Innovations financières : construire et légitimer un nouveau marché financier de gré à gré -- le cas des dérivés de crédit

The aim of this paper is to analyze the social construction of a new financial market. A longitudinal qualitative study is used to describe the development of the market for credit derivatives over the 1996-2005 period. Special attention is given to the fact that the market is a transnational over-the-counter market. How was the market born? How did it come into existence and how did it succeed in developing? What role did the financial theory of risk play in the process? This article emphasizes specificities of the market for credit derivatives when compared to previously analyzed financial markets. We show that its development is conditioned by the performativity of the financial theory of risk, which is by no means a naturally shared cognitive frame for the financial actors of the market.