Financial Geographies


Financial geography is concerned with the study of money and finance in space and time and their impacts on economy, society, and nature. It is much more than geography of money and finance, being rather a lens through which other phenomena can be conceptualised and analysed. Defined in such broad terms as an interdisciplinary area of research, but one linked firmly to economic geography, financial geography has grown prodigiously since the start of the millennium, particularly in the 2010s. In the 2020s financial geography is facing major challenges and opportunities. Established actors such as banks have seen the business landscape transformed by new digital technologies and FinTech firms. These technologies mark a major transformation in the way financial services are produced, intermediated, consumed, and regulated, all accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the US-subprime and Eurozone crises, Brexit, and the rise of Asian financial markets the global map of finance is undergoing a geo-political shift, with continued growth of financial centres and power in China and beyond. While financial globalisation has slowed down in some respects, finance has continued to pervade household, firm and national economies through such channels as pension provision, financialised corporate governance and rising sovereign debt. Meanwhile, the sustainable finance agenda is gaining influence, particularly with a growing emphasis in the US on various forms of infrastructure renewal and decarbonization. Financial and economic geographers have much to contribute to developing understandings of the geographically variegated causes and consequences of these phenomena. This theme welcomes papers and sessions on topics including but not limited to: