Arbitraging Japan: Dreams of Capitalism at the End of Finance - Paperback

by Hirokazu Miyazaki (Author)

For many financial market professionals worldwide, the era of high finance is over. The times in which bankers and financiers were the primary movers and shakers of both economy and society have come to an abrupt halt. What has this shift meant for the future of capitalism? What has it meant for the future of the financial industry? What about the lives and careers of financial operators who were once driven by utopian visions of economic, social, and personal transformation? And what does it mean for critics of capitalism who have long predicted the end of financial institutions? Hirokazu Miyazaki answers these questions through a close examination of the careers and intellectual trajectories of a group of pioneering derivatives traders in Japan during the 1990s and 2000s.

Front Jacket

Based on fieldwork with derivatives traders, Miyazaki's Arbitraging Japan is a brilliant reexamination of finance that goes beyond simple sloganeering or calls for more (or less) regulation. Miyazaki's compelling and timely contribution to the anthropology, sociology, and philosophy of finance illuminates its actors' philosophical commitments and emphasizes its human and social aspects.--Bill Maurer, Professor of Anthropology at University of California, Irvine

Miyazaki's superbly crafted ethnography, Arbitraging Japan, follows the lives of a small group of Japanese arbitrageurs as they create instruments designed to exploit the relentless generation of pricing difference emanating from the heart of financial markets. What starts as a technical exegesis on the operation of finance, yields a vibrant account of the dreams and the predicaments of our time. The narrative is restrained, perhaps even understated, and yet what is achieved is exhilarating.--Doug Holmes, author of Integral Europe: Fast-Capitalism, Multiculturalism, Neofascism

Back Jacket

Based on fieldwork with derivatives traders, Miyazaki's Arbitraging Japan is a brilliant reexamination of finance that goes beyond simple sloganeering or calls for more (or less) regulation. Miyazaki's compelling and timely contribution to the anthropology, sociology, and philosophy of finance illuminates its actors' philosophical commitments and emphasizes its human and social aspects.--Bill Maurer, Professor of Anthropology at University of California, Irvine

"Miyazaki's superbly crafted ethnography, Arbitraging Japan, follows the lives of a small group of Japanese arbitrageurs as they create instruments designed to exploit the relentless generation of pricing difference emanating from the heart of financial markets. What starts as a technical exegesis on the operation of finance, yields a vibrant account of the dreams and the predicaments of our time. The narrative is restrained, perhaps even understated, and yet what is achieved is exhilarating."--Doug Holmes, author of Integral Europe: Fast-Capitalism, Multiculturalism, Neofascism

Author Biography

Hirokazu Miyazaki is Director of the East Asia Program and Professor of Anthropology at Cornell University.