Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Pandgt;In An Engine, Not a Camera, Donald MacKenzie argues that the emergence of modern economic theories of finance affected financial markets in fundamental ways. These new, Nobel Prize-winning theories, based on elegant mathematical models of markets, were not simply external analyses but intrinsic parts of economic processes. Paraphrasing Milton Friedman, MacKenzie says that economic models are an engine of inquiry rather than a camera to reproduce empirical facts. More than that, the emergence of an authoritative theory of financial markets altered those markets fundamentally. For example, in 1970, there was almost no trading in financial derivatives such as "futures." By June of 2004, derivatives contracts totaling and#36;273 trillion were outstanding worldwide. MacKenzie suggests that this growth could never have happened without the development of theories that gave derivatives legitimacy and explained their complexities. MacKenzie examines the role played by finance theory in the two most serious crises to hit the world's financial markets in recent years: the stock market crash of 1987 and the market turmoil that engulfed the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management in 1998. He also looks at finance theory that is somewhat beyond the mainstream -- chaos theorist Benoit Mandelbrot's model of "wild" randomness. MacKenzie's pioneering work in the social studies of finance will interest anyone who wants to understand how America's financial markets have grown into their current form.andlt;/Pandgt;
Review
"Donald MacKenzie has long been one of the world's most brilliant social and historical analysts of science and technology. Here he provides an original, astute, and exhaustively researched account of the development of finance theory and the ways in which it is intertwined with financial markets. *An Engine, Not a Camera* is essential for anyone interested in markets and the forms of knowledge deployed in them."--Karin Knorr Cetina, University of Konstanz and The University of ChicagoPlease note: Sorry for the many recirculations. "Germany" should be omitted from the affiliation.
Review
An Engine, Not a Camera is a compelling, detailed, and elegantly written exploration of the conditions in which finance economists help to make the world they seek to describe and predict. Donald MacKenzie has long been without equal as a sociologist of how late modern futures are brought into being and made authoritative. This is his best work yet. Neil Fligstein - American Journal of Sociology
Review
A brilliant, extremely lucid account of the connections between financial economics and the development of futures, options, and derivatives markets between the 1950s and 2001. Times Higher Education Supplement The MIT Press
Review
"In one lifetime modern finance theory has revolutionized the arts of canny investing. MacKenzie knows this exciting story, and he tells it well."
—Paul A. Samuelson, MIT, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1970)
Review
"Having returned from an audacious incursion into the black box of modern financial markets, Donald MacKenzie shows how economic theory has succeeded in capturing and shaping them. This book will be of substantial interest to specialists in a range of fields including economics, finance theory, economic sociology, and science and technology studies. But MacKenzie's tour de force is to make clear, even to nonspecialists, that through complex technical issues, alternative forms of economic organization can be imagined and discussed."--Michel Callon, Ecole des Mines de Paris
Review
"An Engine, Not a Camera provides an insightful appreciation of the ways in which financial models influence and shape the world they seek to understand."
— Anthony Hopwood, Times Higher Education Supplement"A brilliant, extremely lucid account of the connections between financial economics and the development of futures, options, and derivatives markets between the 1950s and 2001."
— Neil Fligstein, American Journal of Sociology"In one lifetime modern finance theory has revolutionized the arts of canny investing. MacKenzie knows this exciting story, and he tells it well."
—Paul A. Samuelson, MIT, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1970)"Having returned from an audacious incursion into the black box of modern financial markets, Donald MacKenzie shows how economic theory has succeeded in capturing and shaping them. This book will be of substantial interest to specialists in a range of fields including economics, finance theory, economic sociology, and science and technology studies. But MacKenzie's tour de force is to make clear, even to nonspecialists, that through complex technical issues, alternative forms of economic organization can be imagined and discussed."
—Michel Callon, École des Mines de Paris"Donald MacKenzie has long been one of the world's most brilliant social and historical analysts of science and technology. Here he provides an original, astute, and exhaustively researched account of the development of finance theory and the ways in which it is intertwined with financial markets. An Engine, Not a Camera is essential for anyone interested in markets and the forms of knowledge deployed in them."
—Karin Knorr Cetina, University of Konstanz and University of Chicago"An Engine, Not a Camera is a compelling, detailed, and elegantly written exploration of the conditions in which finance economists help to make the world they seek to describe and predict. Donald MacKenzie has long been without equal as a sociologist of how late modern futures are brought into being and made authoritative. This is his best work yet."
—Steven Shapin, Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
Review
Winner of the 2008 Viviana Zelizer Distinguished Scholarship Award given by the American Sociological Association's section on Economic Sociology.
Winner of the 2005 John Desmond Bernal Prize awarded jointly by the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) and the Institute for Scientific Information.
Shortlisted for the 2007 British International Studies Association's (BISA) International Political Economy Group (IPEG) Book Prize.
"Maggie Mort tells the fascinating and unusual story of the development of a high-tech submarine from the point of view of workers on the project."--Michel Callon, Ecole des Mines de Paris
Review
Maggie Mort tells the fascinating and unusual story of the development of a high-tech submarine from the point of view of workers on the project. < b=""> Steven Shapi <> , Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
Review
An Engine, Not a Camera provides an insightful appreciation of the ways in which financial models influence and shape the world they seek to understand. Anthony Hopwood
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"An Engine, Not a Camera provides an insightful appreciation of the ways in which financial models influence and shape the world they seek to understand." Anthony Hopwood Times Higher Education Supplementandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"A brilliant, extremely lucid account of the connections between financial economics and the development of futures, options, and derivatives markets between the 1950s and 2001." Neil Fligstein American Journal of Sociologyandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;" andlt;Iandgt;An Engine, Not a Cameraandlt;/Iandgt; is a compelling, detailed, and elegantly written exploration of the conditions in which finance economists help to make the world they seek to describe and predict. Donald MacKenzie has long been without equal as a sociologist of how late modern futures are brought into being and made authoritative. This is his best work yet." andlt;Bandgt;Steven Shapin andlt;/Bandgt;, Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University andlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"Maggie Mort tells the fascinating and unusual story of the development of a high-tech submarine from the point of view of workers on the project."--Michel Callon, Ecole des Mines de Parisandlt;/Pandgt;
Review
Maggie Mort tells the fascinating and unusual story of the development of a high-tech submarine from the point of view of workers on the project. < b=""> Steven Shapi <> , Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
Synopsis
In
An Engine, Not a Camera, Donald MacKenzie argues that the emergence of modern economic theories of finance affected financial markets in fundamental ways. These new, Nobel Prize-winning theories, based on elegant mathematical models of markets, were not simply external analyses but intrinsic parts of economic processes.
Paraphrasing Milton Friedman, MacKenzie says that economic models are an engine of inquiry rather than a camera to reproduce empirical facts. More than that, the emergence of an authoritative theory of financial markets altered those markets fundamentally. For example, in 1970, there was almost no trading in financial derivatives such as "futures." By June of 2004, derivatives contracts totaling $273 trillion were outstanding worldwide. MacKenzie suggests that this growth could never have happened without the development of theories that gave derivatives legitimacy and explained their complexities.
MacKenzie examines the role played by finance theory in the two most serious crises to hit the world's financial markets in recent years: the stock market crash of 1987 and the market turmoil that engulfed the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management in 1998. He also looks at finance theory that is somewhat beyond the mainstream -- chaos theorist Benoit Mandelbrot's model of "wild" randomness. MacKenzie's pioneering work in the social studies of finance will interest anyone who wants to understand how America's financial markets have grown into their current form.
Synopsis
A pioneering work in the social studies of finance describes how the emergence of modern finance theory has affected financial markets in fundamental ways—as an engine that shapes them rather than a camera that reproduces their every detail.
About the Author
Donald MacKenzie is Professor of Sociology (Personal Chair) at the University of Edinburgh. His books include Inventing Accuracy (1990), Knowing Machines (1996), and Mechanizing Proof (2001), all published by the MIT Press. Portions of An Engine, not a Camera won the Viviana A. Zelizer Prize in economic sociology from the American Sociological Association.