Policy Press

How to Build a Stock Exchange

The Past, Present and Future of Finance

By Philip Roscoe

Published

Mar 31, 2023

Page count

218 pages

ISBN

978-1529224320

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Mar 31, 2023

Page count

218 pages

ISBN

978-1529224313

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Mar 31, 2023

Page count

218 pages

ISBN

978-1529224337

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Mar 31, 2023

Page count

218 pages

ISBN

978-1529224337

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press
How to Build a Stock Exchange

Why is finance so important? How do stock markets work and what do they really do? Most importantly, what might finance be and what could we expect from it?

Exploring contemporary finance via the development of stock exchanges, markets and the links with states, Roscoe mingles historical and technical detail with humorous anecdotes and lively portraits of market participants.

Deftly combining research and autobiographical vignettes, he offers a cautionary tale about the drive of financial markets towards expropriation, capture and exclusion. Positioning financial markets as central devices in the organization of the global economy, he includes contemporary concerns over inequality, climate emergency and (de)colonialism and concludes by wondering, in the market’s own angst-filled voice, what the future for finance might be, and how we might get there.

"Far from a dull manual on the technical aspects of stock exchange building, Philip Roscoe’s How to Build a Stock Exchange presents a delightfully readable and engaging collection of vignettes on the history of the stock exchange." LSE

Philip Roscoe is Professor in Management at the University of St Andrews. His research takes a sociological approach to markets and finance. A former journalist, he was one of the first BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Thinkers.

Prologue: A Bad Kind of Magic?

1. Why We Should Care about Finance

Part 1: How the Markets Became

2. From Future Pigs to Present Prices, a Chicago Story

3. King William’s Overdraft

4. Mind Your Eye!

5. God Bless Margaret Thatcher

Part 2: The Spectacular Science of Money

6. Finding Prices, Making Prices

7. Where Real Men Make Real Money

8. Wires! Shocks! Sausages!

Part 3: Opportunity Lost

9. Other People’s Money

10. Fear and Loathing on Wall Street

11. The Burden of Empire

12. Extractive Industries

Part 4: Financial Futures

13: Finance Takes Flight

14. The Temples of Capitalism

Epilogue: The Market Replies