Jonathan J. M. Seddon

A cross-national analysis of eHealth in the European Union: Some policy and research directions

This study analyzes the relationship among eHealth profiles across 27 European Union Member States. It builds on prior research that uses multivariate statistical methods to provide a cross-country analysis on two dimensions: ICT penetration and availability compared with eHealth access and usage among health professionals. Based on the quantitative indicators/metrics used in our study, our results reveal that four distinct country groupings emerge as frontrunners, followers, leapfroggers and laggards. Frontrunners combine a strong ICT infrastructure with relatively high adoption of eHealth technologies. Our study suggests that a one-size-fits-all approach to health IT is not recommended for EU Member States because policy-makers at the national level need to develop an eHealth roadmap that reflects national, regional and local conditions that go beyond technical imperatives.

Phantom Liquidity and High Frequency Quoting

This article examines every NASDAQ ITCH feed message for S&P 500 Index stocks for 2012 and identifies clusters of extremely high and extremely low limit-order cancellation activity. The authors find results consistent with the idea that cancel clusters are the result of high-frequency traders jockeying for queue position and reacting to information to establish a new price level. Furthermore, few trades seem to be executed during cancel clusters or even immediately after them. Low cancellation activity seems to be markedly different, with many level changes all caused by executions. The results are consistent with high-frequency trading firms behaving as agents who bring efficiency to the market without the need to have executions at intermediate prices. The authors also discuss the misconception that investors and low-frequency traders are synonymous and its implications for policy given these results.

E-Health Policy and Benchmarking in the European Union

European Union (EU) governments and healthcare providers are facing significant challenges to their health systems. Rising costs in healthcare, ageing populations, and diagnosing and treating chronic conditions are just some of the issues that policy-makers face. The EU has clearly defined the benefits and barriers of perusing a digital agenda to improve every citizen’s health by making health data and information available using e-Health tools. The ben- efit of increased quality of healthcare needs to be seen as the cornerstone of each country’s political, financial, and technical strategies, improving access to healthcare and ultimately making the health sector more efficient.

High-frequency trading and conflict in the financial markets

The last few decades has seen an ever-increasing growth in the way activities are productized and associated with a financial cost. This phenomenon, termed financialization, spans all areas including government, finance, health and manufacturing. Recent developments within finance over that past decade have radically altered the way trading occurs. This paper analyses high-frequency trading (HFT) as a necessary component of the infrastructure that makes financialization possible. Through interviews with HFT firms, a software vendor, regulators and banks, the effects of HFT on market efficiency, and its impact on costs to long-term investors are explored. This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the conflict that exists between HFT and traditional market makers in today’s fragmented markets. This paper argues that society should be unconcerned with this conflict and should instead focus on the effects these participants have on the long-term investors, for whom the markets ultimately exist. In order to facilitate the best outcomes, regulation should be simple, aimed at keeping participants’ behavior stable, and the interactions among them transparent and straightforward. Financialization and HFT are inextricably linked, and society is best served by ensuring that the creative energy of these market participants is directed on providing liquidity and removing inefficiencies.

The regulatory, technology and market ‘dark arts trilogy’ of high frequency trading: a research agenda

Computerization has transformed financial markets with high frequency trading displacing human activity with proprietary algorithms to lower latency, reduce intermediary costs, enhance liquidity and increase transaction speed. Following the “Flash Crash” of 2010 which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunge 1000 points within minutes, high frequency trading has come under the radar of multi-jurisdictional regulators. Combining a review of the extant literature on high frequency trading with empirical data from interviews with financial traders, computer experts and regulators, we develop concepts of regulatory adaptation, technology asymmetry and market ambiguity to illustrate the ‘dark art’ of high frequency trading. Findings show high frequency trading is a multi-faceted, complex and secretive practice. It is implicated in market events, but correlation does not imply causation, as isolating causal mechanisms from interconnected automated financial trading is highly challenging for regulators who seek to monitor algorithmic trading across multiple jurisdictions. This article provides information systems researchers with a set of conceptual tools for analysing high frequency trading.

Healthcare financialisation and the digital divide in the European Union: Narrative and numbers

Abstract Financialization in health care considers the exchange of goods and services as financial instruments. This paper uses multivariate statistical methods to provide comparative cross-country health analysis in two dimensions: ICT infrastructure (availability and access) and Health data (usage and sharing). Based on the quantitative indicators/metrics used in our study, our results reveal three distinct country grouping emerge: Frontrunners, Followers and Laggards. These groupings highlight vastly different socio-political and economic conditions facing national health systems, where health inequalities will only partially be alleviated by building capacity in ICT infrastructure and eHealth.