How to Build a Stock Exchange - by Philip Roscoe (Paperback)

About the Book

Exploring the development of stock exchanges, markets and the links with states, in this book Roscoe offers a cautionary tale about the drive of financial markets towards expropriation, capture and exclusion.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"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

About the Author

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.