Arbitraging Japan : Dreams of Capitalism at the End of Finance

For many financial market professionals worldwide, the era of high finance is over. The times in which bankers and financiers were the primary movers and shakers of both economy and society have come to an abrupt halt. What has this shift meant for the future of capitalism? What has it meant for the future of the financial industry? What about the lives and careers of financial operators who were once driven by utopian visions of economic, social, and personal transformation? And what does it mean for critics of capitalism who have long predicted the end of financial institutions? Hirokazu Miyazaki answers these questions through a close examination of the careers and intellectual trajectories of a group of pioneering derivatives traders in Japan during the 1990's and 2000's Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 14 1. Shakespearean Arbitrage 37 2. Between Arbitrage and Speculation 56 3. Trading on the Limits of Learning 83 4. Economy of Dreams 102 5. The Last Dream 125 6. From Arbitrage to the Gift 146 Notes 166 References 182 Index 204 A 204 B 205 C 205 D 206 E 206 F 206 G 207 H 207 I 208 J 208 K 208 L 208 M 209 N 209 O 209 P 210 Q 210 R 210 S 210 T 211 U 212 V 212 W 212 Y 212 Z 212 What has it meant for future of the financial industry? What about the lives and careers of financial operators who were once driven by utopian visions of economic, social, and personal transformation? And what does it mean for critics of capitalism who have long predicted the end of financial institutions? This book deals with these questions. This book examines the careers and intellectual trajectories of a group of pioneering derivatives traders in Japan during the 1990s and 2000s. It explores what happened to these people when both the economy and society came to an abrupt halt. It also looks at what this shift meant for the future of capitalism and the financial industry For many financial market professionals worldwide, the era of high finance is over. In this book, the author examines the careers and intellectual trajectories of a group of pioneering derivatives traders in Japan during the 1990s and 2000s