How is technology changing financial markets?

That's the question the Techonomy conference tackled in a panel with NYSE Euronext's Duncan Niederauer, SecondMarket CEO Barry Silbert, and J. Doyne Farmer, a former hedge fund manager, now looking to reinvent the study of markets at the Santa Fe Institute.

Justin Fox, the editorial director for the Harvard Business Review, kicked off the conversation with the question: What is WRONG with financial markets?

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Farmer cautions that people are not rational, warning that we're always going to have problems with financial markets. But he's optimistic about the new Office of Financial Research, which will require financial services to report transactions in real time. During the recent financial crisis, Farmer says Congress couldn't act, because they had no idea what was going on and they had no objective adviser. The Office of Financial Research would fill that void, testifying and providing a risk dashboard with all the information Congress needs.

See also: Are we flying the economy by the seat of our pants?, Santa Fe Institute Update, July/August 2010

See also: Agents of change, The Economist, July 22, 2010

See also: Blame the economists, Newsweek