Big Ideas How to build a stock exchange — the past, present and future of finance
Oct 20, 2025
Philip Roscoe, a Professor of Management at the University of St Andrews and author of How to Build a Stock Exchange, dives into the complex history of financial markets. He reveals how finance has shaped societies, from the slave trade to today's speculative bubbles. Roscoe discusses the impact of the London Stock Exchange's origins, the cultural shifts during the 1980s Big Bang, and how automation has transformed trading. He also examines the rise of the dot-com boom and the fragility of modern financial spectacles, concluding with thoughts on the future of cryptocurrencies.
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Finance As Social Technology
- Finance is a social technology that mirrors society's desires, hopes and fears.
- The stock exchange acts as a fulcrum wielding capital's leverage for good or ill.
The Zong Massacre And An Insurance Trial
- Philip Roscoe recounts the 1781 Zong massacre where 133 enslaved people were thrown overboard.
- The incident became a civil insurance case, revealing how finance sanitised and monetised human life.
Slavery Embedded In Financial Instruments
- Liverpool tied bills of exchange to human lives, converting enslaved people into circulating financial instruments.
- Slavery functioned simultaneously as commodity trade and an informal banking reserve for short-term credit.
