Le jeu d’argent et la spéculation : quelques enseignements à tirer de l’oeuvre de Balzac dans le cadre d’une anthropologie des marchés financiers

Abstract

for specialists in economics who insist on the rationality of the actors (optimizing, mimetic or self-referential rationality ...) and on the assumption of a market efficiency: its capacity to ensure an optimal allocation of capital. In the nineteenth century, there existed a "stock market novel” where the Stock Exchange is described as a shambles (synonymous of disorder, mess…). For individuals, it’s passion that speaks whenever it comes to money. In two texts, Honoré de Balzac illustrates the on-going transformation of the structure of the dominant classes under the effect of money circulation. Capital markets are seen as black holes in which outsiders develop strategies on the edge of legality in order to make a fortune. It tells stories of unjust enrichment intended to trick gullible small savers. In a society that sees its traditional social values declining, the state finds it hard to say what public morality should be. Should we let the invisible hand act with the idea of attracting capital to finance public debts? Should we regulate to avoid fraudulent behavior at the origin of stock market crashes? Should we close the stock exchange and thus outlaw speculation on the ground that this is only a sort of gambling?