Essay: Analyzing the 'Inside Job' Film on the 2008 Financial Crisis

This essay provides an analysis of the 2010 film 'Inside Job,' which offers a detailed examination of the 2008 global financial crisis. The film uses interviews with politicians, financial insiders, academics, and journalists to trace the emergence of a rogue financial industry that corrupted politics, academia, and regulation. The analysis covers the changes in the finance industry, the movement towards deregulation, and the role of complex trading instruments like market derivatives. It also addresses conflicts of interest within the financial sector, the influence of the financial industry on political processes, and the contribution of academia to the crisis. The essay further explores the liberal and Neo-Gramscian perspectives on the crisis, methods nation-states could use to prevent future economic collapses, and lessons learned from the 2008 experience. It concludes with a personal reflection on the film's impact and a recommendation for its use in future classes. Desklib provides similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

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The ‘Inside Job’ 2010 Film
Summary of The Film
The film provides a detailed analysis of the financial crisis that occurred globally in 2008.
This crisis brought about drastic effects such as; people lost their jobs, others even lost their
homes this resulted in a huge financial crisis, (de Goede, 59). Comprehensive research work was
conducted which included interviews with politicians, financial insiders, academics and
journalists. This research aided in the tracing of the emergence of an industry that was rogue,
(Fourcade, 95). This rogue industry led to the corruption of politics, academia, and regulation.
The film is in line with a narrative that is divided into five sections. The major focus in
this film include; the changes in the industry of finance which led to the financial crisis, the
movement towards lack of regulations which was mainly political and the ways that complex
trading development, for instance, the market derivatives allowed for the emergence of the crisis.
In the description of the crisis, the film also covers the conflicts of concern in the sector
of finance, (Mateer, 205). It postulates that these conflicts of concern affected the agencies of
credit rating and also academics who were funded as consultants. This conflicts of concern also
aided in the making of the crisis obscure since they were not disclosed.

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A major topic is the financial industry pressure on the processes of politics to shun from
regulations and ways in which they are applied. One conflict of concern is the force or influence
brought about by the revolving door. In this, the regulators of finance could be employed after
leaving the government and thus make a huge amount of money.
In the market derivatives, the film opposes or combats the larger risks that started by
subprime lending were carried on from investors to other people who were also investors,
(Carender, 215). This was because of the rating of prices which was questionable that made the
investors believe that the investments were secure or safe. Therefore, lenders were obligated to
sign mortgages without considering the possibility of risks and also not even in favor of the loans
which had a higher rate of interest because once the mortgages were brought together and
packed, the risks were camouflaged.
According to the film, the products that resulted would in most cases possess AAA
ratings which were equal to the bonds of the US government, (Brown, 86). Thereafter, the
products could be utilized by investors too, for instance, the funds of retirement. In contrast,
these investors who use these products are mainly expected to invest in safer grounds.
One theme which few people may have handled is the contribution of Academia in the
financial crisis. Fergusson makes a note that, for instance, the economist of Harvard University,
the former council head of advisers of the economy during the reign of President Reagan, Martin
Feldstein, directed an insurance company and was a former member of the board of bank of
investment.
Fergusson also makes a note that a variety of professors who are leading and the leading
members of the faculties of business and economic school establishments in most cases have

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large amounts of their incomes coming from their engagements as consultants or the
engagements of speaking, (Tseronis, 335). For instance, the Dean of the Business School of
Colombia named Glenn Hubbard, retrieved a large amount of his income annually from either
speaking engagements or being engaged as a consultant. He was also associated with BlackRock
and KKR financial. Hubbard together with the Chair of the Economics Department in Harvard,
Campbell, refuse the availability of any conflict of concern between the banking sector and
academia.
The film terminates by opposing that, even though financial regulations exist, the system
underlying is not different. The banks remaining are only becoming big but the incentives are
just the same and no executive has been judged or prosecuted due to the financial crisis. The
possible solution is regulating the investors and prosecuting all those executives involved in the
crisis of finance.
The IR liberal perspective of the film
From the liberal perspective, trade through the world system of finance and engagements
aided in the creation of wealth and prosperity due to a number of reasons. To begin with, the lack
of government regulations removed all the barriers to trade or investment, (Clarke, 45). People
could venture in any business regardless of the risks related to the business. This aided a lot in
trade expansion since one could invest anywhere.
Another reason is due to the lack of prosecution from the court of the government. Since
the investment was based on free will, no one was judged by the court on matters pertaining to
what they invested in. Due to this freedom of trade, people ventured in various areas and trade
thus expanded. As a result, people wealth increased and thus they prospered well.

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However, the liberal perspective of this film appears to be a major cause of the financial
crisis. This is mainly due to the lack of regulation in business investment and also lack of
prosecution of all executives who were involved in the crisis of finance. This deregulation made
investors invest in businesses without regarding the possibility of risks occurrence thus led to a
financial crisis.
The Neo-Gramcian IPE Perspective of the Film
The ideas of Laissez Faire became of great influence because of the intertwining of
various economies of various states which occurred as the globalization institutions were focused
on the creation of a coherent neo-liberal global order of the economy or a single world market
that was unified, (Morrissey, 4). The Laissez Fare free world market became of influence after
the cold war in both the national and international institutions of an economy which governed the
economy of the entire world.
This move blinded the actors in the corporations from the foolishness of their ways. This
is because, the corporates lacked regulations from the government and were mainly concerned
with the making of quick profits, (Pop, 679). They even engaged in investment of areas that had
huge risks. They even never regarded or neglected the possibility of these risks. This brought
about a financial crisis in the entire world.
The ability of nation-states to step in and prevent economic collapse based on the 2008
economic crisis
The nation-states would help in the stopping or even avoidance of the financial crisis by a
number of ways. To begin with, they would ensure market stability. This includes removing or

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obstructing the ability to form new credit lines which contributed to the drying up of money flow
and slowed the trade between nations. Another way is to obscure cheap credit that made it simple
and easy to invest in any area or buy a house. This led to more money and people needed to
spend it. However, people ended up buying the same thing. This led to demand increase and thus
inflation.
The other way nations could prevent the financial crisis is by prosecuting all those
involved. This would reduce greed and thus reduce the effects of the crisis. Greed was mainly
brought about by a lack of regulations from the government which enabled people to invest in
many areas of interest without regarding the risks involved, (de la Fuente, 190).
Lessons learned from the 2008 experience
The lessons learned from the experience in 2008 include the effects from the lack
government regulations, investment in areas without regarding risks involved and lack of
prosecution from the government to the greed executives that caused the financial crisis.
However, governments are taking various measurements to prevent this crisis from happening
again. This includes the granting of the power to limit mortgages to officials, apply tough rules
that are applicable to the onset and cap' banks leverage. This will aid in the prevention of the
financial crisis.
What I like/dislike about the Film
The film is educative and informs the government on ways to prevent the 2008 financial
crisis from reoccurring. It also depicts the reasons that led to the financial crises. I am really
interested in the video and I absolutely like it. I only don't like seeing the effects of the crisis but

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that is a reality that cannot be avoided. I, therefore, recommend that the film be shown to my
colleagues in future classes.

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References
de Goede, Marieke. "Documenting financial assemblages and the visualization of
responsibility." Documenting world politics: A critical companion to IR and non-fiction
film (2015): 58-77.
Fourcade, Marion, Etienne Ollion, and Yann Algan. "The superiority of economists." Journal of
economic perspectives 29.1 (2015): 89-114.
Mateer, G. Dirk, Brian O’Roark, and Kim Holder. "The 10 greatest films for teaching
economics." The American Economist 61.2 (2016): 204-216.
Cavender, Gray, and Nancy C. Jurik. "Visual representations in corporate crime
films." Routledge International Handbook of Visual Criminology (2017): 215.
Brown, Michelle, and Eamonn Carrabine. "Key methods of visual criminology: An overview of
different approaches and their affordances." Routledge International Handbook of Visual
Criminology. Routledge, 2017. 84-95.
Tseronis, Assimakis, and J. Wildfeuer. "Documentary film as multimodal argumentation:
Arguing audio-visually about the 2008 financial crisis." J. Wildfeuer (red.), Building
Bridges for Multimodal Research. International Perspectives on Theories and Practices
of Multimodal Analysis (2015): 325-343.
Clarke, Chris, and James Brassett. "Popular documentaries and the global financial
crisis." Documenting World Politics: A critical companion to IR and non-fiction
film (2015): 43-57.

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Morrissey, Daniel J. "Book Review:'JP Madoff: The Unholy Alliance between America's
Biggest Bank and America's Biggest Crook'." Gonzaga University School of Law
Research Paper 2016-4 (2016).
Pop, Anamaria-Mirabela, and Monica-Ariana Sim. "ECONOMIC CRISES REFLECTED IN
FILMS." THE ANNALS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ORADEA (2017): 679.
de la Fuente, Manuel. "Documenting the indignation: Responses to the 2008 financial crisis in
contemporary Spanish cinema." Romance Quarterly 64.4 (2017): 185-195.