IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ehsrev/v75y2022i4p1083-1119.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cyberpunk Victoria: The credibility of computers and the first digital revolution, 1848–83

Author

Listed:
  • Marc Flandreau
  • Geoffroy Legentilhomme

Abstract

British capitalism was a knowledge economy that lived on reliable numerical information. We argue that human computers and the algorithms they used played a vital intermediation role and supported the growth of the British capital market, because they resolved digital information asymmetries. Given the lack of an archive for ‘Cyberpunk Victoria’, we demonstrate the computers’ role as financial intermediaries by identifying their imprint on the production of data by a prominent numerical factory, the Investor's Monthly Manual, a companion publication of the Economist. Our study underscores the import of digital mechanization and the relevance of human cybernetics to the development of financial capitalism.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc Flandreau & Geoffroy Legentilhomme, 2022. "Cyberpunk Victoria: The credibility of computers and the first digital revolution, 1848–83," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1083-1119, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:75:y:2022:i:4:p:1083-1119
    DOI: 10.1111/ehr.13134
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.13134
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ehr.13134?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Taylor, James, 2013. "Boardroom Scandal: The Criminalization of Company Fraud in Nineteenth-Century Britain," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199695799.
    2. Marc Cramer, 1946. "Les trente Demoiselles de Genève et les billets solidaires," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 82(II), pages 109-138.
    3. Hawawini, Gabriel A & Vora, Ashok, 1982. "Yield Approximations: A Historical Perspective," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 37(1), pages 145-156, March.
    4. Matthews, Derek & Anderson, Malcolm & Edwards, John Richard, 1998. "The Priesthood of Industry: The Rise of the Professional Accountant in British Management," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198289609.
    5. Bignon, Vincent & Flandreau, Marc, 2011. "The Economics of Badmouthing: Libel Law and the Underworld of the Financial Press in France Before World War I," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 71(3), pages 616-653, September.
    6. Taylor, James, 2013. "Privacy, Publicity, and Reputation: How the Press Regulated the Market in Nineteenth-Century England," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(4), pages 679-701, January.
    7. Flandreau, Marc, 2016. "Anthropologists in the Stock Exchange," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226360300.
    8. Goetzmann, William N. & Rouwenhorst, K. Geert (ed.), 2005. "The Origins of Value: The Financial Innovations that Created Modern Capital Markets," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195175714.
    9. Donald MacKenzie, 2006. "An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262134608, December.
    10. Janette Rutterford, 2004. "From dividend yield to discounted cash flow: a history of UK and US equity valuation techniques," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 115-149.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Julien Vastenaekels, 2023. "Degrowth and Capital: Assembling a Power-Centred Theory of Change," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/362596, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Magni, Carlo Alberto, 2009. "Splitting up value: A critical review of residual income theories," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 198(1), pages 1-22, October.
    3. Matthew Zook & Michael H Grote, 2017. "The microgeographies of global finance: High-frequency trading and the construction of information inequality," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(1), pages 121-140, January.
    4. Fiona Anderson-Gough & Christopher Grey & Keith Robson, 2002. "Accounting professionals and the accounting profession: linking conduct and context," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 41-56.
    5. Luis Suarez‐Villa, 2009. "The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community – By Stephen A. Marglin," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 533-541, September.
    6. Leonard Goke & Jens Weibezahn & Christian von Hirschhausen, 2021. "A collective blueprint, not a crystal ball: How expectations and participation shape long-term energy scenarios," Papers 2112.04821, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2022.
    7. Johnstone, David & Havyatt, David, 2022. "Sophistry and high electricity prices in Australia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    8. Möllering, Guido, 2009. "Market constitution analysis: A new framework applied to solar power technology markets," MPIfG Working Paper 09/7, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    9. Walker, Stephen P., 2000. "Benign sacerdotalist or pious assailant. The rise of the professional accountant in British management," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 313-323, April.
    10. Vincent Bignon & Marc Flandreau, 2012. "The Price of Media Capture and the Looting of Newspapers in Interwar France," IHEID Working Papers 09-2012, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    11. Pierpaolo Andriani & Carsten Herrmann-Pillath, 2015. "Transactional innovation as performative action: transforming comparative advantage in the global coffee business," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 371-400, April.
    12. Wessel M. Badenhorst & Leon M. Brümmer & Johannes H.vH. de Wet, 2016. "Retracted: The Value‐relevance of Equity Accounted Carrying Amounts and Disclosed Fair Values of Listed Associates," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 26(2), pages 177-189, June.
    13. William Kingston, 2014. "Schumpeter and the end of Western Capitalism," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 449-477, July.
    14. Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller, 2017. "The performativity of potential output: pro-cyclicality and path dependency in coordinating European fiscal policies," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(5), pages 904-928, September.
    15. Aspers, Patrik & Darr, Asaf & Kohl, Sebastian, 2007. "An economic sociological look at economic anthropology," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 9(1), pages 3-10.
    16. Derek Matthews & Michael Peel, 2003. "Audit fee determinants and the large auditor premium in 1900," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 137-155.
    17. Brett Christophers, 2017. "The performativity of the yield curve," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 63-80, January.
    18. Schinckus, Christophe, 2018. "Pataphysics of finance: An essay of visual epistemology," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 57-68.
    19. Nick Bernards, 2019. "Tracing mutations of neoliberal development governance: ‘Fintech’, failure and the politics of marketization," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(7), pages 1442-1459, October.
    20. Pollock, Neil & D’Adderio, Luciana, 2012. "Give me a two-by-two matrix and I will create the market: Rankings, graphic visualisations and sociomateriality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 565-586.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:75:y:2022:i:4:p:1083-1119. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.