About
Alexander Webb is recent finance PhD graduate with expertise on trust, value exchange, and innovation in financial markets. He has advisory experience in venture capital at GoPoint Ventures and has written for many of the world’s top publications, including New York Times, National Geographic, Investopedia, Business Insider, WIRED, and more.
He is currently building independent media ventures, while gaining continued market and investment expertise in media and the creator economy.
His academic research has been published in The Journal of Futures Markets, Finance Research Letters, Financial Innovation, Applied Finance Letters, and more.
He was thrice shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize. His undergraduate degree was completed at the University of Hong Kong and he speaks Mandarin at a conversational level.
Media Projects:
The Studies Show: Articles and videos analyzing the world through the lens of academic research. (Twice featured on Marginal Revolution).
Poetry Culture: Articles and podcasts discussing life and culture, with over 2,500 subscribers and nearly 10,000 followers across platforms.
Selected Publications:
Books:
Shock Markets: Trading Lessons for Volatile Times – The Financial Times Press (co-author)
Released in Chinese translation as 交易真规则: 黑天鹅时刻的七种逆袭 in 2015.
The Civil War: A Traveler’s Guide – National Geographic (co-author)
The Zika Prevention Handbook – Skyhorse (author)
Selected Articles:
You Could Die Today. Here’s How to Reduce That Risk – The New York Times
The Difference Between Copyrights, Trademarks, and Patents – The New York Times
How to Promote Your Music Online – Wired Magazine
3 Steps to Start Building Your Own Retirement Plan – Business Insider
Synthetic Data, Real Insights – GoPoint Ventures
Investing in The Age of National Security: How Geopolitcs Shapes Today’s Startups – GoPoint Ventures
Alexander was the author of a special issue of National Geographic, and his work has also appeared in two other special issues of the magazine.
Selected Academic Research:
“Financial contagion in cryptocurrency exchanges: Evidence from the FTT collapse” (with Luca Galati and Robert Webb) published in Finance Research Letters in 2024.
“Market behaviors around bankruptcy and frozen funds withdrawal: Trading stranded assets on FTX” (with Luca Galati and Robert Webb) published in the Journal of Economics and Business in 2024.
Intelligent design: stablecoins (in)stability and collateral during market turbulence (with Riccardo De Blasis, Luca Galati, and Robert I. Webb) Published in Financial Innovation in 2023.
“Arbitrage, contract design, and market structure in Bitcoin futures markets” (with Riccardo DeBlasis), published in The Journal of Futures Markets in 2022.
“Liquidity of Futures Markets Over the Last Quarter of a Century: Technology & Market Structure Versus Economic Influences” (With Alex Frino and Luca Galati) and published in Applied Finance Letters in 2022.
Concepts:
The Quiet CV: A workbook and writing exercise to help people reclaim their inner value by rewriting their resume or CV.
Symbols vs. Sources: A framework for understanding what humans desire, versus what brings them happiness.
Contemporary Time Travel: Seeking out places and pockets of culture that represent different eras.
Awards:
Alex was shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize in 2015, 2016, and 2020.
Arts + Culture:
Lonely Singles: Music project, with performances in the US and Australia, radio airplay on KCRW in Los Angeles, and more. 500,000+ combined streams.
get in touch: alex (at) alxndrwbb.com