This article was taken from the April issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content bysubscribing online "Greed was not, in fact, the main reason for the present financial mess -- it was the market tools used by the traders. If software allows brokers to offer 125 per cent mortgages, they tend to lend that. The morality is in the machine."
Daniel Beunza, an assistant professor of management at the LSE, is a different kind of economist. Beunza, 38, studies traders in Wall Street as an anthropologist would study a Pacific Islands tribe.
His research takes years, and he spends weeks on the trading floor interviewing and taking detailed notes. "I try to go in with no preconceptions and look for surprises," he says. "To understand how the interplay of market tools and social relations affects finance, you need to capture the experience."
His current subject is the New York Stock Exchange: "The NYSE used to resemble a fish market -- lots of shouting and swearing. That level of social interaction allowed traders to share information and, as a result, trade better. Now they stand by terminals, use instant messaging and trade far faster. But if collaboration decreases as a result, prices will become more volatile."
Profile:Name: Daniel Beunza Job: Assistant professor of management, London School of Economics Location: London
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
