- Urban Studies, Urban Geography, Urban Sociology, Economic Geography, Economic Sociology, Financial Crisis of 2008/2009, and 53 moreFinancialisation, Low Income Homeownership, Housing, Mortgage markets, Mortgage Foreclosure, Amsterdam, Brownstone Brooklyn, New York, Brussels, Gentrification, Neoliberalism, Economic Crisis, Austerity Measures, International Political Economy, Public spaces, Financial and Economic Crisis, Globalization, Social Exclusion, Financialization, Gentrification,urban Development,slum Redevelopment Etc, Mortgage Redlining, Redlining, Housing Studies, Mortgages, Rotterdam, Brooklyn, Political Economy, Mapping, Maps and Society, Land and rent, David Harvey, Pierre Bourdieu, Prostitution, Urban Decay, Urban Decline, Neighbourhood Development, Disadvantaged Neighborhood, Cleveland, Sex and the City, Real Estate, Community Reinvestment, Shrinking Cities, Subprime crisis, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Predatory Credit, Predatory Lending, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Movement, Anglophone Hegemony, Geography of Finance and Financial Crises, Milan, Capital Switching, and Global Capitalismedit
Javier Moreno's "Residential Accumulation: A Political Economy Framework" does a great job at distilling how two opposite logics-capitalist production and rent extraction-are at work in housing markets. What I am missing from the... more
Javier Moreno's "Residential Accumulation: A Political Economy Framework" does a great job at distilling how two opposite logics-capitalist production and rent extraction-are at work in housing markets. What I am missing from the framework is room for noise, for variation and variegation, for an 'and+and' story, for allowing geographical and market specificity, for different expressions of residential accumulation rather than the assumption that specific forms are the 'normal' or pure forms of capitalist accumulation. Many assumptions and generalisations are made. Some of these may be necessary to construct the ideal type of housing provision under capitalism, but there is a point where the ideal type becomes a specific rather than a general or abstracted type, that is, specific to one set of capitalist relations rather than generalizing from a common, or even majority, form of capitalist relations.
Key words: housing, political economy, ideal types, Max Weber, capitalist accumulation, varieties
Key words: housing, political economy, ideal types, Max Weber, capitalist accumulation, varieties
Research Interests: Political Economy, Land and Property Development, Housing Policy, Housing, Capitalism, and 15 morePierre Bourdieu, Max Weber, Varieties of Capitalism, Housing markets, Noise, Property Development, Max Weber (Sociology), Housing Provision, Land and rent, Accumulation, Ideal Type, Capitalist Production, Capitalist mode of housing production, capitalistic accumulation, and Real Estate Developers
Here are five key actions that governments can do to take action to curb the financialization of housing: 1. The federal government should ask the question: it is fair to provide REITs with a tax advantage? Should it create a... more
Here are five key actions that governments can do to take action to curb the
financialization of housing:
1. The federal government should ask the question: it is fair to provide REITs with a tax advantage? Should it create a level-playing field where tax advantages are not selectively doled out to one set of actors?
2. Different levels of government should consider cooperating with not-for-profit, community, grassroots, and other affordable housing providers. They could also consider directly building or managing housing stock.
3. This one should be a no-brainer: governments should regulate rental housing markets better, starting with regulating rent price increases and outlawing no-fault evictions. Governments often fear that this will deter investors. But if investors are buying up existing housing stock with the main aim of increasing rents, deterring them would be a positive outcome for tenants and society at large. Existing landlords can continue to make a profit if rents follow inflation (or income/pension levels).
4. Local governments can use their zoning and land use powers to require inclusionary and affordable housing.
5. Finally, the government should limit monopolies when one landlord is dominant in one market segment, e.g. rental flats within a certain price range or units within a particular neighbourhood.
financialization of housing:
1. The federal government should ask the question: it is fair to provide REITs with a tax advantage? Should it create a level-playing field where tax advantages are not selectively doled out to one set of actors?
2. Different levels of government should consider cooperating with not-for-profit, community, grassroots, and other affordable housing providers. They could also consider directly building or managing housing stock.
3. This one should be a no-brainer: governments should regulate rental housing markets better, starting with regulating rent price increases and outlawing no-fault evictions. Governments often fear that this will deter investors. But if investors are buying up existing housing stock with the main aim of increasing rents, deterring them would be a positive outcome for tenants and society at large. Existing landlords can continue to make a profit if rents follow inflation (or income/pension levels).
4. Local governments can use their zoning and land use powers to require inclusionary and affordable housing.
5. Finally, the government should limit monopolies when one landlord is dominant in one market segment, e.g. rental flats within a certain price range or units within a particular neighbourhood.
Research Interests: Housing Policy, Housing, Real estate investment, REITS, Affordable Housing, and 11 moreFinancialization, Private Equity, Canada, Urban & Regional Planning, Demography, Housing & Community Development, Financialisation, Landlords and Tenants, Financialization of Real Estate, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Rental Market Regulation, Financialisation of housing, and Financialization of Housing
Mortgage credit has been central in fuelling housing market dynamics in many countries. While mortgage debt and house price increases used to go hand in hand, we see an uncoupling post-global financial crisis, with relative mortgage debts... more
Mortgage credit has been central in fuelling housing market dynamics in many countries. While mortgage debt and house price increases used to go hand in hand, we see an uncoupling post-global financial crisis, with relative mortgage debts decreasing while house prices are increasing at unprecedented rates. This paper scrutinises this uncoupling, contributing in three ways. First, we argue it is representative of how debt-driven housing dynamics have been supplemented by wealth-driven ones: while mortgage debt remains crucial, it has stagnated, and increased wealth investments have fuelled a new round of price increases. Second, we explore key examples of wealth-driven housing dynamics: the increase in private landlordism (buy-to-let), older homeowners reinvesting accumulated housing wealth and intergenerational house purchases. Third, we demonstrate that these dynamics are associated with increasing fractures along the lines of class, age and place, particularly benefiting affluent and older insiders while advancing uneven development. We base our arguments on an empirical analysis of the Netherlands, a country with a highly financialised owner-occupied market boasting one of the highest mortgage-debt-to-GDP ratios in the world, but our arguments have wider relevance. We conclude that current dynamics point to a new era of house price rentierism.
Keywords: Housing, financialisation, wealth, rentierism, spatial inequality, the Netherlands
Keywords: Housing, financialisation, wealth, rentierism, spatial inequality, the Netherlands
Research Interests: Housing Policy, Housing, Affordable Housing, Financialization, Housing Policies, and 15 moreSocial Inequality, Housing Wealth, House Prices, Wealth, Netherlands, Spatial Inequality, Financialisation, Mortgages, Wealth inequality, Intergenerational Inequality, Financialization of Real Estate, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Private Rental Housing or Tenements, Rentierism, and Financialisation of housing
There are different aims in comparative research: on the one hand, there are studies that want to understand a case better by comparing it to another case or other cases; on the other hand, there are studies that use two or more cases to... more
There are different aims in comparative research: on the one hand, there are studies that want to understand a case better by comparing it to another case or other cases; on the other hand, there are studies that use two or more cases to understand a phenomenon better. Although this distinction may seem obvious, it is rarely explicated in comparative studies, and this results in misunderstandings regarding what a specific comparison is trying to accomplish. In the first half of this essay, I discuss how some of these misunderstandings feed misdirected critiques of comparative studies that are interested in studying a phenomenon in and through the city rather than as a way to study the city per se. Both aims of comparative research are valid in their own right, but in this chapter I will focus on how an approach that starts from concepts that try to understand real-world phenomena in different contexts, can shed light not only on cities – or, more generally, on cases – but also on the nature of these phenomena.
In the first half of this chapter, I will discuss different aims of comparative research. At times, the debate on comparative studies is reduced to the idea that some studies want to demonstrate divergence (places becoming more different over time) and others convergence (places becoming more similar over time). I will argue that we need to move beyond the false divergence-convergence dichotomy, and need to go beyond critiques of conceptual stretching and unleash the potential of comparative urban studies to shed light on key concepts in social science that seek to describe empirical realities in, across and beyond cities. In the second half of this essay, I will take the example of the concept and real-world phenomenon of financialization, and will explain how a comparative approach to urban and housing financialization can shed light not only the cases studied, but also on the phenomenon of financialization itself. Reading across these two main sections, the argument is that a conceptual lens can help to study cases comparatively, thereby bringing to the fore how cases are both similar and different, but also how the comparative study of cases can help in understanding a real-world phenomenon, observed in different cities and countries. The concept used to illustrate this argument is financialization, but this essay it not one that defends this concept vis-à-vis other concepts (but see Aalbers 2019). Instead, the concept of financialization is used to illustrate the main point of the essay, which is that comparative studies have the potential to enhance our understanding of real-world phenomena across as well as beyond different cases. In short, this chapter makes the case for a comparative urban studies that does not only inform the field of urban studies, but social science more broadly defined. What is at stake here is not only comparative urban research but the very meanings and uses of urban studies.
In the first half of this chapter, I will discuss different aims of comparative research. At times, the debate on comparative studies is reduced to the idea that some studies want to demonstrate divergence (places becoming more different over time) and others convergence (places becoming more similar over time). I will argue that we need to move beyond the false divergence-convergence dichotomy, and need to go beyond critiques of conceptual stretching and unleash the potential of comparative urban studies to shed light on key concepts in social science that seek to describe empirical realities in, across and beyond cities. In the second half of this essay, I will take the example of the concept and real-world phenomenon of financialization, and will explain how a comparative approach to urban and housing financialization can shed light not only the cases studied, but also on the phenomenon of financialization itself. Reading across these two main sections, the argument is that a conceptual lens can help to study cases comparatively, thereby bringing to the fore how cases are both similar and different, but also how the comparative study of cases can help in understanding a real-world phenomenon, observed in different cities and countries. The concept used to illustrate this argument is financialization, but this essay it not one that defends this concept vis-à-vis other concepts (but see Aalbers 2019). Instead, the concept of financialization is used to illustrate the main point of the essay, which is that comparative studies have the potential to enhance our understanding of real-world phenomena across as well as beyond different cases. In short, this chapter makes the case for a comparative urban studies that does not only inform the field of urban studies, but social science more broadly defined. What is at stake here is not only comparative urban research but the very meanings and uses of urban studies.
Research Interests: Case Study Research, Comparative Urbanism, Case Studies, Urban Studies, Convergence, and 13 moreComparative Research, Concepts, Comparative Study, Financialization, Comparative studies, Financialisation, Divergence, Urban Studies and Planning, Global urban studies, Financialization of Real Estate, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Urban finance, and comparing cities
Poststructuralist and postcolonial critiques have led to a necessary corrective in the social sciences, but arguments about difference and incommensurability are also mobilised to put the idea of internationally comparative housing... more
Poststructuralist and postcolonial critiques have led to a necessary corrective in the social sciences, but arguments about difference and incommensurability are also mobilised to put the idea of internationally comparative housing studies into question. This paper argues for a relational and comparative global housing studies that goes beyond global north/south and east/west binaries and dichotomies. I mobilise the concept of 'common trajectories' (as opposed to both convergence and divergence) to illustrate how difference is constructed at multiple dimensions rather than primarily along a north/south or east/west axis. The aim is not to argue against postcolonial theory but rather to show how the misuse of these ideas has stifled theoretically-embedded empirical research in general and internationally comparative research more specifically. Finally, I explore the idea of a relational global housing studies that would focus on transnational actors, regulation and markets, as one route out of the dead-end of contrastive housing studies.
Key words: global urbanisms, comparative research, global south, relationality, transnational regulation, postcolonial critique
Key words: global urbanisms, comparative research, global south, relationality, transnational regulation, postcolonial critique
Research Interests: Postcolonial Studies, Poststructuralism, Comparative Urbanism, Postcolonial Theory, Comparative Research, and 15 moreRelationality, Poststructuralist Theory, Global South, Post-Structuralism, Transnational Regulation, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Cross-National Comparisons, Housing Studies, Relational Urbanism, Comparative Cross-National Research, Housing and Urban Studies, Urbanisms In the Global South, Postcolonialism, Global urbanism, and International Comparative Housing Research
Shareholder value orientation has commonly been considered a hallmark of corporate financialization. Today, firms increasingly share their profits with shareholders in the form of cash dividends and share buybacks. Yet how the shareholder... more
Shareholder value orientation has commonly been considered a hallmark of corporate financialization. Today, firms increasingly share their profits with shareholders in the form of cash dividends and share buybacks. Yet how the shareholder payouts are distributed by firms from various sectors, sizes and countries remains unexplored. To complement existing accumulation- and asset-centered approaches that focus, respectively, on how resources enter the firm and change its structure, we present a payouts-centered approach to corporate financialization that focuses on how resources leave the firm. This paper analyses firm-level trends in shareholder payouts in OECD member countries for the period 2000-2019, differentiating between types of distributed payouts. We show that shareholder payouts are high across various sectors and geographical locations, and not limited to a small subset of large, US-American financial corporations, but includes ‘big pharma’ and ‘big tech’ as well as Latin American and Israeli firms. The paper sheds light on the nature of the contemporary corporations and contributes to discussions on the increasing financialization of non-financial firms and their rising shareholder value orientation.
Keywords: corporate financialization; corporate sectors; non-financial corporations; shareholder payouts; shareholder value
Keywords: corporate financialization; corporate sectors; non-financial corporations; shareholder payouts; shareholder value
Research Interests: Corporate Finance, Financialization, Business profitability, Firm-Level Data, Profit, and 15 moreFinancialisation, Firm Size, Shareholder Value, Dividends, Shareholder primacy, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Business Models, Financialization, Corporate Governance, The Rise of Shareholder Value, Cash Dividend, Corporate Finances, Non-Financial Corporations, Divident Payout, Financialized Capitalism, Economic sectors, and Share buyback
In "The long shadow of the state: financializing the Chinese city" Fulong Wu reflects on the role of the state in financialization processes. The language of symbiosis, with key concepts such as mutualism, parasitism and commensalism, but... more
In "The long shadow of the state: financializing the Chinese city" Fulong Wu reflects on the role of the state in financialization processes. The language of symbiosis, with key concepts such as mutualism, parasitism and commensalism, but also cleaning symbiosis, metabiosis, co-evolution, mutation and mimicry could help us to conceptualize state/finance relationships. Finance and the state have co-evolved and continue to do so. The role of the state in financialization processes often appears to be contradictory. Parasitism by finance may have already limited the state's capacity to respond to urban financialization. In a seemingly commensal relationship, the state may also be facilitating finance. In fact, such patterns may be indicative of a more mutualistic imperative in which the state tries to further its own interests through finance rather than at the expense of finance-it is here that Wu provides most evidence for the Chinese case. In other words, the state creates the conditions for the financialization of the city and by doing so it brings the characteristics of finance inside the state. In the process, the state mimics finance in order to extend state power and mutatesas a result of the specific co-evolution with finance.
KEYWORDS: Financialization; the state; symbiosis; co-evolution; mutation
KEYWORDS: Financialization; the state; symbiosis; co-evolution; mutation
Research Interests: Economic Sociology, Urban Geography, Coevolution, Symbiosis, State And Local Public Finance, and 15 moreState Theory, Financialization, Urban Governance, Chinese Cities, Mutation, Local governance, Urban China, Bailout, Financialisation, Financialization of Real Estate, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Local Finance and Governmental Science, Financial Geography, Chinese state-owned entreprises (SOEs), and Financialization of the State
'The Changing State of Gentrification' (2001) by Jason Hackworth and the late Neil Smith is one of the most influential papers ever published in TESG. By introducing three waves, or periods, of practices and patterns of gentrification, it... more
'The Changing State of Gentrification' (2001) by Jason Hackworth and the late Neil Smith is one of the most influential papers ever published in TESG. By introducing three waves, or periods, of practices and patterns of gentrification, it changed the way we think about gentrification. This Introduction to the Forum discusses the three waves introduced by Hackworth and Smith as well as fourth wave introduced by Lees et al. Finally, I will argue that during the global financial crisis we have entered fifth-wave gentrification. Fifth-wave gentrification is the urban materialization of financialized or finance-led capitalism. The state continues to play a leading role during the fifth wave, but is now supplemented—rather than displaced—by finance. It is characterized by the emergence of corporate landlords, highly leveraged housing, platform capitalism (e.g. Airbnb), transnational wealth elites using cities as a 'safe deposit box', and a further 'naturalization' of state-sponsored gentrification.
Research Interests: Urban Politics, Land and Property Development, Comparative Urbanism, Housing Affordability, Real Estate Development, and 59 moreGentrification, REITS, Geographies Of The Super Rich, Urban Economics, Affordable Housing, Urban Policy, Comparative Research, Urban Political Economy, Financialization, Creative Class, Private Equity, Global Financial Crisis, Mortgage markets, Recession, Cyberspace and Librarianship, DIY culture, Urban Restructuring, New York City, Property Development, Amsterdam, Urban Policies, Gentrification,urban Development,slum Redevelopment Etc, Displacement, Financialisation, Home Ownership, Urban Neoliberalism, New York, Developers, Mortgages, Real Estate Investment Trusts, Transnational elites, Neoliberal Urbanism, Gentrification & urban renewal, Gentrification and displacement, Landlords and Tenants, Finance-led Capitalism and the Political Economy of Speculation, Finance-led accumulation regime, Urban Gentrification, Neil Smith, Sharing Economy, Gentrificação, Financialization of Real Estate, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Gentrificación, Touristification, Travelling Policies, Airbnb, Urban Sociology: Gentrifiurban Development, Super rich, Neoliberalism and Urbanisation, Third Wave Gentrification, State-led Gentrification, Private Equity Real Estate Funds, Urbanism Urbanismus Urban Planning Stadtplanung Stadtentwicklung Sociology Soziologie Creative City Marketing Critic Kritik Berlin Arm Poor Sexy Neoliberal Foucault Diskurs Discourse, Austerity Urbanism, Financialized Capitalism, Platform Capitalism, Bourgeois Bohemians, and Financialisation of housing
In the literature, it is argued that the Fordist regime of accumulation has gradually been replaced by a finance-driven regime. We argue that the contemporary regime in the UK could be best characterized as a finance- and real... more
In the literature, it is argued that the Fordist regime of accumulation has gradually been replaced by a finance-driven regime. We argue that the contemporary regime in the UK could be best characterized as a finance- and real estate-driven regime. Like Fordism, the new regime is thought to fuel the economy by propping up consumption, but unlike the Fordist regime it does not seek to do so through job creation or high and steady wages, but rather through private money creation and real estate price inflation. The reliance of the economy on private housing debt rather than public debt—‘privatised Keynesianism’ (Crouch, 2009)—is a key element of the new regime. The state has not simply facilitated the rise of the new regime but has put its faith in the financial and real estate sectors—both residential and commercial—to prop up the economy. Different layers of the UK government have favoured real estate development and investment, in part enabled by disintermediation and lobbying. For a while, the finance- and real estate-driven regime seemed to create economic growth. Although the regime appeared fragile during the financial crisis of 2007–2009, the neoliberal mode and its accompanying finance- and real estate-driven regime were saved and the dominance of finance and real estate have deepened. This paper is based on the analysis of publicly available statistics, policy and advocacy documents and 39 in-depth interviews with real estate professionals.
Key words: real estate sector; financialisation; regulation approach; economic growth; United Kingdom; in-depth interviews
Key words: real estate sector; financialisation; regulation approach; economic growth; United Kingdom; in-depth interviews
Research Interests: Real Estate, Benchmarking, Financialization, United Kingdom, Lobbying, and 13 moreFinancial Regulation, Regulation School, Fordism and Post-Fordism, Financialisation, Disintermediation, Regulation Approach, Finance-led Capitalism and the Political Economy of Speculation, Finance-led accumulation regime, Financialization of Real Estate, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Accumulation, French Regulation Theory, and Market Making
In this article, we employ a Veblenian framework to analyze three dimensions of corporate financialization: the expansion of the balance sheet, the rising importance of intangible assets and the growing levels of financial payouts. Our... more
In this article, we employ a Veblenian framework to analyze three dimensions of corporate financialization: the expansion of the balance sheet, the rising importance of intangible assets and the growing levels of financial payouts. Our focus is the pharmaceutical sector, which is strongly dominated by a handful of large corporations known as Big Pharma. In our empirical analysis of the financial accounts of 27 of the largest global pharmaceutical corporations for the years 2000–2018, we find evidence of a shift in Big Pharma’s business model from one focused on productive capacity (reflected by fixed capital and R&D) to one focused on intangible assets (reflected by patents, brands and goodwill). The modus operandi of Big Pharma is one that increasingly resembles that of a private equity fund that generates returns for shareholders that are supported by monopolized knowledge through intellectual property rights, capitalized future earnings potential and rising debt burdens. Our framework facilitates the study of the different elements of financialization and how they do (or do not) co-evolve over time, within and between industries, and between countries or global regions.
Keywords: monopoly, Thorstein Veblen, intangible assets, shareholder value, corporate finance
Keywords: monopoly, Thorstein Veblen, intangible assets, shareholder value, corporate finance
Research Interests: Corporate Finance, Theory of the Firm, Research & Development, Financialization, Intangible assets, and 15 morePharmaceutical industry, Pharmaceuticals, Big Pharma, Intangibles, Research and Development, Corporate Governance and Financial reporting, Financialisation, Thorstein Veblen, Shareholder Value, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Monopoly, Balance Sheet Analysis, Monopoly Capitalism, Financialization of Firms, and Pharmaceuticals companies
Sugestões para Estudantes de Pós-graduação (Mestrado/Doutorado) As 22 dicas do professor Manuel B. Aalbers para pesquisadores [Suggestions for PhD Students, artigo de Manuel B. Aalbers, disponibilizado em seu perfil no Academia.edu. O... more
Sugestões para Estudantes de Pós-graduação (Mestrado/Doutorado)
As 22 dicas do professor Manuel B. Aalbers para pesquisadores
[Suggestions for PhD Students, artigo de Manuel B. Aalbers, disponibilizado em seu perfil no Academia.edu. O texto é inspirado em Matthew Pratt Guterl.)
https://revistacapitu.com.br/sugestões-para-estudantes-de-pós-graduação-mestrado-doutorado-293a326ae622
As 22 dicas do professor Manuel B. Aalbers para pesquisadores
[Suggestions for PhD Students, artigo de Manuel B. Aalbers, disponibilizado em seu perfil no Academia.edu. O texto é inspirado em Matthew Pratt Guterl.)
https://revistacapitu.com.br/sugestões-para-estudantes-de-pós-graduação-mestrado-doutorado-293a326ae622
Research Interests:
1. Know your audience. 2. Always explain your choices. 3. Learn to develop an argument and defend it. 4. Teaching matters more than people say. 5. References are not an afterthought. 6. There are three types of comments that require two... more
1. Know your audience.
2. Always explain your choices.
3. Learn to develop an argument and defend it.
4. Teaching matters more than people say.
5. References are not an afterthought.
6. There are three types of comments that require two types of responses.
7. Prepare but do not over-prepare for presentations.
8. Dare to be different.
9. Check the facts.
10. Apologies first, excuses second.
11. Be generous.
12. Promote your own work as well as that of others.
13. Be a good colleague, inside your department and outside of it.
14. Doing a PhD is not a regular job, but things need to get done and sometimes you are asked to do things that may not be your priority.
15. Update your planning regularly.
16. Sleep on it.
17. Reference letters.
18. Layout matters.
19. Don’t be lazy.
20. Makes notes—always and everywhere.
21. Stick up for yourself but don’t forget to stick up for others as well, especially if they are in a weaker position than you.
2. Always explain your choices.
3. Learn to develop an argument and defend it.
4. Teaching matters more than people say.
5. References are not an afterthought.
6. There are three types of comments that require two types of responses.
7. Prepare but do not over-prepare for presentations.
8. Dare to be different.
9. Check the facts.
10. Apologies first, excuses second.
11. Be generous.
12. Promote your own work as well as that of others.
13. Be a good colleague, inside your department and outside of it.
14. Doing a PhD is not a regular job, but things need to get done and sometimes you are asked to do things that may not be your priority.
15. Update your planning regularly.
16. Sleep on it.
17. Reference letters.
18. Layout matters.
19. Don’t be lazy.
20. Makes notes—always and everywhere.
21. Stick up for yourself but don’t forget to stick up for others as well, especially if they are in a weaker position than you.
Research Interests: Training and Supervision, Doctoral Supervision, Advice, Phd Writing, Supervision in doctoral education, and 20 moreMSc and Phd Researcher, Self-help, PhD Thesis, Doctoral Learning, For Doing Phd, Doctoral education, Paper Presentation, Doctoral thesis, Presentation of Paper in a Seminar, PhD candidate, Advisor, Presentation Slides, Planning to go for Doctrate, Letters of Reference, DOCTORAL STUDENT, PPT Presentation, PhD study, PhD Student, Reference Letter, and Doctoral support
When, in 1999, this journal changed its name from Scandinavian Housing and Planning Research to Housing, Theory and Society (HTS), it explicitly put theory in the centre of the academic field of housing studies. The comma between... more
When, in 1999, this journal changed its name from Scandinavian Housing and Planning Research to Housing, Theory and Society (HTS), it explicitly put theory in the centre of the academic field of housing studies. The comma between “housing” and “theory” is also telling: the editors’ goal, from the start on, was not so much to develop a theory of housing, but to provide space for social theories applied to the field of housing. Now, in respective Focus articles in the journal’s 20th year of publication, a past and the current editor of HTS revisit the debate on the need for a theory of/about/from and one could add in and for housing. Clapham chiefly picks up on Kemeny’s plea for theoretically-based and – he adds – policy-relevant research. In the second Focus article, Ruonavaara discusses different relations between theory and housing research and concludes that a general theory of housing is not possible, but that we should strengthen our efforts in constructing theory about housing and making sure this feeds back into the different disciplines whose theories we “borrow”, so we can pay back with interest, to use a housing metaphor. Basically, both papers revolve around the question: what kind of theory for what kind of housing research? As both authors acknowledge, it is hard to define “theory” as there are many possible conceptualizations of theory. I would add that not only one’s preference for and use of theory is influenced by an ontological and epistemological position, but that, indeed, one’s conceptualization or definition of what constitutes theory depends on an ontological and epistemological position. However, even within a single philosophy of science, for instance the positivist tradition, it is possible to find many different conceptualizations of theory. For some positivists it is a mathematical model, for others it is simply a generalized outcome of previous research, although the latter should really be labelled “empiricism” rather than “positivism”. In economics, these generalizations are often referred to as “stylised facts” – a concept that I like, despite my general discomfort with mainstream economics. For economists, the stylized facts can be refined or falsified, but the assumptions underlying them are rarely up for grabs. Yet, it is this set of assumptions that forms the core of mainstream economics, that most economists unfortunately take for granted – that is, outside of the debate – while it is here that neoclassical economic theory is really at work, often affecting those beyond the confines of neoclassical economics.
Social scientists like Clapham and Ruonavaara, whose work would not suggest a positivist ontology or epistemology, define theory as “collections of concepts about the real world that facilitate explaining, predicting or intervening” (Clapham, This issue, p. 172); and social theory as “a discourse that consists of a set of linked (a) concepts and (b) propositions to be used for hypothetical (i) re-description, (ii) explanation and (iii) interpretation of all or some subset of social entities, relations and processes” (Ruonavaara, This issue, p. 181, my emphasis). What strikes me in both definitions is a positivist undertone and the lack of attention to “understanding” in the Weberian meaning of verstehen. Weber’s verstehen was explicitly stated as a rejection of sociological positivism and economic determinism. Verstehen instead focuses on understanding the meaning of action from the actor’s point of view. To Weber, the trick was to combine explanation and understanding. Bourdieu (1993) even argued that comprendre (understanding) is a necessary condition for explanation. Both were sceptical of testing hypotheses or using theories to predict or intervene. Yet, Bourdieu in particular was not necessarily sceptical of empirical work and of the great social theorists of the twentieth century he was arguably the one who was most invested in empirical research.
Clapham and Ruonavaara both appear to be choosing definitions of theory that are open to different traditions, but in their efforts to be inclusive they appear to be excluding more interpretative conceptualizations in favour of positivist-inspired ones. Perhaps the “positivist paradigm” is more common in the social sciences than Clapham leads us believe. Whereas positivists tend to work from a model of social science where research is linear and cumulative, and therefore, results in ever-greater knowledge of the social world, other philosophies of science deny the very possibility of ever getting close to knowing everything about the social world. What Ruonavaara calls a (grand) theory of housing, for Clapham is desirable and possibly even attainable.
I beg to differ, not simply because this is “questionable”, as Ruonavaara argues, but because I don’t believe that there is a finite amount of knowledge (a typical positivist assumption). I believe the more we know, the less we know we know. More empirical research does not lead to getting closer to finite knowledge, nor is it useless, but it contributes to showing how we now know a little more about an even bigger unknown social world, even if this does not always result in turning unknown knowns into known knowns but rather into discovering new unknown knowns where previously these were unknown unknowns.
Social scientists like Clapham and Ruonavaara, whose work would not suggest a positivist ontology or epistemology, define theory as “collections of concepts about the real world that facilitate explaining, predicting or intervening” (Clapham, This issue, p. 172); and social theory as “a discourse that consists of a set of linked (a) concepts and (b) propositions to be used for hypothetical (i) re-description, (ii) explanation and (iii) interpretation of all or some subset of social entities, relations and processes” (Ruonavaara, This issue, p. 181, my emphasis). What strikes me in both definitions is a positivist undertone and the lack of attention to “understanding” in the Weberian meaning of verstehen. Weber’s verstehen was explicitly stated as a rejection of sociological positivism and economic determinism. Verstehen instead focuses on understanding the meaning of action from the actor’s point of view. To Weber, the trick was to combine explanation and understanding. Bourdieu (1993) even argued that comprendre (understanding) is a necessary condition for explanation. Both were sceptical of testing hypotheses or using theories to predict or intervene. Yet, Bourdieu in particular was not necessarily sceptical of empirical work and of the great social theorists of the twentieth century he was arguably the one who was most invested in empirical research.
Clapham and Ruonavaara both appear to be choosing definitions of theory that are open to different traditions, but in their efforts to be inclusive they appear to be excluding more interpretative conceptualizations in favour of positivist-inspired ones. Perhaps the “positivist paradigm” is more common in the social sciences than Clapham leads us believe. Whereas positivists tend to work from a model of social science where research is linear and cumulative, and therefore, results in ever-greater knowledge of the social world, other philosophies of science deny the very possibility of ever getting close to knowing everything about the social world. What Ruonavaara calls a (grand) theory of housing, for Clapham is desirable and possibly even attainable.
I beg to differ, not simply because this is “questionable”, as Ruonavaara argues, but because I don’t believe that there is a finite amount of knowledge (a typical positivist assumption). I believe the more we know, the less we know we know. More empirical research does not lead to getting closer to finite knowledge, nor is it useless, but it contributes to showing how we now know a little more about an even bigger unknown social world, even if this does not always result in turning unknown knowns into known knowns but rather into discovering new unknown knowns where previously these were unknown unknowns.
Research Interests: Social Theory, Political Economy, Ontology, Epistemology, Interdisciplinarity, and 14 moreHousing Policy, Understanding, Housing, Social Ontology, Pierre Bourdieu, Sociological Theory, Housing Policies, Multidisciplinary, Epistemology of the Social Sciences, Max Weber, Positivism, Housing Studies, Verstehen, and Housing Research
This entry explains the rising popularity of the concept of financialization, despite it being considered a vague and chaotic concept. It also summarizes the wide-ranging multidisciplinary literature on financialization and makes a... more
This entry explains the rising popularity of the concept of financialization, despite it being considered a vague and chaotic concept. It also summarizes the wide-ranging multidisciplinary literature on financialization and makes a distinction between seven dimensions, or elements, of financialization, upon which a new definition of financialization is put forward that suggests that the power of the financialization literature lies in how it tries to understand the increasing dominance of financial actors, markets, practices, measurements, and narratives at various scales, resulting in a structural transformation of economies, firms (including financial institutions), states, and households. In discussing the different elements of financialization, the entry focuses on the financialization of the economy, nonfinancial firms, the state and households, but also on the processes of banking disintermediation and assetization. Finally, some avenues for future research are suggested.
Keywords: assets, contemporary capitalism, corporate financialization, economic geography, financial geography, financial markets, global financial crisis, housing, globalization, lobbying, neoliberalism, political economy, real estate, state
Definition of financialization: the increasing dominance of financial actors, markets, practices, measurements and narratives, at various scales, resulting in a structural transformation of economies, firms (including financial institutions), states and
households.
Keywords: assets, contemporary capitalism, corporate financialization, economic geography, financial geography, financial markets, global financial crisis, housing, globalization, lobbying, neoliberalism, political economy, real estate, state
Definition of financialization: the increasing dominance of financial actors, markets, practices, measurements and narratives, at various scales, resulting in a structural transformation of economies, firms (including financial institutions), states and
households.
Research Interests: Economic Geography, Political Economy, Crisis Management, International Political Economy, Workplace Studies, and 36 moreBanking, Corporate Finance, Neoliberalization of the state, State And Local Public Finance, Neoliberalism, Public sector, Critical international political economy, Financial Markets And Institution, Household Finance, Financial Markets, Financialization, Financial Crisis of 2008/2009, Neoliberalism (Anthropology), Global Financial Crisis, Regulation of financial markets, Financial Crisis, Financial Regulation, Financial Institutions, Financial Management Practices, Financialisation, Daily Life, Giovanni Arrighi, Sector Public, Financial Crisis and Real Economy, Hegemony, power, Impact of Monetary Policy on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by Irfan Hameed, SCM and Corporate Geography, Neoliberalization, Hegemonic Power, Economics Discourse, Financial Discourse, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Financial Economy, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Geography of Finance and Financial Crises, Political Economy of Financial Regulation, and Public Policy
Neighborhoods can be defined in many different ways, for example by their urban morphological, economic or social characteristics, but even if one were to agree on which combination of characteristics defines a neighborhood, there would... more
Neighborhoods can be defined in many different ways, for example by their urban morphological, economic or social characteristics, but even if one were to agree on which combination of characteristics defines a neighborhood, there would still be the questions of context, scale, emotional attachment and change. Furthermore, the concept of neighborhood is often confused with the concept of community or local community—this entry is not about community. Rather than viewing neighborhood change as a natural process, this entry emphasizes the power of agents/actors, linking the structure of the real estate industry to the development of the neighborhood. Landlords and banks are not merely automata of the price mechanism that steer the natural operation of the market, but should be seen as producing, or contributing to, processes of neighborhood change.
Research Interests: Segregation, Stigma, Neighbourhood Development, Stigmatization, Gentrification, and 27 moreChicago School, Urban Morphology, Symbolic Boundaries, Housing, Social Exclusion, Social Production of Space, Social Inclusion, Henri Lefebvre, Socio-spatial Theory, Neighborhood Design (Architecture), Neighborhood Effects, Neighbourhood Effects, Boundaries, Neighbourhoods, Chicago School of Sociology, Neighborhood change, Social Exclusion and Inclusion, Livability and social cohesion in urban neighbourhoods, Neighborhood Degeneration and Its Effects on Residential Property Values, Sunset Park, Social Space, Neighborhoods, Brooklyn, Disadvantaged Neighborhood, Mixed Neighbourhood, Multi Ethnic Neighbourhood, and Abstract Space
The problem with the label “deregulation” is that it implies less regulation and that deregulation is commonly framed as something that frees markets from government intervention, suggestive of neoliberalization. In reality, state... more
The problem with the label “deregulation” is that it implies less regulation and that deregulation is commonly framed as something that frees markets from government intervention, suggestive of neoliberalization. In reality, state intervention is a necessary condition for markets to thrive. In this chapters, I discuss three very different cases of what I label regulated deregulation: the electric power industry in New York State, local bus services in Great Britain and Sweden and mortgage securitization in the US and UK. All three cases are commonly labeled as deregulation, but I have tried to show how these cases all have elements of deregulation-as-liberalization but not of deregulation as defined by a reduced role of law and the state. If anything, the liberalization has been enabled, managed and controlled by re/setting rules and re/establishing “an enforcement mechanism designed to control the operation of the system’s constituent institutions, instruments and markets” (Spotton 1999: 971). Neoliberalism is not simply the roll-back of the state. Neoliberalization may involve the roll-back of the welfare state, but at the same time neoliberalism leads to a regulatory explosion (Levi-Faur 2005), indicative of the state widening its net (Cohen 1985), embedding market principles more deeply in the fabric of society (Panitch and Konings 2009). The concept of regulated deregulation enables us to see how liberalization of selective economic agents was only made possible by introducing a new regulatory system that replaced or amended the existing regulatory system. Regulated deregulation allows for the combination of competition and economic incentives on the one hand, and coordination and the regulation authority-led making and shaping of different economic sectors and industries – i.e., regulated deregulation negates the ostensibly contradiction between liberalization and state control. Under regulated deregulation some economic agents are given greater freedom from state control, but the market framework itself is regulated. By problematizing the dominant narrative of deregulation-as-neoliberalization, the concept of regulated deregulation stresses that regulation is not anathema to actually existing neoliberalism. By actively mobilizing regulation, neoliberal agents are creating the conditions of neoliberalization through the state.
Research Interests: Political Economy, Regulation And Governance, Securitization, Neoliberalization of the state, Regulation, and 23 moreCritical Geography, Neoliberalism, Neoliberal ideologies, Neoliberalism (Anthropology), Marketization, Financial Regulation, Regulation theory, Privatization, Commodification, Bob Jessop, Political economy of regulation, Deregulation, Juridification, Power System Deregulation, Regulation Approach, Neoliberalization, Free Market and Deregulation, Liberalization, Susan Strange, Deregulated Electricity Markets, Energy Deregulation, Neoliberalism & Governmentality, and History of Neoliberalism
Taxation in general and tax evasion in particular are inherently geographical in nature but only a small number of geographers have focused on them. In this progress report I present geographers' research on offshore financial centres... more
Taxation in general and tax evasion in particular are inherently geographical in nature but only a small number of geographers have focused on them. In this progress report I present geographers' research on offshore financial centres alongside the work of researchers from other disciplines to present an overview of what we know about the geographies of tax evasion and avoidance. It is argued that not only much regulatory work but also much research remains to be done on tax havens.
Keywords: offshore financial centre, taxation, tax avoidance, tax evasion, tax haven, economic geography, political geography
Keywords: offshore financial centre, taxation, tax avoidance, tax evasion, tax haven, economic geography, political geography
Research Interests: Human Geography, Economic Geography, Taxation, Critical Criminology, Transfer Pricing, and 44 moreFiscal Sociology, Geographies Of The Super Rich, Political Geography, Fiscal policy, International Taxation, OECD, Tax Evasion, Literature Review, London, European Commission, Offshore finance, Economic Development: Tax Havens, Tax Evasion and Corruption, Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements, Special Economic Zones, Tax Avoidance, British Virgin Islands, Channel Islands (Europe), Netherlands, Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI ), Financial Centres, Taxes, City of London, State fiscal policy, Tax Justice, Offshore Financial Centers, Effective tax rate, Fiscality, Starbucks, Tierra del Fuego, Freeport, David Graeber, Shadow banking, KPMG, Offshore Financial Centres, Geography of Finance and Financial Crises, Tax Havens, Tax Harmonization, Fisical Geography, Royalties Taxation, State-Corporate Crime, Financial Geography, Financial Geopolitics, Crimes of Globalisation, and Thin Capitalisation
This is an expanded version of: - Aalbers MB (2018b) Financial geography II: Financial geographies of housing and real estate. Progress in Human Geography DOI:10.1177/0309132518819503. - Aalbers MB (2019a) Financial geography III: The... more
This is an expanded version of:
- Aalbers MB (2018b) Financial geography II: Financial geographies of housing and real estate. Progress in Human Geography DOI:10.1177/0309132518819503.
- Aalbers MB (2019a) Financial geography III: The financialization of the city. Progress in Human Geography, in press.
Financial geography is often understood as the geographies of money and finance, but this paper takes a different understand in which financial geography is a lens that can be applied to a range of topics (Aalbers, 2018a). This approach follows my historiography of financial geography, which suggests that financial geography is not simply a sub-sub-discipline embedded in economic geography; the field of financial geography is equally rooted in the sub-disciplines of political and urban geography (Aalbers, 2015a) and in this literature review I will look at a frontier of financial geography, that is, the intersection of economic and urban geography.
My goal here is not to foreground ‘the city’ or ‘the urban’ as the privileged site of applying a financial geography lens, but rather a pragmatic choice to demonstrate how a financial lens can help to enrich different fields of geographical research. My conceptualization of the city is equally pragmatic: for the purpose of the literature review in this paper, I use it primarily as a container term to include studies of urban governance, housing, real estate and the built environment. This review is not the place to discuss the nature of ‘the urban’. It is also worth pointing out what I have not included here: studies of financial centres, such as the City of London, Wall Street, Raffles Place or Bandra Kurla. Research of financial centres and districts is, in a way, the recognized core of geographies of money and finance, not the frontier I want to prioritise here.
In the following sections, I will first discuss financial geographies of housing, with a focus on mortgage debt, securitization and the rise of corporate landlords, but also the financialization of construction firms and social housing non-profits. Subsequent sections zoom in on financial geographies of 1) commercial real estate and large urban projects; and 2) the local state and (semi-)public sector. Finally, I draw some conclusions based on the cumulation of findings, diversity of perspectives, and spatialities and temporalities of financialization. In this literature review I have tried to include literature from non-English speaking countries where possible.
- Aalbers MB (2018b) Financial geography II: Financial geographies of housing and real estate. Progress in Human Geography DOI:10.1177/0309132518819503.
- Aalbers MB (2019a) Financial geography III: The financialization of the city. Progress in Human Geography, in press.
Financial geography is often understood as the geographies of money and finance, but this paper takes a different understand in which financial geography is a lens that can be applied to a range of topics (Aalbers, 2018a). This approach follows my historiography of financial geography, which suggests that financial geography is not simply a sub-sub-discipline embedded in economic geography; the field of financial geography is equally rooted in the sub-disciplines of political and urban geography (Aalbers, 2015a) and in this literature review I will look at a frontier of financial geography, that is, the intersection of economic and urban geography.
My goal here is not to foreground ‘the city’ or ‘the urban’ as the privileged site of applying a financial geography lens, but rather a pragmatic choice to demonstrate how a financial lens can help to enrich different fields of geographical research. My conceptualization of the city is equally pragmatic: for the purpose of the literature review in this paper, I use it primarily as a container term to include studies of urban governance, housing, real estate and the built environment. This review is not the place to discuss the nature of ‘the urban’. It is also worth pointing out what I have not included here: studies of financial centres, such as the City of London, Wall Street, Raffles Place or Bandra Kurla. Research of financial centres and districts is, in a way, the recognized core of geographies of money and finance, not the frontier I want to prioritise here.
In the following sections, I will first discuss financial geographies of housing, with a focus on mortgage debt, securitization and the rise of corporate landlords, but also the financialization of construction firms and social housing non-profits. Subsequent sections zoom in on financial geographies of 1) commercial real estate and large urban projects; and 2) the local state and (semi-)public sector. Finally, I draw some conclusions based on the cumulation of findings, diversity of perspectives, and spatialities and temporalities of financialization. In this literature review I have tried to include literature from non-English speaking countries where possible.
Research Interests: Real Estate, Urban Geography, Economic Geography, Securitization, Housing, and 15 moreREITS, Financialization, Private Equity, Urban Governance, Social Housing, Mortgage markets, Financialisation, Real Estate Investment Trusts, Commercial Real Estate, Financialization of Real Estate, Secondary Mortgage Market, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Private Rental Housing or Tenements, Financial Geography, and Financialization of the State
While population losses have accompanied urban development since the emergence of the first cities, it has only been quite recently that "shrinkage" has become a field of research in its own rights. Critical scholarly research stands in a... more
While population losses have accompanied urban development since the emergence of the first cities, it has only been quite recently that "shrinkage" has become a field of research in its own rights. Critical scholarly research stands in a somewhat difficult relation to this situation. On the one hand, there are numerous contributions calling for a general "acceptance" of shrinkage and more "openness" towards planning for a reduced population size. On the other hand, one can find contributions that criticize the limits of existing rightsizing policies, describing smart shrinkage as an exclusionary project, or set it into a context of the current austerity moment. The evaluation of this new round of urban policies is thus controversial. The common denominator of the papers in this special issue is a call for both widening the perspective on rightsizing policies by embedding them into a wider context of neoliberal urbanization and a demand for more attention towards context-specific pathways, dynamics and outcomes. At the same time, we want to highlight not only the local specificities but also provide a comparative political economy perspective on shrinking cities.
Research Interests: Urban Geography, Political Economy, Urban Politics, Political Coalitions, Urban Planning, and 59 moreLocal Government, Local Government and Local Development, Housing Policy, Housing, Capitalism, Population Dynamics, Social Exclusion, Shrinking Cities, Urban Policy, Comparative Research, Urban Political Economy, Urban And Regional Planning, Housing Policies, France, DeGrowth, Modern Germany, Urban Social Geography, Demolition, Germany, Housing markets, Urban Renewal, Urban Farming, Urban Restructuring, East Germany, Vacancies, United States, Urban Decline, Scales, Urban Policies, Population Studies, Comparative Analysis, Austerity Measures, State Rescaling, Neoliberal City, Urban Sociology and Social Policy, State Market Relations, Social Housing Policy, Urban Shrinkage, Neoliberal Urbanism, Growth Machine, Housing Management, Population Decline, Geographical scale, Cities and Neoliberalism, Shrinkage, Neoliberal City Space, Growth Coalition, Neoliberalism and Urbanisation, Market Making, Housing Vacanies, Smart Urban Planning, National Urban Policy, Planetary urbanization, Austerity Urbanism, Rustbelt, Stadtumbau, Neighbourhood Decline, Neighborhood Decline, and Shrinking City
In the last two decades, critical urban studies has paid a great deal of attention to contemporary “neoliberal urbanism”, but very little to its historical and urban roots. This chapter discusses the use of neighbourhood typologies and... more
In the last two decades, critical urban studies has paid a great deal of attention to contemporary “neoliberal urbanism”, but very little to its historical and urban roots. This chapter discusses the use of neighbourhood typologies and mapping in the United States by looking at government redlining maps from the 1930s until the 1970s, and “planned shrinkage”, “urban triage” and “benign neglect” in late 1960s and 1970s New York City as well as in early 2000s New Orleans and Cleveland. A map or ranking indicating declining or shrinking neighbourhoods may lead to the withholding of not only city services, but also mortgage loans. The ranking and mapping of neighbourhoods excludes and impoverishes those places deemed racially infiltrated, declining, and dying. It could be argued that this is a form of “neoliberal urbanism”, but these policies had a pre-cursor in the ideas of the Chicago School of Sociology, Babcock, Hoyt, the HOLC and the FHA in the 1920s and 1930s, and Hoover and Vernon, Downs sr. and jr., Starr and Moynihan in the post-war years. The “old urban right” had already won several significant victories in the war of ideologies, hinting at a neoliberalism avant la lettre.
Research Interests: Neoliberalization of the state, Neoliberalism, Shrinking Cities, New Orleans, Neighborhood Effects, and 24 moreNeo-liberalism, Housing markets, Bronx, Mortgage Foreclosure, New York City, Chicago School of Sociology, Neoliberal City, Neo-liberalization and Comparative Urban Politics, Depopulation, Cleveland, Neoliberalization, post-Katrina New Orleans, Neoliberal Urbanism, South Bronx, Neoliberal Urban Politics, Neoliberal City Space, Foreclosure Crisis, Rand Corporation and Policy Analysis, RAND Corporation, Neoliberalism and Urbanisation, Redlining, Mortgage Redlining, Deserving and Undeserving Poor, and History of Neoliberalism
Housing is a key object of financialization. There is a small but growing literature on the financialization of housing that has demonstrated how housing is a central aspect of financialization. Despite the varied analyses of the... more
Housing is a key object of financialization. There is a small but growing literature on the financialization of housing that has demonstrated how housing is a central aspect of financialization. Despite the varied analyses of the financialization of housing and the importance of housing to financialization, the relations between housing and financialization remain under-researched and under-theorized. The financialization of housing is not so much a specific from of financialization, as it transcends several of the different forms of financialization. Housing systems, in particular, differ widely across the globe, which implies that housing financialization will be inherently variegated, path-dependent and uneven. In this introduction to the Symposium, I will discuss how the articles in this Symposium contribute to the literature on the financialization of housing. Housing has entered a post-Fordist, neoliberal and financialized regime. Both mortgaged homeownership and subsidized rental housing increasingly are there to keep financial markets going, rather than being facilitated by those markets. There is little evidence that the global financial crisis has resulted in a de-financialization of housing. There are common trajectories within uneven and variegated financialization rather than radically different and completely unrelated forms of housing financialization.
Key words: housing, financialization, mortgage markets, rental housing, home ownership, state and public sector
Key words: housing, financialization, mortgage markets, rental housing, home ownership, state and public sector
Research Interests: Welfare State, Securitization, Urban Studies, Housing Policy, Housing, and 56 moreNeoliberalization of the state, Brazil, Neoliberalism, REITS, David Harvey, Affordable Housing, Financial Markets, Financialization, Housing Policies, Neo-liberalism, Path Dependence, Belgium, Financial Derivatives, Social Housing, Uneven Development, Germany, Mortgage markets, Low Income Homeownership, Housing finance, New York City, Rental Housing, Brussels, Housing Studies, Path Dependency, Reits, Real estate Investments, Property Investment, Securitisation, Fordism and Post-Fordism, Netherlands, Asset-based Welfare, Variegated Neo-Liberalism, Financialisation, Home Ownership, Mortgage Lending, Derivatives Markets, Rotterdam, New York, Mortgages, MBS, Home Mortgage Loans, Housing and mortgage finance, Financialization of Real Estate, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Private Rental Housing or Tenements, Collateral, Overaccumulation, Spatial Fix, Minha Casa Minha Vida, Housing Associations, Privatisation of Housing, Non Profit Housing, Rent Control, Financialization of the State, Financialized Capitalism, Subsidized housing, Bausparkasse, and Mortgage-Backed Securities
There is a long history in social science that connects urbanization to capitalism. This entry discusses how the work of Manuel Castells and in particular David Harvey informs our understanding of the urbanization of financial crises in... more
There is a long history in social science that connects urbanization to capitalism. This entry discusses how the work of Manuel Castells and in particular David Harvey informs our understanding of the urbanization of financial crises in the United States and elsewhere. The concepts of capital switching and financialization are central to the argument presented here. The entry also includes a discussion of the management of the crisis, focusing on both the failed institutional response to the financial crisis and the global/local grassroots response to the financial crisis.
Research Interests: Social Movements, Urban Geography, Globalization, Social Movement, Crisis Management, and 27 moreSecuritization, David Harvey, Urbanization, Financialization, Financial Crisis of 2008/2009, Global Financial Crisis, Financial Crisis, Mortgage markets, Grassroots Movements, Manuel Castells, Sub-prime mortgages, United States, Credit Default Swaps, Financialisation, Occupy Wall Street, Housing Bubble, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Subprime crisis, Financialization of Real Estate, Secondary Mortgage Market, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Subprime Mortgages, Overaccumulation, Capital Switching, Financial Geography, Mortgage-Backed Securities, and Financialisation of housing
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 was part of the US government’s response to bank redlining. In the wake of the social rights movement in general and the community reinvestment movement in particular, redlining returned to the... more
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 was part of the US government’s response to bank redlining. In the wake of the social rights movement in general and the community reinvestment movement in particular, redlining returned to the political and research agendas in the late 1960s and 1970s. Community-based organizations and others claimed that lenders were redlining large parts of inner cities. Redlining became heavily associated with racial discrimination. In 1968, discrimination in housing and mortgage lending became prohibited through the Fair Housing Act. In addition, the federal government responded by implementing the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) in 1975, and the CRA in 1977. Today, few would deny the evidence of redlining in the 1930s and 1970s-1980s, but recent evidence of redlining is scarce. Mortgage lenders have found ways to by-pass suspicion of redlining by granting mortgage loans in the “good” part of a Census tract and withholding it from the “bad” part (cherry-picking behavior). Although some changes have increased the effectiveness of the CRA, other changes have made it easier for banks to get away with lending behavior that is not CRA compliant. More importantly, the updates to the CRA were unable to keep with changes in the structure of the US mortgage market. During the subprime mortgage and foreclosure crisis that started in 2007 the CRA got heavily criticized for enabling subprime lending and therefore being at the root of the global financial crisis. It is argued that the CRA forced lenders to grant loans to low-income borrowers who should not have been given a loan under “normal” conditions. This entry discusses five reasons why the CRA should not be blamed for promoting unsound lending. The CRA was designed to promote fair lending to all borrowers. Subprime lending, on the other hand, was designed by lenders to make money by selling risky and overpriced loans, often to people who did not need these loans or could have applied for cheaper ones. CRA loans and subprime loans are simply two different things. There are many factors that play a significant part in unleashing the subprime mortgage crisis, but if the CRA is to be blamed for anything, it is only for not having been allowed to keep up with changes in the mortgage market. One of the future challenges is to adapt the CRA to cover all mortgage lenders: the rules need to be applied to both banks and non-bank lenders. The CRA should be updated to account for the structural changes in the mortgage market and strengthened to promote sound, inclusionary lending.
Research Interests: Community Development, Discrimination, Racial and ethnic discrimination, Mortgage markets, Federal Housing Administration, and 12 moreAcorn, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Housing Discrimination, Housing and mortgage finance, Pulitzer Prize, Redlining, Mortgage Redlining, Discrimination In Mortgage Lending, Community Reinvestment, Fair Housing Law, Discrimination and Social Exclusion, and Community Reinvestment Act
A global wall of money is looking for High-Quality Collateral (HQC) investments, and housing is one of the few asset classes considered HQC. This explains why housing is increasingly becoming financialized, but it does not explain the... more
A global wall of money is looking for High-Quality Collateral (HQC) investments, and housing is one of the few asset classes considered HQC. This explains why housing is increasingly becoming financialized, but it does not explain the timing, politics and geography. The need for HQC, supported by a neoliberal ideology, discursive tenure practices that favour homeownership, and government policies pushing the financial sector as a key engine of economic growth, have internationally—but far from globally—inflated mortgage finance bubbles.
The state is far from absent in the process of creating variegated patterns of housing financialization: it is directly implicated in each step that the wall of money takes towards securing HQC in local and national housing market sectors. The state actively—but not always consciously—creates the conditions for the financialization of housing and other assets, sectors and markets, often through a process I called “regulated deregulation” (Aalbers, 2016). The term indicates that the state is not withdrawing but rather being restructured (increasingly also through finance) in a way that favours the interest of some, often financialized corporations, and at the expense of others. Regulation is not being repealed to make the market mechanism function more smoothly; it is introduced to create new markets that end up looking nothing like the level playing field utopias espoused by neoliberal economists, think tanks, lobbyists and politicians. Of course the state could do other things, and luckily some arms of the state continue to, or start to, do other things—a theme we will revisit in the second half of this chapter.
Colin Crouch describes the situation that governments have created as “privatized Keynesianism”, which occurred initially by chance, but gradually became a crucial matter for public policy. Instead of governments taking on debt to stimulate the economy, individuals and families did so, including some rather poor ones. (...) Once privatized Keynesianism had become a model of general economic importance, it became a kind of bizarre collective good, however nested in private actions it was. (...) that very irresponsibility became a collective good. (Crouch, 2011: 114)
In this book I analysed how privatized Keynesianism was introduced in the years following the Great Moderation, a period that economists think of as one of stable growth and convergence, but which, in fact, was the beginning of the Great Excess, in which income and wealth inequality in many countries increased rapidly (Piketty, 2014). The lack of real income growth was matched with a rapid rise in household debt, and in particular, mortgage debt for the middle and to some extent lower classes.
Privatized Keynesianism, the Great Moderation, neoliberalization and financialization have transformed the nature of homeownership and rental housing, and in turn also the social relations of housing. We arrive here a fundamental point of contention between Marxist and Weberian housing scholars. As covered in Chapter 2, Marxists maintained that one’s position in the housing market is a result of one’s position in the labour market, i.e. social class determines housing position; while Weberians argued that one’s position in the housing market determines social class. Kemeny (1992), for example, argued that housing forms the basis for a new explanation of social inequality.
The state is far from absent in the process of creating variegated patterns of housing financialization: it is directly implicated in each step that the wall of money takes towards securing HQC in local and national housing market sectors. The state actively—but not always consciously—creates the conditions for the financialization of housing and other assets, sectors and markets, often through a process I called “regulated deregulation” (Aalbers, 2016). The term indicates that the state is not withdrawing but rather being restructured (increasingly also through finance) in a way that favours the interest of some, often financialized corporations, and at the expense of others. Regulation is not being repealed to make the market mechanism function more smoothly; it is introduced to create new markets that end up looking nothing like the level playing field utopias espoused by neoliberal economists, think tanks, lobbyists and politicians. Of course the state could do other things, and luckily some arms of the state continue to, or start to, do other things—a theme we will revisit in the second half of this chapter.
Colin Crouch describes the situation that governments have created as “privatized Keynesianism”, which occurred initially by chance, but gradually became a crucial matter for public policy. Instead of governments taking on debt to stimulate the economy, individuals and families did so, including some rather poor ones. (...) Once privatized Keynesianism had become a model of general economic importance, it became a kind of bizarre collective good, however nested in private actions it was. (...) that very irresponsibility became a collective good. (Crouch, 2011: 114)
In this book I analysed how privatized Keynesianism was introduced in the years following the Great Moderation, a period that economists think of as one of stable growth and convergence, but which, in fact, was the beginning of the Great Excess, in which income and wealth inequality in many countries increased rapidly (Piketty, 2014). The lack of real income growth was matched with a rapid rise in household debt, and in particular, mortgage debt for the middle and to some extent lower classes.
Privatized Keynesianism, the Great Moderation, neoliberalization and financialization have transformed the nature of homeownership and rental housing, and in turn also the social relations of housing. We arrive here a fundamental point of contention between Marxist and Weberian housing scholars. As covered in Chapter 2, Marxists maintained that one’s position in the housing market is a result of one’s position in the labour market, i.e. social class determines housing position; while Weberians argued that one’s position in the housing market determines social class. Kemeny (1992), for example, argued that housing forms the basis for a new explanation of social inequality.
Research Interests: Housing Policy, Housing, Neoliberalism, Affordable Housing, Financialization, and 14 moreHousing Policies, Housing finance, Housing Studies, Housing Wealth, House Prices, Financialisation, Financialisation, Fictitious Capital, Financialization, Economic Sociology, Architectural Sociology, Housing and mortgage finance, Financialization of Real Estate, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Colin Crouch, Financialisation of housing, and Housing financialization
This doc contains the first pages of the book. If you want to read the entire book, you could order it in hardback or kindle from the publisher or amazon (but amazon currently charges more than Routledge). Since the hardback is very... more
This doc contains the first pages of the book. If you want to read the entire book, you could order it in hardback or kindle from the publisher or amazon (but amazon currently charges more than Routledge). Since the hardback is very expensive, I am also offering paperback copies (currently not available on Routledge or Amazon) for €35 (incl. postage). Please e-mail me at manuel.aalbers@kuleuven.be if you are interested. If so, I can send you my payment details.
Due to the financialization of housing in today’s market, housing risks are increas ingly becoming financial risks. Financialization refers to the increasing dominance of financial actors, markets, practices, measurements and narratives.
It also refers to the resulting structural transformation of economies, firms, states and households. This book asserts the centrality of housing to the contemporary capitalist political economy and places housing at the centre of the financialization debate.
A global wall of money is looking for High-Quality Collateral (HQC) investments, and housing is one of the few asset classes considered HQC. This explains why housing is increasingly becoming financialized, but it does not explain its timing, politics and geography. Presenting a diverse range of case studies from the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain, the chapters in this book include coverage of the role of the state as the driver of financialization processes, and the part played by local and national histories and institutions. This cutting edge volume will pave the way for future research in the area.
Where housing used to be something “local” or “national”, the wo-way coupling of housing to finance has been one crucial element in the recent crisis. It is time to reconsider the financialization of both homeownership and social housing. This book will be of interest to those who study international economics, housing systems, economic geography and financialization.
Due to the financialization of housing in today’s market, housing risks are increas ingly becoming financial risks. Financialization refers to the increasing dominance of financial actors, markets, practices, measurements and narratives.
It also refers to the resulting structural transformation of economies, firms, states and households. This book asserts the centrality of housing to the contemporary capitalist political economy and places housing at the centre of the financialization debate.
A global wall of money is looking for High-Quality Collateral (HQC) investments, and housing is one of the few asset classes considered HQC. This explains why housing is increasingly becoming financialized, but it does not explain its timing, politics and geography. Presenting a diverse range of case studies from the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain, the chapters in this book include coverage of the role of the state as the driver of financialization processes, and the part played by local and national histories and institutions. This cutting edge volume will pave the way for future research in the area.
Where housing used to be something “local” or “national”, the wo-way coupling of housing to finance has been one crucial element in the recent crisis. It is time to reconsider the financialization of both homeownership and social housing. This book will be of interest to those who study international economics, housing systems, economic geography and financialization.
Research Interests: Political Economy, Globalization, Welfare State, Credit Scoring, International Political Economy, and 27 moreComparative Political Economy, Securitization, Housing Policy, Housing, Neoliberalism, Convergence, David Harvey, Financialization, Housing Policies, Varieties of Capitalism, Social Housing, Mortgage markets, Mortgage Foreclosure, Sub-prime mortgages, Housing Studies, Securitisation, Financialisation, Divergence, Mortgages, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Comparative Social Policy. Welfare State Research. Sociology of Work. Migration and care, Housing and mortgage finance, Financialization of Real Estate, Secondary Mortgage Market, Financialisation, Financialization, economic sociology, Overaccumulation, and Housing Associations
Just as in society, the mortgage market may exclude people on the basis of place, as well as race. Place-based exclusion in the mortgage market often takes the form of “redlining,” a tacit agreement among lending institutions to delineate... more
Just as in society, the mortgage market may exclude people on the basis of place, as well as race. Place-based exclusion in the mortgage market often takes the form of “redlining,” a tacit agreement among lending institutions to delineate sections of cities into areas where no home mortgages are to be issued. Place, Exclusion, and Mortgage Markets presents an in-depth examination of the practice of redlining and the broader implications of contemporary urban exclusion processes. Through a careful balance of comparative research and literature reviews, author Manuel B. Aalbers reveals how redlining, which is most visible at the urban level, is also constituted at the interaction of several spatial scales: neighborhood, urban, regional, national, and global. By utilizing several research strategies and presenting documented evidence from various urban sectors in the United States, Italy, and the Netherlands, this book offers fresh insights and much needed analytical clarity to shape our understanding of redlining and other urban exclusion processes.
Research Interests: Sociology, Geography, Globalization, Credit Scoring, Discrimination, and 22 moreHousing, Neoliberalism, Social Exclusion, Racial and ethnic discrimination, Neighborhood Effects, Mortgage markets, Power, Mortgage Foreclosure, Neighborhood change, Social Exclusion and Inclusion, Urban Housing Markets, Housing and neighborhood effects, Mortgage Lending, Financial Exclusion, Housing Discrimination, Housing and mortgage finance, Social Exclusion and Social Inequalities, Redlining, Mortgage Redlining, Mortgage Lenders, Place-based Discrimination, and Discrimination In Mortgage Lending
During historic times of turmoil and change, social scientists of various stripes are often called upon to shape our understanding of ways mortgage markets function. The question is asked; just how did we get here? Subprime Cities: The... more
During historic times of turmoil and change, social scientists of various stripes are often called upon to shape our understanding of ways mortgage markets function. The question is asked; just how did we get here? Subprime Cities: The Political Economy of Mortgage Markets presents a collection of works from social scientists that offer important insights into what is happening in today’s mortgage market including the causes, effects, and aftermath of the ‘subprime’ mortgage crisis. In addition to shedding light on how the current housing crisis has spread to other sectors of the economy, readings address the mortgage market itself and how problems have spread throughout mortgage and housing markets. Various chapters address changes that have resulted in the subprime mortgage crisis; others focus on the structural changes in the mortgage market, rather than on the crisis itself. Documentation of the geographical, social, and institutional inequalities associated with the crisis reveal how the recent mortgage boom created ‘subprime cities’, and how the victims of the crisis are the product of deep structural inequalities. This book is a provocative wake-up call for us to reconsider the structures of housing finance and housing policy if we are to avoid another crisis.
Research Interests: Finance, Political Economy, International Political Economy, Comparative Political Economy, Securitization, and 30 moreBanking, Discrimination, Urban Studies, Critical international political economy, Racial and ethnic discrimination, Marxist political economy, The Global Political Economy, Mortgage markets, Mortgage Brokers and Mortgage Banking, Mortgage Foreclosure, Predatory Lending, Sub-prime mortgages, Mortgage Lending, Mortgage fraud, wrongful foreclosure, stop foreclosure, Radical Political Economy, Predatory Pricing, Mortgages, Mortgage, MBS, Politics Sociology Subprime Crisis, Home Mortgage Loans, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Housing Discrimination, Housing and mortgage finance, Secondary Mortgage Market, Securities and mortgage, Subprime Mortgages, Predatory Loans, Predatory Lenders, and Predatory Credit
define / definition / definitions / glossary : ABS, Agency Debt, Agency RMBS, Alt-A loan, ARM, CDO, CDS, Conforming loan, Credit scoring, Derivative, Disparate impact, Disparate treatment, Equity withdrawal, Fannie Mae, Flipping, Freddie... more
define / definition / definitions / glossary : ABS, Agency Debt, Agency RMBS, Alt-A loan, ARM, CDO, CDS, Conforming loan, Credit scoring, Derivative, Disparate impact, Disparate treatment, Equity withdrawal, Fannie Mae, Flipping, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, Greenlining, GSE, Home loan, Interest rate cap, LIBOR, Mortgage deficient area, Mortgage insurance, Negative equity, OCC, Originator, OTS, Pre-emption, Predatory lending, Primary mortgage market, Private-label securitization, Rate-spread loan, Redlining, Risk-based pricing, RMBS, Savings and Loans Institution (thrift), Secondary mortgage market, Securitization, SIV, SPV, Subprime loan
Research Interests: Credit Scoring, Securitization, Financial Derivatives, Mortgage markets, Derivatives, and 17 moreMortgage Foreclosure, Sub-prime mortgages, Credit Default Swaps, Mortgage Lending, Derivatives Markets, Mortgages, Mortgage, MBS, Default, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Subprime crisis, Housing and mortgage finance, Secondary Mortgage Market, SPV, Subprime Mortgages, Predatory Credit, and LIBOR
Competitive cycling has always been particularly popular in the Benelux, France and Italy, but has spread first continetally and then globally in recent decades. But how global is actually competitive cycling today? In this article we... more
Competitive cycling has always been particularly popular in the Benelux, France and Italy, but has spread first continetally and then globally in recent decades. But how global is actually competitive cycling today? In this article we analyze the globalization of road cycling for men.
Wielrennen is van oudsher vooral populair in de Benelux, Frankrijk en Italië. Vanuit deze landen verspreidde de wielersport zich over de wereld. Maar hoe mondiaal is de wielersport vandaag de dag eigenlijk? In dit artikel analyseren wij de mondialisering van het wegwielrennen voor mannen.
Wielrennen is van oudsher vooral populair in de Benelux, Frankrijk en Italië. Vanuit deze landen verspreidde de wielersport zich over de wereld. Maar hoe mondiaal is de wielersport vandaag de dag eigenlijk? In dit artikel analyseren wij de mondialisering van het wegwielrennen voor mannen.