On arbitration, arbitrage and arbitrariness in financial markets and their governance

Unpacking Libor and the Libor scandal

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2159689
AutoresPhilip Ashton (0000-0001-9257-9424), Brett Christophers (0000-0002-6245-7378)
Ano2015
Volume44
Fascículo2
Páginas188-217
Data de publicação2015-04-03
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEconomy and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03085147.2015.1013352
OpenAlexW1972030749
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas27
Referências citadas22

Amongst a series of scandals to hit international financial markets in recent years, that surrounding the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) – a highly influential interest rate benchmark – has attracted particularly intense media scrutiny. This paper seeks to push beyond conventional understandings to unpack critically both LIBOR itself and the scandal involving its manipulation by major international banks. Envisioning LIBOR as a commodity beset by inherent contradictions, the paper mobilizes the tropes of arbitration, arbitrage and arbitrariness to illuminate, respectively: the market-making work performed by LIBOR; its role in enabling the transfer of financial risk, most notably when fraudulently manipulated; and the nature of the regulatory prosecution of such manipulation

Arbitrage · Arbitrariness · Corporate governance · Economics · Financial economics · Financial market · Interest rate · Libor · Monetary economics · Political science · Scrutiny · Banking stability, regulation, efficiency · Global Financial Regulation and Crises · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Finance · Law