Yesterday’s Tomorrows: Past Visions of Future Financial Markets

Abstract

[evdate 2015-05-08] IAS Quantitative Finance Seminar Series. Title from opening screen.

Abstract: It is easy to imagine that the present, yesterday's tomorrow was always the future expected in the past. Yet, what we now accept as the normal state of affairs, the present was not the only possible outcome that could have come to pass nor was it often the most commonly expected one. What is now considered 'inevitable' - when viewed from the vantage point of 20/20 hindsight - was often not immediately embraced or accepted. In order to understand where we are going it is important to understand where we have been and how we got there. The speaker will discuss some past visions of the future of financial markets, in general, and derivative markets, in particular, as seen by academics, practitioners and policymakers at various points in time. There are few advantages of age but one of them is the opportunity to witness changes and remember the contemporary context in which they occurred. The speaker will also share his observations about some of the important changes in financial markets; first as a student of finance, and later with service: at a regulator; at an exchange; as a trader; in academia. The speaker will draw upon some of his recollections and personal experiences in the discussion that follows.

Prof Robert I. Webb received his MBA and PhD, both in Finance, at University of Chicago. Before joining the University of Virginia, he was a consultant to the World Bank and he traded on the floor at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He also served as a Senior Financial Economist at both the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Prof Webb’s research interests include derivative securities and markets, trading and the behavior of speculative prices and market microstructure. He is the editor of Journal of Futures Markets, published by Wiley-Blackwell. He is also the author of Macroeconomic Information and Financial Trading, Trading Catalysts: How Events Move Markets and Create Trading Opportunities and Shock Markets: Trading Lessons for Volatile Times.

Duration: 90 min.