Contemporary financial markets have been characterized by sociocultural phenomena such as "meme stocks", the Gamestop short squeeze, and "You Only Live Once (YOLO) trading". These are movements led by small-scale retail investors banding together to participate forcefully in financial markets through decentralized but coordinated actions.
This book deploys many different subdisciplines to explore the recent ‘power grabbing’ of retail investors and the online environment that enables them to join the ranks of major financial players, and participate in contemporary capitalism. It offers multiple perspectives on the genesis, role, motivations, power, and future prospects of retail investors as a force in contemporary financial markets. Drawing upon the insights of authors hailing from many different countries, the book frames YOLO capitalism through numerous angles that help to explain the context and the importance of activist retail investors in modern financial markets, and thereby explore the possibilities of a transformed financial future with much wider small-scale participation.
The book assesses the potential of online - and other - communities in enabling global coordination in impacting or even driving financial and crypto markets, and the challenges that come with it and weighs the competing narratives both positive and negative regarding YOLO capitalism. It strikes a balanced assessment of their legal, cultural, behavioural, economic, and political roles in modern finance.
This book will be of interest to a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary audience of scholars in financial markets, financial regulation, political economy, public administration, macroeconomics, corporate governance, and the philosophy and the sociology of finance.
Author(s): Usman W. Chohan, Sven Van Kerckhoven
Series: Routledge International Studies in Money and Banking
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 255
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
About the Editors
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
List of Tables
List of Figures
Appendices
Acronyms
Timeline
1 Introduction
Background
Overview of This Book
Concluding Remarks
Part 1 Retail Investors as Drivers, Creators, and Mediators of Value
2 Public Value Theory and YOLO Capitalism
Introduction
Civil Society as Driver of Value
Measuring and Ascribing Public Value
GameStop Short Squeeze and the Reddit Rebellion
Embodiment of Values
(Re)measurement and (Re)appropriation of Value
Public Managerial and Political Responses
Strategic Triangle
Conclusion
3 Happier than Ever: The Role of Public Sentiment in Cryptocurrencies, Meme Stocks, and NFTs
2021: Year of the NFT?
Affect and Populism in Political Theory
A Pandemia of Fear and Greed: Sentiment, Mood, and Interest in Finance
Planet of the Apes: NFTs and the Celebrity Culture
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
4 GameStop, WallStreetBets, and Capital as Power
Introduction
Setting the Stage for the Surge
The Gathering Storm
Capital as (Social) Power
Conclusion
5 Speculative Behavior and Expectations in Economic Turmoil: A Keynesian View
Introduction
Decline in Investors’ Relative Knowledge
Animal Spirits
The Tyranny of Experts
Conclusion
6 Memes as Cultural Artifacts: YOLO Investors, Degeneracy, and the Memeified Economy
Introduction
“I Am Not a Cat”: Behind the Scenes at r/WallStreetBets
The Meaning of Memes
Memes and Common Sense
Memes Bridge Divides
Conclusion
Part 2 Retail Investors as Activists, Renegades, and Disruptors
7 Narrative Economics and YOLO Investors: r/WallStreetBets and the GameStop Short Squeeze
Introduction
The Arrival of the YOLO Investor
Narrative Economics and Meme Stocks Going Viral
Online Fora as Information Distributors
Online Forums as a Disciplinary Tool
Regulatory Reactions to Online Outlets
Conclusion
8 The Behavioral Biases of Cryptocurrency Retail Investors: Lessons from ICOs
Introduction
Heuristics and Biases
Personality Traits
Methodology
Results
Descriptive Results
Personality Traits and Behavioral Biases of ICO Retail Investors
Analysis of Investor Satisfaction for ICO Investments
Discussion
Impact on Other YOLO Investment Classes
Conclusion
Limitations and Future Research
Acknowledgment
9 FOMO in Digital Assets
Introduction
Fear of Missing Out in ICO Markets
Empirical Estimator Specification
Data and Methodology
ICO Organization Retail Investor Survey Data
Empirical Strategy
Results
Conclusion
10 Is a Trader a Trader, No Matter How Small?
Introduction
One: Financial Education
Two: Toying with Money
Three: Policy Implications
Four: Around the World
Concluding Remarks
11 Social Movements in Contemporary Political Economy: Lessons from YOLO Retail Investors
Introduction
The GameStop Experience: Social Movement Parallels
Participation, Motivation, and Regulation: Broader Reflections from a Contemporary Political Economy Perspective
Conclusion
12 Retail Investors and Anti-system Politics Online
Two Weeks in January
Transformations in the Broader US Economy and Society
Accelerating Social Inequality in the Pandemic
The Sociology of Anti-system Politics
Conclusion
13 Counter-hegemonic Finance: The GameStop Short Squeeze
Introduction
One: On Gramscian Aspirations
Two: The Shadow of 2008 and Occupy Wall Street
Three: The Gramscian Lens for the GSS
Conclusion: The Counter-hegemony of the Apes?
14 Conclusion
Conclusion: On YOLO Capitalism
Key Lessons
Activist Retail Investors Suffer from Many Biases
Some Activist Retail Investors Are Bounded by an Ethical Calculus or Moral Directive
YOLO Capitalism Is a Living Social Phenomenon
Activist Retail Investors Are a Symbolic Society in Leisurely Pursuit
Activist Retail Investors Remain Nestled within Capitalism’s Logic
Limitations
Future Areas of Research
Final Words
Index
