market and the macroeconomy .  It is a cautionary tale for all."
--Steven Neil Kaplan, professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

"If you, like I, have had it up to here with the rich, you will love the chapter about the repo men who specialize in yachts."
--Joe Queenan, Columnist, author of Closing Time