The Open University

Professional biography

I am currently the Associate Dean for Research, Enterprise, and Scholarship and Professor in Finance and Financial History at the Faculty of Business and Law of the Open University in the UK. My previous roles include leading the REF2021 submission for the Open University Business School.

Research interests

My research intersects political economy, economic/financial history, and the history of economic/financial ideas. I have been contributing to the understanding of finance as a social process, advancing debates about the financialization of contemporary societies. I believe that it is not possible to grasp the nature of capitalist societies without having a long-term historical perspective. The main insights of my work draw upon critical political economy and the French radical philosophical tradition of the 1960s and 1970s.

Teaching interests

During my time at the OU, I have made substantial contributions to teaching and learning through the development, delivery, and improvement of a wide range of modules, including Introduction to Corporate Finance, Research Methods for Finance, and Management Accounting and International Finance. In the past I have led undergraduate and postgraduate modules in Financial Risk Management, Financial Econometrics, International Political Economy, Political Economy of Fiannce, and History of Economic Thought.

Publications

Journal articles

Individual investors and social ownership structures in the UK before the 1930s: Joint holdings and trustee investment (2023-05)
Rutterford, Janette; Sotiropoulos, Dimitris and Van Lieshout, Carry
The Economic History Review, 76(2) (pp. 661-692)

Fund management in the interwar period: UK investment trust portfolio asset allocation in the 1920s (2023-05)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris; Rutterford, Janette; Tori, Daniele and Kyparissis, Antonis
European Review of Economic History, 27, Article heac019(2) (pp. 250-277)

Risk taking in the context of financial advice: does gender interaction matter? (2023)
Monne, Jerome; Rutterford, Janette and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
European Journal of Finance, 30(3) (pp. 249-268)

U.K. investment trust valuation and investor behavior, 1880-1929 (2022-12)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris; Rutterford, Janette and Tori, Daniele
The Journal of Economic History, 82(4) (pp. 1031-1069)

How gender, marital status, and gender norms affect savings goals (2022)
Agunsoye, Ariane; Rutterford, Janette and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
Kyklos, 75(2) (pp. 157-183)

The rise of professional asset management: The UK investment trust network before World War I (2021)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.; Rutterford, Janette and Van Lieshout, Carry
Business History, 63(5) (pp. 826-849)

UK investment trust portfolio strategies before the First World War (2020-08)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris; Rutterford, Janette and Keber, Carolyn
Economic History Review, 73(3) (pp. 785-814)

Financial diversification strategies before World War I: Buy-and-hold versus naïve portfolio selection (2019)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P. and Rutterford, Janette
Business History, 61(7) (pp. 1175-1198)

Individual Investors and Portfolio Diversification in Late Victorian Britain: How Diversified Were Victorian Financial Portfolios? (2018-06-30)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P. and Rutterford, Janette
The Journal of Economic History, 78(2) (pp. 435-471)

Individual investors and local bias in the UK: 1870-1935 (2017-10-10)
Rutterford, Janette; Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P. and Van Lieshout, Carry
The Economic History Review, 70(4) (pp. 1291-1320)

The Rise of the Small Investor in the US and the UK, 1895 to 1970 (2017-09-30)
Rutterford, Janette and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.
Enterprise & Society, 18(3) (pp. 485-535)

Financial diversification before modern portfolio theory: UK financial advice documents in the late nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century (2016)
Rutterford, Janette and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.
The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 23(6) (pp. 919-945)

Putting all their eggs in one basket? Portfolio diversification 1870 to 1902 (2016)
Rutterford, Janette and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
Accounting History Review, 26(3) (pp. 285-305)

Hilferding on derivatives (2015)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 22(1) (pp. 77-96)

Financialization and Marx: some reflections on Bryan’s, Martin’s and Rafferty’s argumentation (2014-03)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P. and Lapatsioras, Spyros
Review of Radical Political Economics, 46(1) (pp. 87-101)

Rebalancing the Euro area: the costs of internal devaluation (2014)
Stockhammer, Engelbert and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
Review of Political Economy, 26(2) (pp. 210-233)

Europe in Crisis: Introduction (2014)
Stockhammer, Engelbert and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
Review of Political Economy, 26(2) (pp. 167-170)

Eurozone: die Krise als Chance für die kapitalistische Offensive (2013-06)
Milios, Jannis and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
PROKLA, 171(2) (pp. 317-334)

Watching the crisis of eurozone from the European ‘periphery:’ causes and developments (2013)
Milios, John and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
Temas de Administração Pública, 8(1)

Kalecki’s dilemma: towards a Marxian interpretation of neoliberal financialization (2011-01)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.
Rethinking Marxism, 23(1) (pp. 100-116)

Crisis of Greece or crisis of the euro? A view from the European ‘periphery’ (2010-09)
Milios, John and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 12(3) (pp. 223-240)

Marxsche Theorie und Imperialimus (2010-06)
Milios, Jannis and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.
PROKLA, 159(2) (pp. 259-275)

Why did scarcity triumph over technology in Ricardo’s thinking? (2010)
Economakis, George E. and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.
Bulletin of Political Economy, 4(2) (pp. 109-128)

On the character of the current economic crisis (2009-04-10)
Lapatsioras, Spyros; Milios, John and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
Radical Notes

Why John Stuart Mill should not be enlisted among neoclassical economists (2009)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 16(3) (pp. 455-473)

John Stuart Mill and Wicksell’s cumulative process (2008-06)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
Bulletin of Political Economy, 2(1) (pp. 67-78)

Trade unions and the wages fund theory: on the significance of Mill’s recantation and some notes on Marx’s theoretical intervention (2008)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris and Economakis, George
History of Economic Ideas, 16(3) (pp. 21-48)

Tugan-Baranowsky and effective demand (2007-04-01)
Milios, John and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
Science and Society, 71(2) (pp. 227-242)

Authored books

A Political Economy of Contemporary Capitalism and Its Crisis: Demystifying Finance (2013-06)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris; Milios, John and Lapatsioras, Spyros
Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy
ISBN : 978-0-415-68408-8 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

Ιμπεριαλισμός, χρηματοπιστωτικές αγορές, κρίση [Imperialism, Financial Markets and Crisis] (2011)
Milios, John and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.
ISBN : 978-960-9535-13-7 | Publisher : Nisos | Published : Athens

Rethinking Imperialism: A Study of Capitalist Rule (2009-10-09)
Milios, John and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
ISBN : 978-0-230-22100-0 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : London

Book chapters

British Investment Trusts 1868 to 1928: Portfolio Diversification and the Beginnings of Institutional Investment (2022)
Rutterford, Janette; Sotiropoulos, Dimitris and Kyparissis, Antonis
In: Arie, A.; Marcuzzo, C. and Rosselli, A. eds. Financial Markets in Perspective. Lessons from Economic History and History of Economic Thought. Springer Studies in the History of Economic Thought (pp. 19-41)
ISBN : 978-3-030-86753-9 | Publisher : Springer

Financialization in Heterodox Economics (2020)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P. and Hillig, Ariane
In: Mader, Philip; Mertens, Daniel and van der Zwan, Natascha eds. The Routledge International Handbook of Financialization (pp. 125-135)
ISBN : 978-1-138-30821-3 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London and New York

Addressing the rationality of 'irrational' European responses to the crisis: a political economy of the Euro Area and the need for a progressive alternative (2015-03)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris; Milios, John and Lapatsioras, Spyros
In: Bitzenis, Aristidis; Karagiannis, Nikolaos and Marangos, John eds. Europe in Crisis (pp. 67-76)
ISBN : 978-1-137-44256-7 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : New York

Revisiting the 1992-93 EMS crisis in the context of international political economy (2014-08-20)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
In: Fouskas, Vassilis ed. The Politics of International Political Economy. Europa Politics of ... series (pp. 78-94)
ISBN : 978-1-85743-638-9 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Revisiting the socialist calculation debate: the role of finance in Hayek's Response to Lange's Challenge (2013-12)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris and Auerbach, Paul
In: Bellofiore, Ricardo; Karwowski, Ewa and Toporowski, Jan eds. Economic Crisis and Political Economy, Volume 2 of Essays in Honour of Tadeusz Kowalik. Palgrace Studies in the History of Economic Thought (pp. 212-230)
ISBN : 978-1-137-33574-6 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : Basingstoke

Demystifying finance: how to understand financialization and think of strategies for a good society (2012)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.; Milios, John and Lapatsioras, Spyros
In: Marangos, John ed. Alternative Perspectives of a Good Society. Perspectives From Social Economics (pp. 99-120)
ISBN : 978-0-230-11445-6 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : New York

Conference items

Automated high frequency trading in the light of the history of economic thought: pushing Marx, Veblen and Keynes to their limits (2013)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
In : 17th Annual Conference of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET) (16-18 May 2013, Kingston University, London)

Addressing the rationality of ‘irrational’ European responses to the crisis: a political economy of the Euro area and the need for an alternative framework for economic policy (2013)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris
In : 8th Pan–European Conference on International Relations (18-21 Sep 2013, Warsaw)

The costs of internal devaluation in the EA (2013)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris and Stockhammer, Engelbert
In : 17th Annual Conference of the Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies (FMM) (24-26 Oct 2013, Berlin)

Hilferding on speculation and derivatives (2012)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.
In : The 16th Annual Conference of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET): Institutions and Values in Economic Thought (17-19 May 2012, Saint Petersburg, Russia.)

The fundamental problem of the Euro zone and an alternative (Marxian) approach to European economic policy context (2012)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.
In : 9th Annual Historical Materialism Conference: Weighs Like a Nightmare (8-11 Nov 2012, London, UK)

Other

An Outline of a Progressive Resolution to the Euro-area Sovereign Debt Overhang: How a Five year Suspension of the Debt Burden Could Overthrow Austerity (2014-11)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris; Milios, John and Lapatsioras, Spyros
Levy Economics Institute, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.

Performativity and Financial Markets: Option Pricing in the Late 19th Century (2014-07)
Sotiropoulos, Dimitris and Rutterford, Janette
Innovation, Knowledge and Development Research Centre, The Open University

Rebalancing the Euro Area: The Costs of Internal Devaluation (2012-07)
Stockhammer, Engelbert and Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P.
Post Keynesian Economics Study Group, Cambridge.