Dear fellows,
The YSI Working Groups on Urban and Regional Economics, on Financial Stability and on Inequality are pleased to invite you to the next webinar of the joint series "Reconciling Financial Stability and Inclusion across space"
This time it’s different’ . . . and why it matters: the shifting geographies of money, finance and risks
With Prof. Michael Pryke (The Open University, UK)
March 28, 2018 – at 5.30 pm GMT
Link to the webinar: https://ysd.ineteconomics.org/event/5a9de71bb8365c0a6bc1edc4
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1612468485534527/
Michael Pryke is currently Head of the School of Politics, Philosophy, Economics, Development and Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University (UK).
He argues that space is not simply an inert backdrop, a passive flatland, but is actively entangled in market practices. His analysis is centrally concerned to use some of the lessons of the 2008 crisis to produce a more spatially sensitive understanding of money and he explores the idea that financial innovation should also importantly be understood as spatial innovation. Pryke argues for a topological understanding of space that is supple enough to comprehend how financial risks can be imagined and re-assembled as assets and traded globally is called for, if, that is, we are to understand how, to take one example, mortgages in cities like Baltimore once 'reduced to code', packaged and traded internationally can move through highly interconnected financial markets seemingly without problem only unexpectedly to turn up in physically distant places at a time of crisis, with often severe consequences. Such an understanding transcends metaphors of 'flows' and 'circulation', it is argued, with implications for how authorities should approach the regulation of the time-spaces of a highly financialised capitalism. National regulatory authorities are faced with financial innovations that not only generate new connections and linkages, but also new risks that generate radical uncertainty and unpredictability. Risks is always much more than statistical attribute of data and as such, finance is never merely 'technical'; its politics must always be interrogated. While the software and modeling create new instruments and combinations, the brute materiality of finance strikes when these markets unravel, as they did in 2008 to devastating effect.
About the webinar series: Financial stability and financial inclusion are often thought of separately by dedicated policy-makers and experts. Yet, they are two sides of the same coin. Furthermore, the solutions found to reconcile both objectives cannot be separated from local and spatial characteristics. The purpose of this webinar series is to discuss the link between financial stability and financial inclusion from a spatial perspective.
The series is jointly organised by YSI Working Groups on Urban and Regional Economics, on Financial Stability and on Inequality.
Call for Papers
If you are interested in this webinar series, stay tuned! Following our joint on-going webinar series, we are inviting young scholars to present their research during the YSI Regional Convenings.
The first one will be the YSI Europe Regional Convening to be held in Trento, Italy – May 31st to June 3rd , 2018. Call for papers is alredy open. Abstracts must be submitted until April 22nd, 2018.
We welcome contributions related to (but not limited to) financial stability and financial inclusion from an urban and regional perspective:
- Geography of banking, instability and exclusion
- Social/ethical banking, credit unions and microcredit
- Innovations and financial stability/inclusion
- Local currencies and credit-based systems
- Interaction between State intervention and private sector in providing both financial stability and financial inclusion
- Global financial safety nets
- Universal basic income / jobs guarantee
- Housing Markets and Financial System