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Dissertation Information for Mitch Abolafia

NAME:
- Mitch Abolafia
- (Alias) Mitchel Yom Tov Abolafia

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Sociology

SCHOOL:
- SUNY, Stony Brook (USA) (1981)

ADVISORS:
- None

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: TAMING THE MARKET: SELF-REGULATION IN THE COMMODITY FUTURES INDUSTRY

Abstract: "This dissertation is a study of the structure and process of control in commodity futures markets. It is found that actors in these markets have established organizational arrangements for mutual restraint. Competition is kept within specific limits and conflicts are resolved when they threaten the collective welfare of market members. The operation of this self-regulating system is examined in a historical and case-study context.

The self-regulatory system was first constructed in America by merchants at central markets in the 19th century. Its major purposes were to set limits on opportunism and to provide for the arbitration of disputes. Chapter 2 describes the history of these developments and their relation to changes in transportation, communications and methods of contracting. Chapter 3 analyzes the structure of the self-regulating system. This structure is found to include a tightly coupled system for the coordination of futures trading, presided over by a control system that is separate.

The control system, based on simple information feedback loops, serves the functions of policy making, surveillance, and correction. The system is staffed by members of the futures markets themselves and operates in a democratic fashion. All governing members are elected by their peers, major policy issues are voted on in referenda, and incumbents are occassionally unseated by write-in candidates. This structure reflects the vital interests of market participants in seeing that orderly trading conditions are maintained.

The maintenance of acceptable conditions of trade is managed by the implementation of specific self-regulatory strategies. In Chapter 4 strategies for conflict resolution are discussed in the context of three case studies drawn from the wheat, potato, and silver markets in 1979-80. Three strategies of conflict resolution are identified: moral suasion, containment, and cessation. The application of these strategies is found to be conditioned by four factors: degree of government involvement, status of the dominant trader(s), extent of the conflict, and destructiveness of the available solutions.

The study concludes with a consideration of the role of federal intervention in the context of these cooperative interorganizational arrangements."

MPACT Scores for Mitch Abolafia

A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:13:06

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