Social Studies of Finance

Financial markets might seem to be a subject matter appropriate only for economists, or perhaps also for behavioural finance specialists, who draw upon psychology to analyze matters such as investors alleged irrational biases. The proposed Fellowship, however, is intended to develop broader social-science, especially sociological, research on financial markets. Thus one research question to be addressed emerges from work in the social studies of science by Michel Callon and also the applicant. Has financial economics achieved its undoubted successes because it accurately described pre-existing realities? Or has it succeeded in part because it changed how markets were organized and how participants in them behaved? Has financial economics, in Callons terms, been performative? (A performative utterance is one that makes itself true, as when as absolute monarch designates someone an outlaw). A second area of work will be on the derivatives (eg options) exchanges that have emerged worldwide since the early 1970s. What accounts for international differences in the form they have taken and in their success? For example, are cultural matters important, for instance the contrast between Chicagos roughneck trading culture and the tradition of English gentlemanly capitalism? A third research question concerns possible instances in which finance theory has been counterperformative (ie in which its application may have undermined its empirical accuracy). The most prominent alleged such instance was the global stock market crash of 1987, which accordingly will be examined in detail. A fourth topic of research is arbitrage (trading that exploits price discrepancies), which is the key mechanism driving prices towards their theoretical values. Are there social aspects to arbitrage? For example, do arbitrageurs sometimes imitate each other, and, if so, with what consequences? A fifth research question is exploratory. Scandals such as Enron and WorldCom have shown that key market numbers such as corporate profits are not self-evident facts, but the outcome of complex processes of construction. To what extent can such processes of construction, the impact on them of the scandals and of regulatory and other changes, and similar matters be examined empirically? An important aspect of the Fellowship will be to encourage broader UK social-science on the financial markets. Several disciplines have much to contribute: for example, politics, with its emphasis on the governance of markets; anthropology, with its fine-grained ethnographic studies; human geography, with its emphasis on the continuing role of particular places in apparently globalized finance. A publicly-accessible database of existing UK work of this kind will be created, and leading scholars, newcomers, financial-market policy-makers and practitioners will be brought together in networking workshops

金融市场看似仅与经济学家相关，或是同样适用于依托心理学分析投资者所谓非理性偏差等问题的行为金融学（Behavioural Finance）专家。然而，本次拟申请的学术研究员资助项目旨在推动针对金融市场的更广泛社会科学研究，尤以社会学研究为核心。
据此，本项目拟探讨的首个研究问题源自米歇尔·卡隆（Michel Callon）与申请人本人在科学社会研究领域的研究成果。金融经济学（Financial Economics）是否因其精准刻画了既存现实而取得了毋庸置疑的成功？抑或是其成功部分源于它改变了市场的组织形式与市场参与者的行为模式？用卡隆的话来说，金融经济学是否具备述行性（Performative）？（述行性话语指能够自我实现的表述，例如专制君主将某人宣告为不法之徒时所言即为此类话语。）
第二个研究方向聚焦于20世纪70年代初以来在全球范围内兴起的金融衍生品（Derivatives，例如期权（Options））交易所。为何不同国家的衍生品交易所在组织形式与发展成效上存在显著差异？例如，文化因素是否发挥了作用？比如芝加哥粗犷的场内交易文化与英国绅士式资本主义传统之间的鲜明对比。
第三个研究问题则关注金融理论可能具备反述行性（Counterperformative）的情形——即金融理论的应用可能会削弱其经验实证的准确性。最受关注的所谓此类案例便是1987年全球股市崩盘事件，因此本项目将对其展开细致剖析。
第四个研究主题为套利（Arbitrage，即利用价格偏差进行的交易行为），这是推动价格回归理论均衡值的核心机制。套利行为是否存在社会维度？例如，套利交易者是否有时会相互模仿？若果真如此，又会产生何种后果？
第五个研究问题属于探索性议题。安然（Enron）与世通（WorldCom）等财务丑闻表明，企业利润等关键市场数据并非不言自明的客观事实，而是复杂建构过程的产物。那么，此类建构过程、丑闻及其带来的监管与其他变革对其产生的影响，以及类似议题，在多大程度上可以通过经验实证的方式展开研究？
本项目的一项重要内容是推动英国国内针对金融市场的更广泛社会科学研究。多个学科均可为此贡献力量：例如，以市场治理为研究重点的政治学；依托精细民族志研究的人类学；以及强调特定场所在看似全球化的金融体系中持续发挥作用的人文地理学。本项目将搭建一个面向公众开放的英国同类现有研究数据库，并通过学术交流工作坊汇聚顶尖学者、青年研究者、金融市场政策制定者与行业从业者。