BSoG Vice-Dean for Education Prof. Sven Van Kerckhoven and CASS Advisor on Economic Affairs & National Development Dr. Usman W. Chohan, co-edited a volume “Activist Retail Investors and the Future of Financial Markets: Understanding YOLO” Capitalism published by Routledge, UK.
On 12 April, the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS) Islamabad hosted a virtual book launch. The event was attended by CASS team and researchers and was well-received as the culmination of a successful project that spanned 14 authors from 5 continents from various disciplines including economics, information technology, sociology, law, cultural studies, public administration, and several others. The resulting volume of 14 chapters reflected, in the speakers’ opinion, a comprehensive analysis of the subject from multiple perspectives that would likely stand as a lasting text on the subject of activist retail investors.
Six authors from the book participated in the event as speakers, including Dr Usman W. Chohan (Pakistan), Prof. Sven Van Kerckhoven (Belgium), Prof. Sean O’Dubhghaill (Ireland), Dr Ilker Alsan (Switzerland), Dr Scott Timcke (South Africa), and Prof. Nizan Packin (United States). The editors of the volume highlighted that the global scope of the contributing authors, although challenging, provided an opportunity for rich international collaboration; and the book’s multidisciplinary approach was a powerful contribution to the literature.
An important lesson from the book is that activist retail investors are likely to remain a lasting feature in global financial markets, and recent events such as the Banking Crisis of 2023 help to cement the editors’ vision about the emergence of retail investors as a force in the digital age.
Several chapters of the book are already serving policy purposes in regulation (e.g., child protection), while others are reinvigorating existing debates through new analysis (e.g., anti-system politics, financial counter-hegemony). Therefore, the edited volume offers a rich contribution to several literatures, as well as policy inputs for specialised audiences.
President CASS Air Marshal Farhat Hussain Khan (Retd) lauded the contributions of the authors in the edited volume, and credited Dr Chohan and Dr Van Kerckhoven for their collaborative editorial vision for a project of this scope. He remarked upon the continued salience of activist retail investors in the current global environment and emphasised CASS’ collaborative spirit in the pursuit of superior research.
