MIT economist Andrew Lo set out to review a couple books about the financial crisis. Those books led to a couple more books, which led — you see where this is going — to 17 more books. Now, Lo is about to publish "Reading About The Financial Crisis: A 21 Book Review."

Andrew Lo, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, was asked by the Journal of Economic Literature to write a review of three or four of the more important academic books on the crisis. The initial sample, he thought, was too small. There were lots of useful books on the topic, from journalists as well as academics. Widening the spectrum would also highlight areas of disagreement between authors.

Andrew Lo, the Harris & Harris Group Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gives the keynote speech at the Conference on Systemic Risk and Data Issues.

As the Greek government appears increasingly likely to default on its debt, economists are envisioning potential dire spillovers to the United States, with anxiety afflicting the financial system, making money tight and possibly tipping the American economy back into recession. MIT Sloan Professor Andrew Lo says, "We may see a number of banks go under."

With shock waves roiling financial markets worldwide, investors are seeking new ways to protect their portfolios from the next upheaval. MIT Sloan Professor, Andrew Lo, says that key strategies to eke out a profit include minimizing costs and getting as much diversification as you're comfortable with."

Day after day, stocks swing sharply by hundreds of points. Some experts see volatility as a problem. Another viewpoint is that stocks are rightly volatile now because there is so much uncertainty about where the economy is heading. MIT Sloan Professor Andrew Lo says that the last few years have been the most volatile for all of recorded history—10 of the biggest 20 daily upswings and 11 of the largest 20 daily drops since the beginning of 1980 to the end of August have occurred in just the last three years.

Stock markets have calmed down over the past few days, but economists and analysts warn that investors face years of severe market swings until national debt crises and other threats to the global financial system are finally resolved. MIT Sloan Professor, Andrew Lo, notes that "What's unique is the volatility of the volatility."

The European Securities and Markets Authority said in a statement that short sales—negative bets on stocks—would be curtailed in France, Belgium, Italy, and Spain. Andrew Lo says that it is impossible to know whether the panic of 2008 would have been worse without the ban, but general studies of short-selling have found that bans on that activity can lead to more volatility in the market and lower trading volume.

With consumer spending already declining in recent months, economics say the plunge in the stock markets over the past month could deal another significant blow to Americans' spending habits—a threat that could imperil any meaningful economic recovery. MIT Sloan Professor, Andrew Lo says: "That kind of perception of a loss in wealth is going to make people more frugal, more reluctant to spend—and that's exactly the wrong direction for the economy to go."

With the combination of increased incidents of malicious hacking, what could be overtaxed computer networks, and now the fragile economy, it's enough to make one nervous about the state of the technology on Wall Street. MIT Sloan Professor, Andrew Lo, says maybe it's not time to panic just yet, though he does caution that "there are periods of time where we go into uncharted waters, where there's just so much trading volume, so much activity that the system can be overwhelmed for a short period of time."

As investors adjusted to a new world in which the United States government doesn't have a perfect credit rating, stocks suffered one of the worst sell-offs in history Monday, and a fresh recession seems increasingly possible. Professor Andrew Lo says: "American voters are going to realize that the political impasse has consequences that will hit them in the pocketbook."

In an unprecedented and historic move, Standard & Poor's downgraded U.S. Treasury securities one category from AAA to AA+. Experts are increasingly worried that the American economy is headed back into recession. MIT Sloan Professor, Andrew Lo says "This is the worst thing to have happened, given the weak economy we already have."

Hedge funds are facing increased obstacles, of which the regulatory requirements are just one. MIT Sloan Professor Andrew Lo says "weighed against the economic value hedge funds arguably create through the more efficient allocation of capital, must also be set the systemic risks which their herdlike and short-termist behaviour create."

For municipalities struggling to get their finances in order and for the professionals who oversee their investments, the battle being waged in Washington over the federal debt ceiling has become an urgent source of worry. MIT Sloan Professor Andrew Lo provides his input, saying "Any time you have any kind of coordinated divestiture, there's alwasy the risk of a panic and a bank run, but instead of a run on a bank, it's going to be a run on money market funds."