Floor Rules: Insider Culture in Financial Markets(Yale Series in Economic and Financial History)

A compelling account of how markets really govern themselves, and why they often baffle and outrage outsiders One of the reasons many people believe financial markets are lawless and irrational—and rigged—is that they follow two sets of rules. The official rules, set by law or by the heads of the exchanges, exist alongside the unofficial rules, or floor rules—which are the ones that actually govern. Break the official rules and you may be fined or jailed; break the floor rules and you'll suffer worse: you will be ostracized. Regulations vary across markets, but the floor rules are remarkably consistent. This book, offering compelling stories of market disturbances in which insider rules played a key role, shows readers, without excessive moralizing, how markets really govern themselves. It is a study of the norms, customs, values, and operating modes of the insiders at the center of the financial markets that trade money, stocks, bonds, futures, and other financial derivatives. The core insiders who rule trading markets are a relatively small group who exert disproportionate influence on financial systems. Mark W. Geiger examines the historical roots of the culture of financial markets, describes the role insiders play in today's high finance, and suggests where this peculiar, ingrown culture is heading in an era of constant technological change.

About the Author :
Mark W. Geiger is an independent scholar and historian. He has served as vice president for special projects at Kidder, Peabody in New York. His previous book, Financial Fraud and Guerilla Violence in Missouri’s Civil War, 1861–1865, won the Tom Watson Brown Book Award and the Francis B. Simkins Award.

Review :
“Geiger explains how and why ‘inside players’ created crises out of financial innovations in the past and recent past.  All ‘outsiders’ should read this book before the next crisis!”—Larry Neal, professor emeritus of economics, University of Illinois “Mark Geiger blends history with personal experience to provide a revealing look into the unchanging and peculiarly amoral culture of ‘the market crowd’ operating at the center of world financial markets.”—Richard Sylla, coauthor of Alexander Hamilton on Finance, Credit, and Debt “As a sociologist who has studied financial markets for years, I can attest to the veracity of Mark W. Geiger’s analysis of how these markets really operate. With remarkable clarity and insight, he peels back layers of misinformation and misconception to reveal the enduring counterculture of market insiders.”—Wayne Baker, author of All You Have to Do Is Ask “Studies in skullduggery via histories of behavior among finance insiders, this book will fascinate and inform people serious about the enduring social organization of finance.”—Ron Burt, author of Structural Holes and coeditor of the Oxford book series on Social Network Mechanisms