LRB: Donald MacKenzie on the Importance of Libor

Judged by the amount of money directly dependent on it, the British Bankers’ Association’s London Interbank Offered Rate matters more than any other set of numbers in the world. Libor anchors contracts amounting to some $300 trillion, the equivalent of $45,000 for every human being on the planet.... The calculation of Libor is co-ordinated by just two people, who work in an unremarkable open-plan office in London’s Docklands.

Our fragility is unkempt.