Market instruments can provide for the distribution of risk and thus play an important role in liberating individuals to create and achieve.Without market mechanisms for distributing risk, individuals face limited freedom of action.Originally published in France, The Fisherman and the Rhinoceros explores this topic through three “parables.” One of the parables involves the fisherman who faces not only dangers at sea but also the uncertainty of the fish market.Financial instruments can offer a solution that allows the fisherman to protect himself against fluctuating fish prices and thus continue a way of life passed down through generations.The book is patterned on the Catechisme d'économie politique by the French economist, Jean-Baptiste Say, in 1821.

Eric Briys was Managing Director, Head of Insurance Strategies Group, Deutsche Bank, London. Before joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Briys was the Director of the Strategic Solutions Group at Merrill Lynch and previously a Director at Lehman Brothers.

Prior to joining the investment banking world, he was a senior consultant at Tillinghast-Towers Perrin and headed the prestigious Department of Finance and the MBA program at the HEC School of Management in France.

He has published six books and more than thirty scientific articles.

His most recent books, co-authored with François de Varenne, are The Fisherman and the Rhinoceros and Insurance: From Underwriting to Derivatives, both published by John Wiley & Sons.