Financial Geography

Financial geography is concerned with the roles of finance, money, and markets in the restructuring of contemporary capitalism, and how these changes have uneven impacts across space. Studies focus on the ways in which space and place are mobilized in shaping financial decisions, allocation of capital, regulatory frameworks of global financial markets, and development of onshore and offshore financial centers. An early political economy approach to regulation of international financial markets is later complemented by more social and cultural explanations and network approaches for analyzing the persistence and increasing importance of international financial centers as strategic basing points for global capital. Scales of analyses range from global frameworks and national financial markets to industry processes and household behavior. While much of the financial geography literature has concentrated on Anglo-American economies, recent research highlights the increasing significance of emerging economies and financial networks such as sovereign wealth funds, Islamic finance, green finance, and FinTech

Playful finance: Gamification and intermediation in FinTech economies

This paper examines how digital gamification techniques, which incorporate video gaming elements (rather than full-fledged games) into apps, are reshaping the logics and practices of intermediation that are core to FinTech economies. First, we argue gamification brings into view socio-technical knowledges, such as behavioral science, digital marketing, and user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design, which are increasingly important to constituting FinTech intermediation. Second, gamification features specialist firms that are presently overlooked by research into the roles of changing advanced producer services (APS) complexes in FinTech and financial intermediation. Third, gamified apps are deployed to advance competitive intermediary positions which playfully capture user attention and configure user behavior, contrasting with FinTech strategies that typically promise users’ ease of access, reduced transaction costs and personalized products and services. We illustrate these arguments through three firm-level case studies from across Asia, where the development of gamified FinTech apps has been especially prominent

Brexit and shifting geographies of financial centres in Asia

Brexit could have profound impacts on the global financial landscape, as the global economy and financial markets are increasingly inter-connected. London’s role as the top international financial centre in Europe could be threatened due to the uncertain consequences of Brexit. Therefore, the geographies of Asian financial centres might shift as a result of Brexit, since London plays a central role in the existing global financial centre networks and many Asian financial centres, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, have strong financial connections with London. On the one hand, how Asian financial centres are linked with London and other European financial centres is key to understanding the potential impacts of Brexit on them. On the other hand, the reactions to Brexit of Asian economies, in particular, China, will also influence the role of London as a financial centre

Approaches to 'markets': the development of Shanghai as an international financial centre

This thesis opens up the black box of ‘markets’ by scrutinising the process of market formation and examining its complexities in the context of Shanghai’s development as an international financial centre. The financial markets in Shanghai are framed, understood and acted upon differently by the Chinese local and central governments, regulatory institutions, local and foreign financial institutions and transnational interests. The construction of a financial centre in Shanghai is thus not only an outcome of its own historical context and development trajectory but also intrinsically bound up with the interests and decisions of other agencies acting across spatial scales and negotiated amidst conflicts of interests and power struggles. Based on empirical research that includes field observations of financial markets development in Shanghai, archival research and personal interviews conducted with local and foreign financial institutions, and Chinese government and regulatory officials in Shanghai (with some conducted in London), this study focuses on the banking sector, the securities market and strategies of foreign banks as they negotiate between the local regulatory environment and market conditions and the wider context of their global operations and strategies. I examine the relationship between state institutions and global finance capital in Shanghai and tease out how these different ‘framings’ of markets are played out in Shanghai. In doing so, I critically engage with the concept of ‘markets’ and ‘from-plan-to-market’ economy to expose its multiple identities and conceptualisations and the contested nature of the ‘marketisation’ process. I also analyse the factors contributing to Shanghai’s success, identify future challenges and highlight the complementary roles played by Shanghai as a ‘business and commercial centre’, Beijing as a ‘political centre’ and Hong Kong as an ‘offshore financial centre’

Approaches to 'markets': the development of Shanghai as an international financial centre

This thesis opens up the black box of ‘markets’ by scrutinising the process of market formation and examining its complexities in the context of Shanghai’s development as an international financial centre. The financial markets in Shanghai are framed, understood and acted upon differently by the Chinese local and central governments, regulatory institutions, local and foreign financial institutions and transnational interests. The construction of a financial centre in Shanghai is thus not only an outcome of its own historical context and development trajectory but also intrinsically bound up with the interests and decisions of other agencies acting across spatial scales and negotiated amidst conflicts of interests and power struggles. Based on empirical research that includes field observations of financial markets development in Shanghai, archival research and personal interviews conducted with local and foreign financial institutions, and Chinese government and regulatory officials in Shanghai (with some conducted in London), this study focuses on the banking sector, the securities market and strategies of foreign banks as they negotiate between the local regulatory environment and market conditions and the wider context of their global operations and strategies. I examine the relationship between state institutions and global finance capital in Shanghai and tease out how these different ‘framings’ of markets are played out in Shanghai. In doing so, I critically engage with the concept of ‘markets’ and ‘from-plan-to-market’ economy to expose its multiple identities and conceptualisations and the contested nature of the ‘marketisation’ process. I also analyse the factors contributing to Shanghai’s success, identify future challenges and highlight the complementary roles played by Shanghai as a ‘business and commercial centre’, Beijing as a ‘political centre’ and Hong Kong as an ‘offshore financial centre’

World cities under conditions of digitization and platform capitalism: Updating the advanced producer services complex

This themed issue showcases contributions that study how processes of digitization and platformization are reshaping the intermediary role and operations of advanced producer services (APS). It places these alterations against the backdrop of earlier rounds of APS ‘shapeshifting’ amid globalization and financialization. This introduction to the themed issue outlines the main dimensions of these shifts affecting APS: geographical changes, sectoral and functional changes, organizational changes, and strategic-institutional changes. Reflecting on the themed issue contributions, we posit that digitization and platformization are rapidly altering APS as organizations, but there is little evidence for a wholesale loss of their intermediary function. In geographical terms, we observe that the platformization of APS is generating networked dependence of world cities on tech centres, further entangling APS intermediation with wider geopolitical concerns about technological sovereignty

Living Plants in Hawaii Attacked by Coptotermes formosanus

Forty-seven species of living plants in 27 families were found infested by Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki in Hawaii. The symptoms caused by the infestations were dependent on the mode of attack. Although an actual value was not placed on the economic losses caused by the attacks, evidence indicates that the losses are substantial

Abundance and Distribution of the Three Species of Symbiotic Protozoa in the Hindgut of Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Workers, soldiers, nymphs and alates of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, all harbored the same 3 species of protozoa. Workers, nymphs, and alates had a larger number of protozoa than the soldiers. The relative abundance of the protozoa differed in the different castes. In the worker, Holomastigotoides hartmanni Koidzumi was the predominant species in numbers, followed by Pseudotrichonympha grassii Koidzumi and Spirotrichonympha leidyi Koidzumi while in the alate. S. leidyi was predominant. Each protozoan species apparently occupied a more or less specific location in the worker's hindgut. P. grassii was predominant in the first pouch, H. hartmanni in the second, and H. hartmanni and S. leidyi in the third pouch and excreta. This may indicate a difference in digestive roles of the protozoa and/or a difference in the oxygen requirements of the 3 species. There were no significant differences in the total number of protozoa found in the workers from 3 different colonies

Horizontal transfer of boron by the Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanau Shiraki) after feeding on treated wood

The goal of the present study was to determine whether Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki workers exposed to boron-treated wood were capable of transferring quantifiable amounts of boron to non-exposed nestmates. This effect is called horizontal transfer. Borates are not repellent to termites, nor do they cause rapid mortality, making them excellent candidates for the study of horizontal transfer. In the present study, C. formosanus workers were collected from field colonies maintained in Honolulu, Hawaii and dyed with Sudan Red 7B over a 7-day period. These termites then underwent a 3-day exposure period to one of two types of composite board, either an experimental formulation of zinc borate and anhydrous boric acid or an untreated composite board. Treated termites were placed with an equal number of untreated termites for either 5 or 10 days; sham-dyed donors and recipients were used to control for possible effects of the dye. Horizontal transmission of boron and toxic effects were assessed based on termite wet weight, percent survival, and boron content. Horizontal transfer of boron was noted at both 5 and 10 days over those levels reported in untreated, field-caught termites from the same colony (ca. 7 μg boron g termites). After 5 days, boron content was elevated in both dyed donor and recipient termites (ca. 92 and 38 μg boron g dyed termites, respectively), as well as in undyed donors and recipients (ca. 84 and 30 μg boron g undyed termites). The same pattern was observed after 10 days in both dyed donor and recipient termites (ca. 61 and 46 μg boron g , respectively) and undyed donor and recipient termites (59 and 24 μg boron g , respectively). Increased boron content of recipient termites after exposure to donor termites (fed on treated wood) demonstrated horizontal transfer of boron