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Journal of Economic Geography Advance Access originally published online on May 19, 2006
Journal of Economic Geography 2006 6(5):661-678; doi:10.1093/jeg/lbl008
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© The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

What counts? Exploring the production of quantitative financial narratives in London's corporate finance industry

Sarah Hall*

* Department of Geography, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leics, LE11 3TU, UK email <S.J.E.Hall{at}lboro.ac.uk>

This article examines quantitative finance research practices in London's corporate finance industry. These calculative devices, produced by research analysts, are built around the modelling of a suite of financial metrics. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in London, the article argues that the way such techniques were deployed in the early 2000s is best understood by combining insights from the social studies of finance on the power of financial formulae with an appreciation of the epistemic communities of corporate finance research practice. In particular, I document how the conflict of interest cases brought against investment banks, the significant redundancies made across financial services in London at the time and the bursting of the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) bubble encouraged analysts to construct a rhetoric of ‘scientific rigour’ around their use of quantitative financial narratives that they then used to legitimize the use of such techniques to both colleagues and clients.

Keywords: quantitative financial narratives, corporate finance analysts, investment banks, London,
JEL classifications: B59, D83, G21
Date submitted: 6 October 2005     Date accepted: 25 April 2006


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