Coordinator:

Oliver Kessler (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), oliver.kessler@uni-bielefeld.de

This research area provides a pluralistic forum for the analysis of financial markets. All aspects of finance are taken into consideration. Given the current economic situation, this research area pays particular attention to financial crises. The current economic crisis shows that financial markets have changed substantially since the 1970s: it was made possible by a specific assemblage of financial actors, practices and instruments. It raises questions of how financial markets work, what their function in contemporary capitalist systems actually is and how systemic risks are produced and managed. For the next year, it pays attention to the analysis of:

- New actors like Rating Agencies and Hedge Funds;

- The change of the national, transnational, regional and global institutional framework;

- The consequences of practices like securitization;

- Questions of financialisation;

- The production and regulation of systemic risks;

- Historical analyses of financial crises.

Anyone who wishes to be associated with it, or may wish to participate in collaborative research in this rapidly changing field, or who may wish to offer a paper in a special session at a future EAEPE conference, should send their email address to the coordinator.