Arbitraging Japan: Dreams of Capitalism at the End of Finance

212 Pages·2013·1.59 MB·English

by  Hirokazu Miyazaki

Arbitraging Japan
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Arbitraging Japan
Dreams of Capitalism at the End of Finance
Hirokazu Miyazaki
University of California Press
Berkeley • Los Angeles • London
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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2013 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miyazaki, Hirokazu.
Arbitraging Japan : dreams of capitalism at the end
of fi nance / Hirokazu Miyazaki.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-520-27347-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-520-27348-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Stockbrokers—Japan—Case studies.
2. Investment analysis—Japan—Case studies.
3. Arbitrage—Japan—Case studies. 4. Finance—
Japan—Case studies. I. Title.
HG5774.3.M59 2013
332.60952—dc23
201202 7300
Manufactured in the United States of America
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with a commitment to support
environmentally responsible and sustainable printing
practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland
Enviro100, a 100% post-consumer fi ber paper that
is FSC certifi ed, deinked, processed chlorine-free,
and manufactured with renewable biogas energy.
It is acid-free and EcoLogo certifi ed.
For Annelise and Xavier
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. Shakespearean Arbitrage 24
2. Between Arbitrage and Speculation 43
3. Trading on the Limits of Learning 70
4. Economy of Dreams 89
5. The Last Dream 112
6. From Arbitrage to the Gift 133
Notes 153
References 169
Index 191
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Acknowledgments
This book is based on longitudinal ethnographic fi eld research among
Japanese fi nancial market professionals in Tokyo completed between
1998 and 2011. It seeks to recapture these professionals’ excitement
about techniques of fi nance and the capacity of those techniques to
transform economy and society. My research was assisted by a grant
from the Abe Fellowship Program administered by the Social Science
Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies in
cooperation with and with funds provided by the Japan Foundation
Center for Global Partnership. The initial phases of the project were
supported by the American Bar Foundation, and more recent research
trips to Tokyo were made possible by research funds generously pro-
vided by Cornell University.
Special thanks are due to Jacquelyn Ball, Laura Cocora, Alexander
Gordon, Davydd Greenwood, Vinny Ialenti, Annelise Riles, Jennifer
Shannon, and Chika Watanabe for reading the entire manuscript and
generously offering line-by-line comments. I also benefi ted a great deal
from detailed comments on individual chapters provided by the follow-
ing people: Tom Boellstorff, Walter Cohen, Tony Crook, Yuji Genda,
Douglas Holmes, Naoki Kasuga, Webb Keane, Donald MacKenzie, Bill
Maurer, Katrina Moore, Adam Reed, and Richard Swedberg.
Over the last ten years, I have presented versions of the argument I
develop in this book at various seminar series, workshops, and confer-
ences. I thank all who attended and commented on my presentations,
especially Allison Alexy, Michael Allen, Anne Allison, Masahiko Aoki,
Diane Austin-Broos, Frank Baldwin, Brett de Bary, João Biehl, Luc
ix