Financial Inclusion or Subordination? The Monetary Politics of Debt in Cambodia

Financial inclusion is a leading driver of household debt across the global South. Although critical geographers have analysed this debt through the lens of financialisation, few have examined it in terms of monetary politics. This is a salient issue, because poorer nations often have limited control over their monetary policy due to their dependence on foreign currencies, which can adversely affect the structure of their financial markets. Building on the concept of monetary dependency from scholarship on financial subordination, I analyse the monetary politics of debt in Cambodia. Drawing on elite interviews and ethnographic research, I argue that Cambodia's extreme monetary dependence on the US dollar has shaped monetary and fiscal policies that compel poorer households to take on private debt to pay for their basic needs. This paper advances critical geographies of debt and development by studying financial subordination and its impact on financial inclusion in the global South.     

Financial policies in the Papal States, 1790s–1848: a comparative study of Napoleonic Europe

This article discusses the financial policies of the Papal States from the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century in relation to the rest of Europe, and especially Italy. Its crucial starting point is the Napoleonic economic reforms, which had important and often lasting effects throughout its former empire. French reliance on debt reduction and heavy though equitable taxation improved the financial conditions of most European lands even as they convulsed from the protracted wars. The economic austerity prior to 1814 forced post-Napoleonic Europe to make decisions on the degree of continuity on these two financial fronts. Political instability beginning in the 1820s for some, and the early 1830s and late 1840s for the rest, upset the rather tenuous financial position that most lands found themselves in. For the Papal States, the Napoleonic period improved its financial position to the detriment of ecclesiastical institutions. The period also revealed the inherent flaws in its financial system, necessitating a decentralized approach to the restoration, relying on individual (or institutional) initiatives and large foreign loans, in lieu of overarching policies. By the 1850s, a further lack of financial control induced the renewal of Peter’s Pence.     

东南亚金融危机后的缅甸经济政策与华商

1997年东南亚金融危机后,缅甸政府为阻止经济恶化,采取了推进农业改革、加速国有企业私营化步伐、拓宽融资渠道和加强边贸发展等措施,为缅甸华商的发展创造了一定的机会,华人经济得到进一步发展。而缅甸动荡的政治局势、缅甸经济改革中存在的弊端和问题及中国新移民在缅甸的涌现,是缅甸华商未来发展必须应对的问题。     

中国外资银行空间网络演化的结构特征及其影响因素

本文基于外资银行网点数据,借鉴连锁型网络模型,构建了1990年、2001年和2015年中国外资银行空间网络并分析演化结构特征,最后借助条件Logit模型探讨了外资银行空间分布的影响因素。研究表明：①中国外资银行空间网络小世界网络特征明显,具有较大的集聚系数和较小的平均路径长度,网络中局域小集团网络化特征和核心-边缘结构明显。②随着网络规模的平稳增长,网络的有序性呈现出增强趋势,网络中金融连接度和金融可达性增加,金融传输效率和组织效率进一步提高,核心-边缘结构现象有所加剧。③外资银行空间分布的主导因素在不同时期不一样,1990年主导因素是市场机会和区位效应,2001年和2015年的主导因素是金融集聚,但指标的具体影响概率有所降低。     

Fording differences? Conditions mitigating water insecurity in the Niger River Basin

River basins are an extremely important source of freshwater for Africa and the impact of climate change on these communities constitutes an important question worth studying. Among these basins, the Niger River Basin is an ideal candidate for meso-level theory testing of climate change-induced political violence because of its importance as one of the largest sources of freshwater in Africa, its high vulnerability to climate change, and its location in a politically unstable region. This paper utilizes the benefits of GIS to test whether effects of water insecurity on the various incidences of political violence are conditional on economic, geographic, and social means of connectivity. Our analysis uses the density of secondary road networks, the geographic distance to the Niger River, and a shared co-ethnicity with one's head-of-state to evaluate the impact of hydrological stress and its subsequent risk for political violence across nine West African countries from 1997 to 2012. Using climatological data and an econometric de-trending method, we measure the separate, substantive impact that individualized changes in precipitation trend and precipitation variability have for the incidence of ACLED's political violence events, conditional on local economic, geographic, and social factors. Our results reveal a complicated web of circumstances under which certain forms of political violence are more/less likely to be observed. The implications of this analysis serve as a call for a closer inspection of the micro-channels by which climate stress impacts heterogeneous communities in the developing world.     

Insecure bodies/selves: introduction to theme section

This short piece introduces a three-paper theme section on the theme of ‘Insecure bodies/selves’, growing out of a conference session held in 2012. Using the brief example of a brain-injured soldier's ‘shattered world’, creating a thoroughly ‘unsecured’ self/body, attention is given to how contemporary human geography has gradually opened itself to engaging with the multiple spaces of insecure bodies/selves. The three papers are then formally outlined and situated within these new currents of geographical and trans-disciplinary scholarship.     

房地产泡沫和金融安全——日本泡沫经济的启示

房地产泡沫和金融安全之间的相互关系既是政府宏观管理必须密切关注的问题,也是学术界长期探索的重大课题。本文以20世纪80至90年代的日本泡沫经济为对象,全面分析了日本以地价泡沫为特征的泡沫经济状况以及日本房地产泡沫对日本金融安全伤害的情况。在此基础上,从制度变迁、宏观经济政策的变化以及预期和经济主体行为变异等方面,考察了日本房地产泡沫和金融安全之间的相互关系,重点分析了两者之间的传递机制。     

The Impact of Global Financial Crisis on the Mechanism of Economic Growth in Russia

A noted specialist on the Russian economy presents an assessment of the impact of the global financial crisis on the mechanism of the country's economic growth. Focusing on the demand side of the economic ledger, the author explores the question of whether Russia will be able to re-attain the high economic growth rates of the period from 2000 to 2007 after recovering from the crisis. The paper analyzes the sharp drop in production in 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, attributing most of the damage to liquidity problems and declines in the price of oil. Empirical evidence is based primarily on data collected by the author from the Central Bank of Russia and the country's federal bureau of statistics (Rosstat). Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: E010, E200, E660, F210, G010. 11 figures, 3 tables, 29 references.     

China's Shoe Manufacturing and the Wenzhou Model: Perspectives on the World's Leading Producer and Exporter of Footwear

A U.S.-based geographer and specialist on China advances his research on industrial districts and regional development by presenting a 2008 study of shoe manufacturing in Wenzhou (a major center in the world's largest footwear producing and exporting country). More specifically, the author examines how the model of economic development pioneered in Wenzhou (the Wenzhou model) has been transformed in an effort to meet the challenges posed by the global economy. He argues that the scaling up of Wenzhou's footwear industry, through the expansion of sales networks and factories across China and abroad, indicates that other adaptable city regions can overcome similar obstacles. The author challenges both the New Regionalism literature focused on local institutions and assets, as well as perspectives that overemphasize the benefits of globalization and global production networks. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O100, O140, O180. 2 figures, 3 tables, 60 references.