Opening the black boxes of global finance

Author: MacKenzie, Donald¹

Source: Review of International Political Economy, Volume 12, Number 4, October 2005 , pp. 555-576(22)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

This paper advocates the application to global finance of one of the central heuristics of science studies: open the black box. Black boxes are devices, practices, or organizations that are opaque to outsiders, often because their contents are regarded as `technical'. The goal of opening black boxes is to discover how they are kept opaque; how they structure their `contexts'; and how those contexts are inscribed within them. Four types of black box in finance are discussed: option pricing theory; arbitrage; `ethnoaccountancy'; and regulation. The limitations of the opening of black boxes as an oppositional strategy are also discussed.

Keywords: Science studies; option pricing; arbitrage; ethnoaccountancy; regulation; black box

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/09692290500240222

Affiliations: 1: University of Edinburgh

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