My research contributes to economic sociology by pursuing a novel understanding of the financial markets. Building on the intellectual tradition of Max Weber, Georg Simmel and Michel Callon, my work examines the ways in which social relations and technology shape value within Wall Street.
My original contribution to our understanding of finance lies in relating economic sociology to science and technology studies (STS). In effect, I approach traders and analysts as if they were scientists. In one of my projects (see below), I examine a trading room as if it were a laboratory and focus on how technology shapes the expert knowledge generated within the room. In my study of valuation (again, see below), examines how securities analysts engage in scientist-like controversies about the interpretation of economic data.
Projects:
NEW How can banks profit from financial models without falling victim to them? Financial models pose a cognitive paradox. As a powerful form of codified knowledge, models allow their users to interpret complex information in an uncertain world. But models can also blindside their users by locking them in the cognitive schema encoded in the models. In "Reflexive Modeling: The Social Calculus of the Arbitrageur," we conduct an ethnographic study of an equity derivatives trading room that addresses this question. The study reveals that arbitrageurs overcome the modeling paradox by introducing dissonance in their daily calculations. Arbitrageurs compare the outputs of their models with the estimates made by their rivals, themselves obtained by using models in reverse. This form of reflexive modeling distributes calculation across rival arbitrage funds, enhances search and increases returns, but it can also lead to financial disasters. Reflexive modeling differs from Granovetter's embedded action in that it entails a calculative activity centered on formulae and numbers. It differs as well from Callon's disentanglement in that it emphasizes how social relations make calculation possible.
How do arbitrageurs find profit opportunities? In "Tools of the Trade: The Socio-Technology of Arbitrage in a Wall Street Trading Room," David Stark and I examine the organization of quantitative trading. To do so, we conduct an ethnographic study of equity derivatives arbitrage at the trading room of a large bank on Wall Street. We find that, in contrast to value or momentum investing, arbitrage involves an art of association -- the construction of equivalence of properties across different assets. Arbitrage makes something the measure of something else. The process of recognizing opportunities and the practices of making novel associations are shaped by the specific socio-spacial and socio-technical configurations of a trading room ... <more>
How do markets value companies in situations of extreme uncertainty? In "Frame-Making: An Interpretive Approach to Valuation Under Knightian Uncertainty," Raghu Garud and I examine this question. The academic debate on valuation is structured around two competing approaches. One argues that the value of securities is intrinsic and calculated with the
information available to the actors. The other contends that value is social and determined by imitation. But both approaches fail to address situations of Knightian uncertainty. Our study examines the challenge of valuation under uncertainty by conducting a grounded-theory content analysis of the reports written by leading securities analysts on Amazon.com during 1998-2000. We finds that valuation is an interpretive process that involves the creation and use of "calculative frames" ... <more>
What makes companies survive an unexpected attack? We consider the case of an bank affected by 9/11 in "The Organization of Responsiveness: Innovation and Recovery in the Trading Rooms of Lower Manhattan." In this article, David Stark and I examine the organizational basis of responsiveness under crisis. We examine a Wall Street trading room adjacent to the Trade Center that was damaged in the terrorist attack of 9/11. Our findings suggest that responding to a surprise attack is similar to the challenge of innovation -- dealing with the unknown. Under conditions of uncertainty, one cannot known in advance what resources one will need, or even what might be a resource. In that context, we found that organizational structure designed to facilitate innovation (what we call "heterarchy") can help companies ... <more>
How does identity shape reconstruction processes? Organizations that survive an external shock eventually face the challenge of reconstructing their world prior to the crisis. But identity can pose a considerable challenge in this process. In "Resolving Identities: Successive Crises in a Trading Room after September 11th," David Stark and I follow the traders of a Wall Street trading room in the year that followed 9/11. The traders survived the attack, but were forced to relocate to New Jersey and restore their trading technology. We find that the initial crisis of the terrorist attack unfolfed in a complex, unpredictable manner. Differences in identity among the traders placed the company at the brink of disintegration ... <more>
What is the role of technology in modern arbitrage? The finance literature has traditionally overlooked the material aspects of modern trading. Iain Hardie, Donald MacKenzie and I address this issue in "A Price is a Social Thing: Towards a Material Sociology of Arbitrage" ... <more>
Understanding financial visualization. The technological availability of real-time information has turned professional arbitrageurs into creators of colorful, original visualizations. Fabian Muniesa and I explore financial aesthetics and their wider significance in "Listening to the Spread Plot."
