Online | Finance as a History of Speculation
10 October 2023, 1:00 pm–2:00 pm

This event is organised by the UCL Centre for Ethics and Law
Event Information
Open to
- All
Organiser
-
UCL Laws
About this Event
This event is the pre-launch for Dr Daniele D’Alvia’s new book The Speculator of Financial Markets: How Financial Innovation and Supervision Made the Modern World to be published in December 2023 by Palgrave. The book illustrates financial markets from the point of view of their subjectivity, namely by analysing one of the most prominent figures among market operators: the speculator. Sometimes defined as smart individuals, opportunists and schemers, whose main job is to second-guess the opinions of other investors to take advantage of market information and its fluctuations. Whereas many textbooks or monographs are strictly devoted to the analysis of financial law or history, this book is telling a remarkable story based on markets’ boom-bust, expectations, banks’ fragilities, market sentiment, desires, and dreams. The fall and the rise of the entire humankind. In light of this, the book provides an outstanding introduction to the topic of the speculator through its historical, philosophical, sociological, and legal account.
Watch the video directly on our YouTube Channel or view it below
- About the Speaker
Daniele D'Alvia is a Lecturer in Banking and Finance Law at CCLS - Queen Mary University of London, an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London, and an Associate Researcher at the European Banking Institute in Frankfurt. Prior to joining Queen Mary University of London, he was the Ronnie Warrington Scholar in Comparative Law at Birkbeck College, University of London, and he was the Module Convener of Business Law at Bayes Business School, City University of London, former Cass.
Dr. Daniele D'Alvia is an internationally recognised expert on Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, Corporate Finance Law, and Investment Banking Law. He is a pioneer in SPAC studies, author of the first book on SPACs (Routledge 2021), and award-winner of the Colin B. Picker Prize by the American Society of Comparative Law.
- About the Discussant
Andreas Rahmatian is Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Glasgow, UK, specialising in intellectual property law and commercial law, comparative law, (comparative) intellectual property law, property law and property theory, intellectual history and the law. He joined the School of Law of Glasgow University in 2010. He obtained his first degree in law and a PhD in Private Law (Unjustified Enrichment) from the University of Vienna and completed another degree in musicology and history there. He also has an LLM from the University of London (comparative law and intellectual property law). He worked as an associate attorney at law in Vienna and qualified as a solicitor with a City firm in London before he became a full-time academic. During the academic year 2014-15 he was a fellow (résident) at the Institut d'études avancées in Nantes, France, where his project was about a critical legal theory of money.
Books: Copyright and Creativity: The Making of Property Rights in Creative Works (2011), Lord Kames: Legal and Social Theorist (2015), and Credit and Creed: A Critical Legal Theory of Money (2019).
- About the Centre
UCL's Centre for Ethics and Law promotes and enhances collaboration between corporates, practitioners, civil servants, academics and others around the broad themes of professional ethics and the ethics of risk. Subscribe to receive updates on the centre and similar events.
Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash