Tarim, Emre (2017) Turning the tables : how individual investors make use of data publics to take advantage of institutional investors. In: Data Publics: Investigating the formation and representation of crowds, groups and clusters in digital economies, 2017-03-31 - 2017-04-02, Lancaster University. (Unpublished)
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
In the scholarly and popular discussions about the digital age and big data, there is a tendency to attribute a relatively weaker agency to individual actors vis-à-vis institutional actors such as corporations, and the state. While this is not surprising given the way data publics are generally constructed and used by powerful institutional actors, individual actors can actually make use of data publics in ways that empower them vis-à-vis institutional actors. In this exhibit, I will take you around the story of how in the Turkish stock market, since its opening in the 1986, the retail investor figure has incessantly sought to mould an elusive investor figure – namely the foreign institutional investor, into a data public to be able make judgements and decisions in the market place. The regulatory stance towards this retail investor interest had long been defined by the regulators’ concern for market liquidity, which translated into a rather transparent data environment that helped the Turkish retail investors in their judgements and decisions. This environment has in recent years been substituted with a regulatory desire to lift the Turkish market to developed market standards, and a concomitantly increasing data obstruction that has been welcomed by foreign institutional investors. Yet, this story ends with another twist that is poised to turn the tables again…