Social Spirits

The enourmous impact stock exchanges and financial markets have on contemporary economy and society deserve renewed, systematic attention by sociologists. This book provides students and researchers with the theoretical and methodological tools essential to explore new research paths in the sociology of finance. Together with an introduction to the efficient market theory, the random walk hypothesis, and the heuristics and biases discovered by cognitive psychology and behavioral finance, different schools of thought directed at forecasting stock price movements are presented and critically examined. The book also displays empirical case studies dedicated to some institutional and informal restraints to speculation, as well as to the impact of the media on stock prices during the latest terrorist attacks in Paris and in the recent Chinese financial crisis.

Autorentext

Fiammetta Corradi hat in Soziologie an der Universität Mailand promoviert. Sie ist Autorin zahlreicher Aufsätze und Bücher im Bereich der Wissenssoziologie und der Wirtschaftssoziologie und lehrt heute "Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft" an der Fakultät für Wirtschaft und Management der Universität Pavia.