Does a scopic regime erode the disposition effect? Evidence from a social trading platform

A scopic regime constitutes a state of permanent reciprocal observation and scrutiny among participants. We investigate whether this environment reduces the disposition effect among retail traders as they are constantly scrutinized by others, thus driving them to realize and limit their losses. We use two anonymous data sets, the first from a popular social trading platform (STP) governed by a scopic regime, and the second from a traditional foreign exchange broker. STPs allow participants to interact and copy each other’strades using mirror trading, thus implicitly creating two groups; trade leaders who execute unique trades to build their performance record, and copiers who allocate funds to be managed by the former. We find ample evidence of a weaker disposition effect among trade leaders in the scopic environment compared to traders in a traditional setting. Our findings suggest that a state of constant observation and scrutiny erodes the disposition effect as individuals become more self-conscious of their actions and limit their losses to avoid tarnishing their public trading record

Does a scopic regime produce conformism? Herding behavior among trade leaders on social trading platforms

Social trading platforms (STPs) are transparent online markets governed by a scopic regime, where order flow is publicly disclosed and participants are subject to constant reciprocal scrutiny. Participants on STPs can be categorized into trade leaders and copiers, where the former execute unique trades and manage the funds allocated to them by the latter in return for compensation. Given limited individual capacity and the competition to attract copiers, we investigate whether the scopic regime produces excess and perpetual conformism among trade leaders. Using data from a popular STP, and from an anonymous traditional foreign exchange broker, we show that the scopic regime produces excess levels of herding. Under the scopic environment, we find that herding is high when market information is scarce, which is evidence of herding due to informational cascades. We find herding to be relatively low among risk-seeking trade leaders, which may be a sign of overconfidence. Herding is high for larger trades, suggesting that traders herd to avoid the disappointment associated with underperforming on large positions. Finally, we show that herding in the scopic environment persists at much higher levels compared to traditional environments. Our findings indicate that exposure to a scopic information-rich environment augments the limitations and personal biases of individual traders, thus producing excess and perpetual herding.</p

Hybrid materialities, power, and expertise in the era of general purpose technologies

This article proposes three distinct perspectives on and approaches to the study of hybridisation across society, industries, and academia enabled by General Purpose Technologies like AI and blockchain. The term hybridisation is frequently invoked to describe and prescribe human-machine interaction and technological interoperability. Critically assessing processes of hybridisation through the perspectives of (1) materiality, (2) power and (3) expertise, we argue that the language of hybridity smoothens out frictions between human judgment, on the one hand, and automated decision-making, on the other, and that processes of hybridisation veil technology-induced epistemic and economic inequalities. In each of these perspectives, we draw on fieldwork conducted at different sites where general-purpose technologies are in play

Naturalizing Institutions: Evolutionary Principles and Application on the Case of Money

In recent extensions of the Darwinian paradigm into economics, the replicator-interactor duality looms large. I propose a strictly naturalistic approach to this duality in the context of the theory of institutions, which means that its use is seen as being always and necessarily dependent on identifying a physical realization. I introduce a general framework for the analysis of institutions, which synthesizes Searle's and Aoki's theories, especially with regard to the role of public representations (signs) in the coordination of actions, and the function of cognitive processes that underly rule-following as a behavioral disposition. This allows to conceive institutions as causal circuits that connect the population-level dynamics of interactions with cognitive phenomena on the individual level. Those cognitive phenomena ultimately root in neuronal structures. So, I draw on a critical restatement of the concept of the meme by Aunger to propose a new conceptualization of the replicator in the context of institutions, namely, the replicator is a causal conjunction between signs and neuronal structures which undergirds the dispositions that generate rule-following actions. Signs, in turn, are outcomes of population-level interactions. I apply this framework on the case of money, analyzing the emotions that go along with the use of money, and presenting a stylized account of the emergence of money in terms of the naturalized Searle-Aoki model. In this view, money is a neuronally anchored metaphor for emotions relating with social exchange and reciprocity. Money as a meme is physically realized in a replicator which is a causal conjunction of money artefacts and money emotions

The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Postmodernism in Sociology

This article traces the intellectual roots of postmodernism in sociology and its evolution over the past three decades. It briefly examines the main areas of research developed as a response to the emergence of new media and communication technologies since the late 1990s. It defines postmodernism as an intellectual project developed since the 1970s mainly within philosophy and the humanities, which has been adopted, adapted, and enriched within sociology as a response to the theoretical and empirical challenges raised by the cultural features of contemporary developed societies, including here the advent of communication technologies such as the Internet. The article distinguishes between two aspects of postmodernism in sociology: the critique of theoretical assumptions considered as modernist, on the one hand, and the empirical investigation of cultural phenomena taken to be characteristic for postmodern societies, on the other hand. Empirical postmodern research has evolved from an initial dominating focus on consumption and consumerism to the investigation of 'digital cultures,' understood as communication formats such as electronic socialization platforms, instant messaging, or online gaming.</p

Socio-technical agency in financial markets:The case of the stock ticker

Recent discussions of calculative agency in financial markets (a variety of socio-technical agency) have stressed that technology constitutes markets through standardization. This raises the question of additional agential features of financial technologies, which may go beyond, supplement and embed standardization and calculability. I propose here the concept of 'generator' as a way of capturing such features of socio-technical agency in financial markets. I use this concept for examining the stock ticker, the first custom-tailored technology adopted by financial markets. I show that the ticker generated temporal structures and modes of visualizing these structures, together with representational languages, interpretive tools and boundaries associated with access to financial data.</p