“Roscoe writes beautifully. He skilfully weaves together finance’s past, his own experiences as a financial journalist, and the best new social science research on markets, asking profound and important questions about the financial system and its place in modern life.” Donald MacKenzie, University of Edinburgh

“Brilliantly exposes the toxicity and the mystery of stock markets with vivid examples, while tackling complex topics such as shareholder politics and pricing theory to demystify the history of the stock exchange. Beautifully written and a real pleasure to read.” Joyce Goggin, University of Amsterdam

“Much in the way that the early Methodists pondered why it was that the Devil had all the best tunes, before using this as inspiration for writing toe-tapping hymns, Philip Roscoe, in this excellent and entertaining book, seeks to develop a counter-narrative to the stories that have been produced by and about the financial system. These stories give it a power and authority way above its station and that have been proved to be both damaging and destructive. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including from his pre-academic career in the foothills of the financial system, Roscoe tells alternative stories of finance to emphasize how its institutions are all too human inventions that are highly fallible but also open to reinvention, if only we make sufficient effort to understand them and, importantly, to think carefully about ways in which they might be rebuilt.” Andrew Leyshon, University of Nottingham

“A rare phenomenon – succeeds in both demystifying an object with a technical and arcane history and a genuine delight to read. It is an authoritative account that demonstrates exactly why stock markets should not be left to financiers and economists.” Liz Mcfall, University of Edinburgh

“A superbly written and urgent book which makes complex issues lucid. If you want to enjoy finding out how we got to where we are now, and what’s wrong with our financial system, read Roscoe.” Martin Parker, University of Bristol Business School

"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

　　★ A work by Philip Roscoe, Professor in Management known for “telling economics as stories,” as well as a sociologist and financial journalist; one of the inaugural recipients of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Thinkers program; and editor-in-chief of Routledge’s Journal of Cultural Economy.
　　★ Endorsed by a distinguished group of scholars, including Martin Parker, Professor of Organization Studies at the University of Bristol’s School of Management; Donald MacKenzie, Professor of Sociology at the University of Edinburgh; and Andrew Leyshon, Emeritus Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Nottingham.
　　★ A lively, accessible, beautifully written, and clearly structured contemporary account of finance! Using a distinctive narrative style, it offers an alternative history of the “financial system”—a gripping, real-world tale of how finance has been shaped by, co-opted into, set off, and rebuilt within human society, only to in turn shape, undermine, and steer that very same society.
　　★ Breaking free from the disciplinary boundaries of finance, this book challenges the obscurity of conventional financial knowledge while exposing the “toxic qualities” and “mystique” surrounding financial markets. It lays out both the underlying logic and the broader macro trends, guiding readers to understand how we arrived at our current situation and what has gone wrong with our financial system…
　　★ In today’s turbulent and often opaque economic landscape and financial markets, this book will help us gradually map out the “threads of finance,” shedding light on fundamental questions such as “What is finance?” “Why does finance matter?” and the profound role finance plays in modern life.
　　★ Sold for Chinese Simplified rights.

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.

Philip Roscoe
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.
Roscoe holds a unique interdisciplinary academic background: a PhD in Management from Lancaster University, an MPhil in Medieval Arabic Thought and Philosophy from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Theology from the University of Leeds. Prior to joining the University of St Andrews, he served as an Assistant Professor at Montpellier Business School in France from 2008 to 2009, and before that as a Research Assistant at Lancaster University.
He has published in leading journals in sociology and management, including Organization Studies, Human Relations, Accounting, Organizations & Society, and Economy & Society & Organization. He has also authored several books through Oxford University Press and Penguin Random House, such as Creating the Economy: Firms, Intellectual Property, and the Valuation of Goods (Oxford, 2019) and I Spend Therefore I Am: How Economics Has Changed the Way We Think and Feel (Random House, 2014).
In addition, he is one of three co-editors of Routledge’s Journal of Cultural Economy.
Roscoe has previously worked as a financial journalist and ran his own small business. He was among the first cohort of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Thinkers and was selected as one of the ten winners. This initiative was jointly organized and promoted by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC.

Prologue: A Bad Kind of Magic?

1. Why We Should Care about Finance

Part 1: How the Markets Became
2. From Future Pigs to Present Prices, a Chicago Story
3. King William’s Overdraft
4. Mind Your Eye!
5. God Bless Margaret Thatcher

Part 2: The Spectacular Science of Money
6. Finding Prices, Making Prices
7. Where Real Men Make Real Money
8. Wires! Shocks! Sausages!

Part 3: Opportunity Lost
9. Other People’s Money
10. Fear and Loathing on Wall Street
11. The Burden of Empire
12. Extractive Industries

Part 4: Financial Futures
13: Finance Takes Flight
14. The Temples of Capitalism

Epilogue: The Market Replies