Extra: More on Ponzi Schemes
Here are more references about the Albanian ponzi schemes mentioned above that you might want to look at:
“The pyramid scheme phenomenon in Albania is important because its scale relative to the size of the economy was unprecedented, and because the political and social consequences of the pyramid schemes were profound. “
“In the wake of a nationwide catastrophic collapse of savings that led to losses totalling about 40% of the Albanian gross domestic product, the authors detected apparent long-term deleterious health effects of financial loss and downward intergenerational subjective social mobility.”
Personal Notes from Rick
Upon returning to my office after teaching about the Albanian Ponzi schemes to a class of graduate students in the fall of 2014, I found I had an email from one of my students who, with his family, had fled Albania as a result of the crisis. His personal story was quite moving, and provided me with my first visceral, face-to-face encounter with a victim of these schemes.
This would not be my last such encounter. I am the sole member of 217 Canner Associates, LLC, which since February 2012 has served as the trustee for two feeder funds to the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. 217 Canner Associates initiated many recovery actions against net winners and made distributions to those who lost.
Here’s a video of me discussing various aspects of Madoff’s scheme: