Stefan Lein
Biographic Data
| ID | 121860 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stefan Lein |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stefan |
| FAMILY NAME | Lein |
| SIGNATURE | LEIN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bern |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3653-865X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 96 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Economic moralities
This special issue, ‘“Economic Moralities: Value claims on the future,” examines how social actors – who occupy vastly different positions in the global economy – draw on notions of morality in their efforts to orient the circulation of material resources. We use the term economic moralities to describe moral discourses regarding material circulation or the accumulation, consumption, and/or (re)distribution of wealth. Ethnographically grounded, a…
Beyond mining
Economic activities that involve natural resources are often associated with precarious terms of employment, uneven relationships between local communities and state authorities and transregional inequalities. In anthropology, the role of intermediaries who connect producers and consumers in the context of commodity trade remains largely unexplored. In this article, I want to go beyond mining to share an ethnographic account of how physical commo…
Narrative Authority
Understanding and anticipating market movements plays a critical role in current capitalist activity. Through the assessment of the present and the engagement in the unknowable future, financial-market participants create financial opportunities. At the heart of this process is the work of experts who claim to provide 'thorough analyses' of economic trends and market movements. In this article, I illustrate how analysts – a powerful guild of econ…
Responsible investment
This paper looks at recent forms of ‘responsible investment’. It follows the use of ESG within a large global bank. ESG is a valuation technique that takes into account environmental, social and governance issues. Drawing on ethnographic data, the paper explores how ESG has become an accepted concept among financial analysts, and looks at how they implement it in their everyday calculations. It argues that ESG enables financial analysts to unders…
The Politics of Circulating Narratives
This chapter focuses on the role of financial analysts as market intermediaries. It explains how financial analysts interact with other groups that are part of Swiss Bank, as well as with the final recipients of their market forecasts outside the bank. In so doing, the chapter describes how the narratives created circulate between analysts, wealth managers and clients. Also, it describes how wealth managers and clients use the narratives when mak…
Analysts as Animators
This chapter elaborates on the role of the financial analysts for their host institution. It addresses the fact that, despite usually being presented as neutral observers and interpreters of the market, analysts have an active role in promoting investments. This active role shapes the everyday life of financial analysts and materializes in the way they think about investing activities. Also, in their role as animators, analysts actively influence…
Intrinsic Value, Market Value, and the Search for Information
This chapter deals with the financial analysts’ assumption that companies have a so-called intrinsic value that can be identified and is partly reflected in the stock price. It highlights the role the search for new information plays in the endeavor to define such intrinsic value. In explaining how analysts frame, select, and weight information, it shows that, rather than being a straightforward activity, financial analysis is heavily influenced …
The Problem with Forecasting in Economic Theory
This chapter elaborates on the relationship between economic theory and forecasting as a market practice. By going back to early 20th-century empirical studies and reflecting on the emergence of neoclassical economics, it shows that market forecasting has long been considered problematic from an economic perspective. It also looks at alternative approaches in economics, namely behavioral finance and new institutional economics, and claims that ev…
Why the Economy Needs Narratives
This chapter summarizes the ethnography and links it to a broader debate on how the work of financial analysts, while having no legitimacy in economic theory, could be understood from an anthropological perspective. It highlights the importance of narratives in financial market operations and claims that the relevance of financial analysts in financial markets is based on their ability to provide other market participants with such investment nar…
Among Financial Analysts
This chapter describes the structure and the people of Swiss Bank, which is the field site of this ethnographic study. It looks at the infrastructure of the financial analysis department, elaborates on the professional networks, and explains what it takes to become a financial analyst. In so doing, it develops and anthropological perspective and the personal and professional lives of financial analysts.
Meeting the Predictors
This chapter introduces the research setting and shows how this book is relevant to anyone that aims to understand the underlying principles of today’s financial market capitalism. It situates the ethnographic study of financial analysts in the current academic debates on neoliberal practices and performative economics and introduces the role of narratives as an important, yet little regarded, topic in the study of financial market practices.
The Construction of an Investment Narrative
This chapter describes how financial analysts transform pieces gathered from information, affect, and normative foundations into investment narratives. It explains how parts of these different knowledge regimes are assembled and reconfigured in order to form coherent narratives. In the second part of the chapter, graphic examples are given to illustrate how investment narratives a spelled out, framed and visualized.
Inside Swiss Banking
This chapter gives an overview of the history of Swiss banking, of how Zurich became a financial center and of how the social role of the Swiss banker emerged over time. It introduces how financial analysts present themselves as a group and how they distinguish themselves from other groups in banking. It shows that, to become influential, analysts depend heavily on the notion that bankers are not a homogeneous group but a conglomerate of various …
Stories of Capitalism
of Chicago Press, and the manuscript's reviewers for believing in my book and helping me to improve it.Daromir Rudnyckyj, who agreed to reveal his identity, was one of the reviewers.His detailed and inspiring comments are now reflected in many parts of the book.Last but not least, my family and friends provided me with unwavering
Appadurai, Arjun
Anthropos , Seite 294 - 295
Pricing the revolution
On 25 January 2011, thousands of Egyptians gathered to raise their voices against their country's long‐standing president, Hosni Mubarak. I received the news as I was conducting fieldwork in a research department of an international bank based in Zurich. Here, I document how Egypt's revolution was perceived, discussed and interpreted within this research department. I argue that the process of ‘pricing the revolution’ that took place may be under…
Stories of Capitalism
of Chicago Press, and the manuscript's reviewers for believing in my book and helping me to improve it.Daromir Rudnyckyj, who agreed to reveal his identity, was one of the reviewers.His detailed and inspiring comments are now reflected in many parts of the book.Last but not least, my family and friends provided me with unwavering
Responsible investment
This paper looks at recent forms of ‘responsible investment’. It follows the use of ESG within a large global bank. ESG is a valuation technique that takes into account environmental, social and governance issues. Drawing on ethnographic data, the paper explores how ESG has become an accepted concept among financial analysts, and looks at how they implement it in their everyday calculations. It argues that ESG enables financial analysts to unders…
Narrative Authority
Understanding and anticipating market movements plays a critical role in current capitalist activity. Through the assessment of the present and the engagement in the unknowable future, financial-market participants create financial opportunities. At the heart of this process is the work of experts who claim to provide 'thorough analyses' of economic trends and market movements. In this article, I illustrate how analysts – a powerful guild of econ…
Pricing the revolution
On 25 January 2011, thousands of Egyptians gathered to raise their voices against their country's long‐standing president, Hosni Mubarak. I received the news as I was conducting fieldwork in a research department of an international bank based in Zurich. Here, I document how Egypt's revolution was perceived, discussed and interpreted within this research department. I argue that the process of ‘pricing the revolution’ that took place may be under…
Pricing the revolution
On 25 January 2011, thousands of Egyptians gathered to raise their voices against their country's long‐standing president, Hosni Mubarak. I received the news as I was conducting fieldwork in a research department of an international bank based in Zurich. Here, I document how Egypt's revolution was perceived, discussed and interpreted within this research department. I argue that the process of ‘pricing the revolution’ that took place may be under…
Stories of Capitalism
of Chicago Press, and the manuscript's reviewers for believing in my book and helping me to improve it.Daromir Rudnyckyj, who agreed to reveal his identity, was one of the reviewers.His detailed and inspiring comments are now reflected in many parts of the book.Last but not least, my family and friends provided me with unwavering
Appadurai, Arjun
Anthropos , Seite 294 - 295
The Politics of Circulating Narratives
This chapter focuses on the role of financial analysts as market intermediaries. It explains how financial analysts interact with other groups that are part of Swiss Bank, as well as with the final recipients of their market forecasts outside the bank. In so doing, the chapter describes how the narratives created circulate between analysts, wealth managers and clients. Also, it describes how wealth managers and clients use the narratives when mak…
Analysts as Animators
This chapter elaborates on the role of the financial analysts for their host institution. It addresses the fact that, despite usually being presented as neutral observers and interpreters of the market, analysts have an active role in promoting investments. This active role shapes the everyday life of financial analysts and materializes in the way they think about investing activities. Also, in their role as animators, analysts actively influence…
Intrinsic Value, Market Value, and the Search for Information
This chapter deals with the financial analysts’ assumption that companies have a so-called intrinsic value that can be identified and is partly reflected in the stock price. It highlights the role the search for new information plays in the endeavor to define such intrinsic value. In explaining how analysts frame, select, and weight information, it shows that, rather than being a straightforward activity, financial analysis is heavily influenced …
The Problem with Forecasting in Economic Theory
This chapter elaborates on the relationship between economic theory and forecasting as a market practice. By going back to early 20th-century empirical studies and reflecting on the emergence of neoclassical economics, it shows that market forecasting has long been considered problematic from an economic perspective. It also looks at alternative approaches in economics, namely behavioral finance and new institutional economics, and claims that ev…
Why the Economy Needs Narratives
This chapter summarizes the ethnography and links it to a broader debate on how the work of financial analysts, while having no legitimacy in economic theory, could be understood from an anthropological perspective. It highlights the importance of narratives in financial market operations and claims that the relevance of financial analysts in financial markets is based on their ability to provide other market participants with such investment nar…
Among Financial Analysts
This chapter describes the structure and the people of Swiss Bank, which is the field site of this ethnographic study. It looks at the infrastructure of the financial analysis department, elaborates on the professional networks, and explains what it takes to become a financial analyst. In so doing, it develops and anthropological perspective and the personal and professional lives of financial analysts.
Meeting the Predictors
This chapter introduces the research setting and shows how this book is relevant to anyone that aims to understand the underlying principles of today’s financial market capitalism. It situates the ethnographic study of financial analysts in the current academic debates on neoliberal practices and performative economics and introduces the role of narratives as an important, yet little regarded, topic in the study of financial market practices.
The Construction of an Investment Narrative
This chapter describes how financial analysts transform pieces gathered from information, affect, and normative foundations into investment narratives. It explains how parts of these different knowledge regimes are assembled and reconfigured in order to form coherent narratives. In the second part of the chapter, graphic examples are given to illustrate how investment narratives a spelled out, framed and visualized.
Inside Swiss Banking
This chapter gives an overview of the history of Swiss banking, of how Zurich became a financial center and of how the social role of the Swiss banker emerged over time. It introduces how financial analysts present themselves as a group and how they distinguish themselves from other groups in banking. It shows that, to become influential, analysts depend heavily on the notion that bankers are not a homogeneous group but a conglomerate of various …
Narrative Authority
Understanding and anticipating market movements plays a critical role in current capitalist activity. Through the assessment of the present and the engagement in the unknowable future, financial-market participants create financial opportunities. At the heart of this process is the work of experts who claim to provide 'thorough analyses' of economic trends and market movements. In this article, I illustrate how analysts – a powerful guild of econ…
Responsible investment
This paper looks at recent forms of ‘responsible investment’. It follows the use of ESG within a large global bank. ESG is a valuation technique that takes into account environmental, social and governance issues. Drawing on ethnographic data, the paper explores how ESG has become an accepted concept among financial analysts, and looks at how they implement it in their everyday calculations. It argues that ESG enables financial analysts to unders…
Beyond mining
Economic activities that involve natural resources are often associated with precarious terms of employment, uneven relationships between local communities and state authorities and transregional inequalities. In anthropology, the role of intermediaries who connect producers and consumers in the context of commodity trade remains largely unexplored. In this article, I want to go beyond mining to share an ethnographic account of how physical commo…
Economic moralities
This special issue, ‘“Economic Moralities: Value claims on the future,” examines how social actors – who occupy vastly different positions in the global economy – draw on notions of morality in their efforts to orient the circulation of material resources. We use the term economic moralities to describe moral discourses regarding material circulation or the accumulation, consumption, and/or (re)distribution of wealth. Ethnographically grounded, a…
Business (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Economics (8 works) · Finance (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Narrative (5 works) · Finance (4 works) · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism (4 works)