| Summary/Abstract |
A small but dominant group of global financial elites has been trained in France. These elites hold powerful positions in the global derivatives industry, most prominently in the field of equity derivatives. The specialized French role is both a cause and a consequence of the intensifying use of derivatives, one of the major developments in global financial capitalism. Equity derivatives have spread from France to Europe, and now to Asia, with London and Hong Kong serving as control centers. Three factors are key in explaining the French niche in global derivatives. First, particular characteristics of national systems, in this case highly advanced French mathematics education, can spawn market dominance in specific areas of the global economy. Second, French networks, founded on shared experiences in French schools and French banks, are both relatively closed and highly portable across national borders. Third, new actors in developed and developing regions of the global economy are driving demand for derivatives products that are designed by French trained elites in French banks and especially in global banks. The global financial crisis has neither derailed the demand for derivatives nor, consequently, the role French engineering schools play in educating some of the top global financial practitioners.
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