Both risk and uncertainty are neo-liberal concepts, which can be viewed as complementary techniques for governing diverse aspects of life, rather than natural states of things. This new book examines the way these constructs govern the production of wealth through uncertain speculation and calculable investment formulae.

The way these concepts govern the minimisation of harms through insurance and through the uncertain practices of reasonable foresight is discussed, and O Malley looks at how these same techniques were historically forged out of moral and social beliefs about how to govern properly. In addition, the book analyzes how, during this process, ideas such as contract and distinctions between insurance and gambling were invented to properly govern the risky and uncertain future.