The engineering of stock market indices

Winners and Losers

Bibliographic Data

ID7878854
AuthorsTom Duterme (0000-0003-2750-8181, UCLouvain, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume16
Issue1
Pages17-31
Publication date2023-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Cultural Economy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1753-0350 • E-ISSN: 1753-0369
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17530350.2022.2098513
OpenAlexW4304689474
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited18

Stock market indices are among the important figures that are followed in the trading rooms: on the movements of the Dow Jones or the S&P 500 depends the allocation of billions of dollars. At the same time, for the companies that produce and publish them, but also for those whose shares are included in them, they represent a significant source of visibility – and therefore of income. Based on an ethnographic survey at the Brussels stock exchange, this article documents how the different financial actors – aware of the performativity of stock market indices – try to impact their shape. The divergent opinions and interests of these actors are the source of methodological tensions at the heart of these numbers. Through the methods of calculation and selection chosen, the engineers of the indices make perilous trade-offs with far-reaching consequences. By exposing the cognitive and political debates that these indicators crystallise, this article also highlights the unequal representation of the various stakeholders within these statistics. This type of inequality, veiled by the numerical formatting, often goes under the radar of social scientists

Economics · Financial economics · Performativity · Political science · Politics · Publication · Sociology · Stock exchange · Stock market · Stock market index · History · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Finance

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access