Liquidity, Markets and Trading in Action: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

This open access book addresses four standard business school subjects: microeconomics, macroeconomics, finance and information systems as they relate to trading, liquidity, and market structure. It provides a detailed examination of the impact of trading costs and other impediments of trading that the authors call “frictions”. It also presents an interactive simulation model of equity market trading, TraderEx, that enables students to implement trading decisions in different market scenarios and structures. Addressing these topics shines a bright light on how a real-world financial market operates, and the simulation provides students with an experiential learning opportunity that is informative and fun.

Each of the chapters is designed so that it can be used as a stand-alone module in an existing economics, finance, or information science course. Instructor resources such as discussion questions, Powerpoint slides and TraderEx exercises are available online.

Deniz Ozenbas is a Professor of Finance at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University (New Jersey, USA) and co-director of the Robert A. Schwartz Center for Trading and Financial Markets Research at Baruch College, City University of New York (New York, USA). Prof. Ozenbas also works as a consultant for banks and other non-financial institutions. Her research is mainly in the fields of financial markets, international finance and market microstructure. Her work has been published in many international journals and presented at domestic and international conferences. 

Michael S. Pagano is a Professor of Finance at Villanova University and holds The Robert J. and Mary Ellen Darretta Endowed Chair in Finance. His research focuses on financial markets, financial institutions, risk management, and international finance. Prof. Pagano is also involved with various professional organizations such as FINRA’s Market Regulation Committee, the Supervisory Committee of Citadel FCU’s board of directors, and the Board of Trustees of the Alpha Architect ETF Trust. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA^®) designation and has prior experience both in private banking and in investment valuation analysis. 

Robert A. Schwartz is Marvin M. Speiser Professor of Finance and University Distinguished Professor in the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York (New York, USA).  He is also co-Director of the Robert A. Schwartz Center for Trading and Financial Markets Research at Baruch College. His research is in the area of financial economics, with a primary focus on the structure of securities markets.  He has published over seventy refereed journal articles and over twenty books. He is the developer, with Bruce Weber, of the trading and market structure simulation, TraderEx.

Bruce W. Weber is Dean of the Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware (Newark, Delaware, USA), where he is also a Professor of Business Administration and an affiliated faculty member in the Institute for Financial Services Analytics. Weber’s research quantifies the economic advantages of digital markets, and highlights the new challenges facing traders, managers, and regulators in an increasingly computerized financial services industry.