Traders: Risks, Decisions, and Management in Financial Markets [Hardcover]

Mark Fenton-O'Creevy (Author), Nigel Nicholson (Author), Emma Soane (Author), Paul Willman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0199269483 | ISBN-13: 978-0199269488

This is a book about traders in financial markets: what they do, the kind of people they are, how they perceive the world they inhabit, how they make decisions and take risks. This is also a book about how traders are managed-the best and the worst examples-and about the institutions they inhabit: firms, markets, cultures and theories of how the world works. How these institutions function, how traders are managed, and how traders view the world, all have profound effects on the wider financial environment. This book explores these relationships and their implications theoretically and empirically. The data discussed in this book on a three-year project researching the psychological and social influences on the behavior and performance of traders in investment banks. One hundred and eighteen traders and managers in four leading organizations participated. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews supplemented by questionnaries, measures of personality, risk propensity and a novel computer based measure designed to assess illusion of control and other cognitive biases. The authors' approach to writing this book is explicitly interdisciplinary. hey draw on sociology, psychology and econics in order to illuminate the work of traders and the world they inhabit. The book is a significant contribution to the growing body of research and literature suggesting that if we are to effectively understand financial markets and the actors who inhabit them, the insights of neo-classical financial economics need supplementing with a broader range of social science approaches. The book will be of value to researchers interested in the functioning of financial institutions and markets, to those with an interest in market regulation and to practitioners wishing to benefit from an analytical perspective on the challenges facing traders and their managers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This volume reports on an original study examining psychological and social influences on the behavior and performance of traders in investment banks."--Book News

"Although the number of participants in this study is small, the findings are a valuable contribution to behavioral finance literature."--CHOICE

About the Author

Mark Fenton O'Creevy is Professor of Organisational Behaviour, and Director, Programmes and Curriculum, at the Open University Business School. Nigel Nicholson is Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the London Business School. He has been honoured by the American Academy of Management with an award for his contribution to theory and method, and is a Fellow of both the British Psychological Society and the British Academy of Management. Emma Soane is a Reader at Kingston Business School. She is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist. Paul Willman is a Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, and the inaugural Ernest Butten Professor of Management Studies in the Said Business School. He is Editor in Chief of Human Relations and a Fellow of the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 252 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199269483
• ISBN-13: 978-0199269488
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,811,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book available on Trading...system actually works, November 20, 2007

By 

Edward R. Lovette (Anaheim, ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Traders: Risks, Decisions, and Management in Financial Markets (Paperback)

I have read 400 books on trading ...and this one is by far one of the best if not the best...it is written people who have learned the markets in The City(London)...and is simply amazing.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trading as a Human Activity, May 16, 2006

By 

Professional Trader (Kingston-upon-Thames, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traders: Risks, Decisions, and Management in Financial Markets (Hardcover)

This small (in size) book is all the more remarkable for its density of details including (but not limited to): how markets work, how traders make money (most of the ways), a concise summary of many of the contemporary of theories of mind and motivation as well as what it might mean to develop traders as professionals and trading as an actual career path.

While this book will not make the individual trader richer, by hints and by nudges, the authors suggest how the strategic reorganization of a trading firm could.

Charles Faulkner - featured in The New Market Wizards, The Intuitive Trader and Trend Following.