Once again, my more ponderous thoughts were featured in an essay being published tomorrow in The Los Angeles Review of Books, in which I analyse Double Entry : How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance by Jane Gleeson-White.

My essay uses Gleson-White’s history of the development of double-entry accounting in Europe after the collapse of Constantinople to ask a series of important question about why we measure financial performance and what these stories are actually able to tell us about our economic activity, as well as ourselves.

It is important to recognize that there is a gap in every set of financil statements that effective coincides with the gap that exits between any attempt to reduce the real world into a mere representation. As I state in my conclusion, “The gap between the complexity and ambiguities of the real world and the representation of that world on the page through words and figures will never close completely. However, understanding the nature and extent of that gap can and has been refined and increased over time, and this should remain a high priority for both reformers and champions of the current free market system.”

I look forward to your thoughts and comments!