From the bestselling author of The Black Swan, Skin in the Game challenges long-held beliefs about risk, reward, politics, and responsibility. Nassim Nicholas Taleb argues that real accountability comes from having something to lose — “skin in the game.” Citizens, artisans, activists, traders, and experimenters bear the consequences of their actions, while many policymakers, executives, theorists, and journalists do not. Taleb shows how this imbalance explains failing companies, flawed policies, and persistent injustices. In his sharp, provocative style, he demonstrates that fairness and justice require the symmetry of risk: without it, fools and crooks benefit, and their mistakes never come back to haunt them.