Of late, I’ve grown very interested in the problem of financial communication. Unlike other recent financial bubbles, the European sovereign crisis has cast the spotlight on government responses to the capital markets — and in the government messages that elicited such response. But understanding the crisis thus calls for a combined of political and financial lens — a challenge that the novel discipline of the sociology of finance is particularly well suited to do.

So what is the role of financial communication in this crisis? This coming Thursday March 10th I’ll be giving a presentation on the topic in London. Focussing on Spain (my own country), it is interesting to consider how the country managed to stave off a crisis of investor confidence and the corresponding bailout. The opportunity to study this ethnographically came up two months ago, when I realized that the “the action” was really taking place among London-based investors. Building on my previous work on financial valuation and on interviews with key decision-makers in London, I have examined a critical change in the communication strategy pursued by the Spanish government during 2010-11, including the decision to come to London for road-shows, media meetings and especially direct meetings with London-based Spanish bankers and fund managers. My talk outlines the principles for an effective financial communication in business as well as politics.

The presentation is open to anyone, and it will take place at 8.00 pm at the Churchill Room Mecklenburgh Square, Goodenough College, London WC1N 2AB, and is co-organized by the Spanish Society of the London School of Economics.

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