Geographies of Financialization in Disarray: The Dutch Case in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

The securitization crisis that started in mid-2007 has demonstrated that we are indeed living in a “global financial village” and are all subject to the vagaries of financialization. Nevertheless, the fallout from the credit crisis has not been homogeneous across space. That some localities were hit harder than others suggests that there are distinct geographies of financialization. Combining insights from the “varieties of capitalism” literature with those from the literature on “financialization studies,” the article offers a first take on what may explain these different geographies on the basis of an informal comparison of the trajectories of financialization and their political repercussions in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands. The article ends with some reflections on how economic geography could be enriched by combining comparative studies on institutionalism and financialization, while its distinct research focus—detailed spatial analysis endowed with a well-developed sensitivity for geographic variegation—may help overcome the methodological nationalism of much comparative institutionalism.

Keywords:

• financialization
• comparative political economy
• varieties of capitalism
• financial markets
• institutions
• The Netherlands
• United States
• Germany

Acknowledgments

Earlier versions of this article were presented at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Boston, 15 April 2009, and Current Research Perspectives in Economic Geography, Universität Zürich, Zürich, 2–3 March 2009. We thank all the participants for their comments and contributions. Further thanks are due to three referees and one of the editors of this journal. The research undertaken for this article was made possible by Grant 452-05-347 from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.