Mark W. Geiger
Mark W. Geiger is an economic historian and an independent scholar. His academic background includes a PhD in history from the University of Missouri (2006), studies at Carleton College and the Wharton School, and prior work in financial services on Wall Street.
Academic Positions
He has held fellowships including a Kluge Fellowship at the Library of Congress (2011-2012) and postdoctoral positions at UCLA's Center for Economic History and the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
Research Approach
Geiger's work operates at the intersection of history, finance, and sociology. He emphasizes data-intensive research, often constructing original datasets from primary sources. His methodology prioritizes robustness and sample size, avoiding what he views as small-sample historical scholarship or selective evidence presentation.
Notable Works
Financial Fraud and Guerrilla Violence in Missouri's Civil War, 1861-1865 was based on bank financial statements, kinship networks, and court cases. It won the 2011 Tom Watson Brown Book Prize and was a finalist for the Lincoln Prize.
Floor Rules: Insider Culture in Financial Markets (Yale University Press, 2024) uses longitudinal railroad share price studies and network analysis to examine how financial markets govern themselves through unwritten codes of conduct.
Writing Philosophy
Geiger prioritizes accessibility and clarity, aiming to write for educated general audiences rather than specialists. He emphasizes storytelling while managing technical source material through endnotes and appendices.
Additional Work
Beyond historical scholarship, he creates AI generative art, with a portfolio available at markgeigerart.com.