This project examines the desirability and inevitability of automating equity and related markets. The issues will be addressed from both a theoretical and empirical perspective.

Some have argued that a trading floor is an important nexus of information about trading demand, and that it would be difficult to replicate this information in an electronic system. In this view, the specialist is seen as an important information processor, and thus vital to the operation of the market. This view is disputed by those who say that an electronic system can be designed to facilitate the flow of this important information. Another view is that this floor information is important for some types of traders (institutional traders) but not for others (retail traders). According to this view, the "market" will evolve into a "two-tiered" system, with an electronic market for the retail trade and a floor for institutional trade. There is some empirical work that is relevant for this discussion since there currently exist situations in which a stock is simultaneously traded on an electronic exchange (Paris) and a less anonymous exchange (London). The conference will have speakers representing the various points of view and speakers providing evidence on the efficiacy of electronic exchanges.