Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

bailing to build

English answer:

creating an over-leveraged network (of joint projects) to sustain the growth of the system/sector

Added to glossary by Jenni Lukac (X)
Nov 19, 2013 09:47
10 yrs ago
2 viewers *
English term

bailing to build

English Art/Literary Economics
Hi everyone! I need your help in interpreting the expression "bailing to build" in the following text, written by a contemporary art curator. The text deals with the art system and with the fact that most artists and curators usually collaborate with many institutions and on different projects at the same time. The author uses a financial metaphor for this and compares this to hedging. Could you help me understand what "to bail" means in this context? Thanks in advance.

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Systemic risk was the key phrase of the last few years; however, most discussion around the term only scratched its surface so as to not deal with the rotten core. The basic rhetoric is that once something gets too big, too interconnected, it will bring down the others, like a house of cards, should it fail. Everything is now tied to something else. As such, big entities were bailed and made bigger to preserve the system. Partner up, collaborate, synergize! The moral hazard of rewarding failure—the stance dissenters said encourages recklessness—was no match for the fear of total collapse. Yet, could bigness be the real problem? Is the problem the player, or is it the game?

What care, what responsibility can be invested in a single pie, when having ten in the oven grants hardy rewards? Like the idea of ***bailing to build***, having more and more stakes is the way to go for an individual, an institution, or even a state when it comes to our dominant social ecologies. Accelerate. Speculate. Stir up interest.
Change log

Jun 22, 2014 07:35: Jenni Lukac (X) Created KOG entry

Responses

+2
6 hrs
Selected

creating an over-leveraged network (of joint projects) to sustain the growth of the system/sector

I'm hoping that "sustaining" takes care of the "bailing out" part of your dilemma. The writer seems to suggest that when big players in the art world are propped up or bailed out, a process of consolidation also takes place. However, without more context (are we talking of large museums, private art galleries, international art fairs?) it's hard to know precisely what he or she is getting at. Some examples would help.
Peer comment(s):

agree Wolf Draeger : I think 'leveraging' is the right idea here. The writer may be trying to say that leveraging encourages the poor allocation of resources in the art world, just as it did in the financial sector.
21 hrs
Thanks, Wolf. That was my take on it.
agree Michele Fauble
213 days
Thanks, Michele. This was a blast from the past! Have a good weekend.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
2 hrs

failing?

a misprint?
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27 mins

bailing *out* to build

To bail somebody out is to get them out of trouble.



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Note added at 3 hrs (2013-11-19 13:27:43 GMT)
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In England, the government bailed the banks out by buying all or a part of them so they now own a part of the bank and therefore have a stake in its success. Each time these big institutions fail, they put more and more money into them and therefore make it more likely that they will help out the next time to protect the investment they have already made.
Note from asker:
Yes, I had also thought of that meaning, especially because early in the text the author says that some big institutions have been bailed and made bigger to preserve the system. But using the word in that meaning makes the phrase "having more and more stakes" difficult to interpret. I DO need to be bailed out, lol :-D
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4 hrs

hedging/investing to expand

I think "bailing" IS used as a synonym for "hedging" here. By collaborating and joining together these institutions are reducing their risk just as hedging does in the investment world by offsetting risk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_(finance)

It says

"What care, what responsibility can be invested in a single pie, when having ten in the oven grants hardy rewards?"

in other words, better to have a finger or stake in several pies and get "hardy" or good rewards rather than having just one pie!

The other expression that springs to mind is "having all your eggs in one basket" which is never considered a good idea

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Note added at 4 hrs (2013-11-19 13:58:50 GMT)
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"having more and more stakes is the way to go..."
so, better to expand the network and reduce risk

the way I read this.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hedge.asp

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Note added at 4 hrs (2013-11-19 14:00:29 GMT)
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I think you could use "collaborating together" or "coming together" or even "amalgamating" to get the meaning of "bailing" here
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10 hrs

baling to build

This looks like a mis-spelling; 'baling' is to bundle together.

bale: n. a large bundle of paper, hay or cotton. v. make into bales. (Concise Oxford English Dictionary)

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2 days 2 hrs

to bail out (a person, institution, state) from doldrums with the aim of building it

Eg. the current state of US economy where billions of dollars are being pumped into the economy to bail it out; the aim is to build the economy. The same was done with many US banks, and off course, it can be done with a person in deep debt.
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