Abstract

Since at least the nineteenth century, economists have imagined the market as a profoundly rational way of organizing society. Unlike other modes of economic organization, the market is governed by natural laws that ensure the most efficient possible allocation of resources. Modern financial economists take this logic even further, seeing new financial instruments as a means of efficiently managing risk. These visions betray a mechanical conception of economy. Like a well-oiled machine, buyers and sellers play their part in a larger whole, balancing each other out and enabling practical reason to lead societies to ever-greater levels of prosperity.

Publication Type:	Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Departments:	School of Arts & Social Sciences > International Politics
URI:	https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/13138

Preview	Text - Published Version Available under License : See the attached licence file. Download (462kB) | Preview
Preview	Text (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 UK: Scotland License) - Other Download (98kB) | Preview

Export

Downloads