Eugene Fama, how the theory had fared in the crisis, Fama replied, "I think it did quite well in this episode." When challenged by Cassidy, he responded, "We don't know what causes recessions . . . We've never known." When queried about the seemingly refuted Modigliani-Miller theorem, Fama responded: "The experiment we never ran is, suppose the government stepped aside and let these institutions fail? How long would it have taken to unscramble everything and figure everything out? My guess is we are talking a week or two" . . . Cassidy: So you would have just let them . . . Fama: "Let them all fail. (Laughs)."

Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis …, loc. 494