THE INVISIBLE MIDDLEMAN

Every price you pay has a hidden tax built into it. Every deal you close involves someone you never meet. Every market you enter - stocks, real estate, insurance, gig work, digital commerce - has a layer of intermediaries standing between you and the other side of the transaction, quietly taking their cut before the money reaches its destination.

The Invisible Middleman pulls back the curtain on the brokers, dealers, platforms, agents, and market-makers who form the hidden infrastructure of modern economic life. From Wall Street dealers who profit on every trade you place, to real estate agents whose commission structure is designed more for their benefit than yours, to payment networks that tax every card swipe in America, to digital platforms that have become unavoidable toll roads for buyers and sellers alike - this book explains how each intermediary works, why it persists, and how to decide when it is worth the cost.

Drawing on foundational economics from Coase, Akerlof, and Tirole, and applying those frameworks to real-world markets, author Robert F. Geissler delivers a clear-eyed analysis of intermediation that is both theoretically grounded and immediately practical. You will learn why disintermediation almost never works the way its advocates promise, why new middlemen always emerge to replace the old ones, and what questions to ask before paying any intermediary's fee.

Whether you are an investor, a homebuyer, a small business owner, or simply someone who wants to understand where your money actually goes, The Invisible Middleman gives you the framework to see the economy's hidden layer - and to make it earn its keep.