342 research outputs found
Behind the price: on the role of agent's reflexivity in financial market microstructure
In this chapter we review some recent results on the dynamics of price
formation in financial markets and its relations with the efficient market
hypothesis. Specifically, we present the limit order book mechanism for markets
and we introduce the concepts of market impact and order flow, presenting their
recently discovered empirical properties and discussing some possible
interpretation in terms of agent's strategies. Our analysis confirms that
quantitative analysis of data is crucial to validate qualitative hypothesis on
investors' behavior in the regulated environment of order placement and to
connect these micro-structural behaviors to the properties of the collective
dynamics of the system as a whole, such for instance market efficiency. Finally
we discuss the relation between some of the described properties and the theory
of reflexivity proposing that in the process of price formation positive and
negative feedback loops between the cognitive and manipulative function of
agents are present.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur
House price Keynesianism and the contradictions of the modern investor subject
This article conceptualises the marked downturn in UK house prices in the 2007-2009 period in relation to longer-term processes of national economic restructuring centred on a new model of homeownership. The structure of UK house prices has been impacted markedly by the Labour Governmentâs efforts to ingrain a particular notion of financial literacy amid the move towards an increasingly asset-based system of welfare. New model welfare recipients and new model homeowners have thereby been co-constituted in a manner consistent with a new UK growth regime of âhouse price Keynesianismâ. However, the investor subjects who drive such growth are necessarily rendered uncertain as compared with the idealised image of Government policy because of their reliance on the credit-creating decisions of private financial institutions. The recent steep decline in UK house prices is explained here as an epiphenomenon of the disruptive effect on the idealised image caused by the dependence of investor subjects on pricing dynamics not of their making
Overcoming the Impasse in Modern Economics
This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Francesca Gagliardi, and David Gindis, 'Overcoming the Impasse in Modern Economics', Competition and Change, Vol. 15 (4): 336-42, November 2011, doi: 10.1179/102452911X13135903675732. Published by SAGE.Peer reviewe
Cluster Performance reconsidered: Structure, Linkages and Paths in the German Biotechnology Industry, 1996-2003
This paper addresses the evolution of biotechnology clusters in Germany between 1996 and 2003, paying particular attention to their respective composition in terms of venture capital, basic science institutions and biotechnology firms. Drawing upon the significance of co-location of "money and ideas", the literature stressing the importance of a cluster's openness and external linkages, and the path dependency debate, the paper aims to analyse how certain cluster characteristics correspond with its overall performance. After identifying different cluster types, we investigate their internal and external interconnectivity in comparative manner and draw on changes in cluster composition. Our results indicate that the structure, i.e. to which group the cluster belongs, and the openness towards external knowledge flows deliver merely unsystematic indications with regard to a cluster's overall success. Its ability to change composition towards a more balanced ratio of science and capital over time, on the other hand, turns out as a key explanatory factor. Hence, the dynamic perspective proves effective illuminating cluster growth and performance, where our explorative findings provide a promising avenue for further evolutionary research
Securitization and financialization
Securitization and financialization are the main causes of the financial crisis. These two concepts explain not only Minskyâs financial instability hypothesis but also the off-balance-sheet operations represented by erivative
products, which are closely related to mortgage loans. Financial intermediaries in need of liquidity did everything in their power so that the securitization of assets could have a life of its own in financial operations. This is a process that is endogenous to the development of financialization. Because said process
was a violation of the monetary economy, it was necessary for central banks to intervene as âlenders of last resortâ as well as to nationalize and restructure all the financial intermediaries
Crises and collective socio-economic phenomena: simple models and challenges
Financial and economic history is strewn with bubbles and crashes, booms and
busts, crises and upheavals of all sorts. Understanding the origin of these
events is arguably one of the most important problems in economic theory. In
this paper, we review recent efforts to include heterogeneities and
interactions in models of decision. We argue that the Random Field Ising model
(RFIM) indeed provides a unifying framework to account for many collective
socio-economic phenomena that lead to sudden ruptures and crises. We discuss
different models that can capture potentially destabilising self-referential
feedback loops, induced either by herding, i.e. reference to peers, or
trending, i.e. reference to the past, and account for some of the phenomenology
missing in the standard models. We discuss some empirically testable
predictions of these models, for example robust signatures of RFIM-like herding
effects, or the logarithmic decay of spatial correlations of voting patterns.
One of the most striking result, inspired by statistical physics methods, is
that Adam Smith's invisible hand can badly fail at solving simple coordination
problems. We also insist on the issue of time-scales, that can be extremely
long in some cases, and prevent socially optimal equilibria to be reached. As a
theoretical challenge, the study of so-called "detailed-balance" violating
decision rules is needed to decide whether conclusions based on current models
(that all assume detailed-balance) are indeed robust and generic.Comment: Review paper accepted for a special issue of J Stat Phys; several
minor improvements along reviewers' comment
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Libraries and open society; Popper, Soros and digital information
This paper examines the role of libraries and information services, in promoting the âopen societyâ espoused by Karl Popper and George Soros. After a brief discussion of the nature of an âopen societyâ, the paper covers the role played by provision of knowledge and information, of new technology, particularly the Internet, and of critical thinking and digital literacy in the development of this form of society. Conclusions are drawn for the role of libraries and librarians, with seven general principles suggested:
⢠provision of access to a wide variety of sources without ânegativeâ restriction or censorship
⢠provision of âpositiveâ guidance on sources, based on open and objective criteria
⢠a recognition that a âfree flow of informationâ though essential, is not sufficient
⢠a recognition that provision of factual information, while valuable, is not enough
⢠a need for a specific concern for the effect of new ICTs, and the Internet in particular
⢠promotion of critical thinking and digital literacy
⢠a need for explicit consideration of the ethical values of librarie
A contribuição da anatomia foliar para a taxonomia das espÊcies de Cyperus L. subg. Cyperus (Cyperaceae) ocorrentes no sul do Brasil
The role of conviction and narrative in decision-making under radical uncertainty
We propose conviction narrative theory (CNT) to broaden decision-making theory for it better to understand and analyse how subjectively means-end rational actors cope in contexts in which the traditional assumptions in decision-making models fail to hold. Conviction narratives enable actors to draw on their beliefs, causal models and rules of thumb to identify opportunities worth acting on, to simulate the future outcome of their actions and to feel sufficiently convinced to act. The framework focuses on how narrative and emotion combine to allow actors to deliberate and to select actions that they think will produce the outcomes they desire. It specifies connections between particular emotions and deliberative thought, hypothesizing that approach and avoidance emotions evoked during narrative simulation play a crucial role. Two mental states, Divided and Integrated, in which narratives can be formed or updated, are introduced and used to explain some familiar problems that traditional models cannot
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