Economic geographies of global underdevelopment Roger Lee Department

Economic geographies of global (under)development Roger Lee Department of Geography Queen Mary, University of London r. lee@qmul. ac. uk GA Annual Conference University of Manchester 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 1

Economic geographies? three ways of thinking Economic Geography/economic geographies • doing Economic Geography cartographies, technologies, theories, methodologies • living economic geographies practices of lived economic geographies • constructing economic geographies relations and practices in the construction of economic geographies 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 2

practices of lived economic geographies? 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 3

practices of lived economic geographies? Photograph of two Russian men removed for copyright reasons: Market economics: two old men sell household items in Kaliningrad market to make a few roubles to buy food. Ulrike Preuss 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 4

relations and practices in the construction of economic geographies? materialities circuits of value socialities circuits of capital - ‘access to the gods’ spatialities territorial absolute relative topological relational 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 5

materialities: circuits of value? 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 6

socialities: circuits of capital/access to the gods? 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 7

spatialities? 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 8

global (under)development? Globalisation (and hence global (under)development) is a process not a condition. It involves the multiple interactions of more (or less) geographically expansive circuits of value, especially circuits of capital, diverse networks of influence, social relations, metrologies and semiotics with local circumstances and the resultant social and material contradictions and contested transformations of the local and the global. 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 9

global (under)development? 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 10

constructing economic geographies relations and practices the world is a big economic geography global GDP = $54, 35 trillion World Bank 2008 web. worldbank. org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS accessed 09 12 08 BUT …. . 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL (trillion = 1000 billion 11

constructing economic geographies relations and practices … an even bigger financial geography global securities markets = $149, 10 trillion B of E Financial Stability Report Issue 22 October 2007 pp 20 - 21 ie ‘fictitious’ capital = $149, 10 trillion - $54, 35 trillion = $94, 75 (trillion = 1000 billion) and global financial markets produce and trade ca 2. 5 - 3 TIMES global GDP …. . 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 12

constructing economic geographies - relations and practices sources: BIS, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, European Securitisation Forum, Eurostat, Fitch Ratings Ltd, Mc. Kinsey Global Institute, ONS, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Standard and Poor’s, World Federation of Exchanges and Bank calculations. from B of E Financial Stability Report Issue 22 25 October 2007 pp 20 - 21 (a) All data are global at end-2006 unless stated. (b) Euro area, the United Kingdom, the United States and international money market instruments outstanding. (c) Excludes local government debt and government agency debt. In the United States, for example, agency and municipal debt totalled $4. 6 trillion at 2007 end-Q 1. (d) End-2005 except for the United Kingdom and the United States. (e) Aggregate of Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. (f) Aggregate of euro area, the United Kingdom and the United States. (g) Aggregate of Europe and the United States. (h) Aggregate of Europe and the United States. Includes securitised home equity loans, auto loans, consumer loans, credit card debt, student loans and other sorts of non-mortgage loans. 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 13

constructing economic geographies - relations and practices …. . with major consequences for risk estimate of losses (to October 2008) B of E 2008 Financial Stability Report Issue 24 October 14 $2. 8 trillion = 4 - 5% global GDP (trillion = 1000 billion) 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 14

constructing economic geographies - relations and practices 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 15

constructing economic geographies - relations and practices 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 16

constructing economic geographies - relations and practices 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 17

conclusions … if you don’t understand how money goes round the world, you don’t understand the world at all. Gillian Tett The Guardian G 2 31 10 2008 12 but this must involve a geographical critique of political economy, including … 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 18

conclusions geographies of regulation …… 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 19

conclusions …. . and protest 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 20

conclusions …. as well as an understanding of the social construction of financial markets as ……. 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 21

conclusions … complex assemblages and webs of institutions taking place in financial spaces and staffed by people as well as machines… 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 22

conclusions … working through social geographies and bringing multiple values (if gendered) to bear but … 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 23

conclusions … working above all with information to produce relational knowledge BUT all of this requires …. . 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 24

conclusions … requires socialisation, spatialisation, democratisation and transparency ie engagement in the lived geographies of finance radically to re-shape Mishkin’s 2006 ‘next great globalisation’ [ie finance!] for a democratic political economic geography 17 April 2009 roger lee department of geography QMUL 25