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No. I'm also curious, do people in Finance think various forms of gambling (and hedging of speculations) are productive for society.

• fisf 5y ago
  At least the latter (hedging) is useful, and not only in terms of speculation but also for international trade / market events in general. Wether risk reduction as financial instrument is productive for society can remain open to interpretation. However, it, without a doubt, has value. Tbh, finance in general seems to be a major blind spot when it comes to discussions on HN.
  • Ensorceled 5y ago
    > Wether risk reduction as financial instrument is productive for society can remain open to interpretation. However, it, without a doubt, has value. That's my original point, I don't believe speculation (and tools to reduce the risk of speculation) is productive. At best, it's a hovering up of the value delta between two actors with differential information. They CERTAINLY have value, for the financial actors using them. Just it isn't a productivity gain for society as a whole. Certainly gambling isn't.
    • fisf 5y ago
      Yes. And what I tried to point out, albeit not very clearly in retrospect, was that hedging is not only applicable and useful in cases that are plainly speculative in nature. E.g. I would like to hedge against the case of Forex fluctuations when doing a large international deal, or delivery delays, or bad harvests, etc.