The New Geography of Capitalism Firms, Finance, and Society

Globalization is a dominant feature and force in the contemporary world, impacting all areas of business, economics, and society. This accessibly written overview of contemporary capitalism shows how the development of global supply chains, the global division of labour, and, in particular, the globalization of financial markets have become the drivers of this process, and assesses the consequences. Not only does this affect the way firms operate, it also presents challenges for the nation state. The changing geography of capitalism underpinned by an expanding global division of labour and the integration of financial markets has undercut the bordering logics necessary for the maintenance of national systems of production, national varieties of capitalism, and national systems of social protection. Reviewing a range of debates and theories across the contemporary social sciences - varieties of capitalism, financialization, global production networks - the book shows how the insights of economic geography can be usefully brought to bear in understanding current trends, and the changing relationships between global financial markets, multinational firms, and contemporary welfare states. Wide-ranging, accessibly written, and inter-disciplinary, this short book is a most useful guide for researchers and students across the social sciences.

1 - The Geography of Finance
2 - One World of Production?
3 - Variegated Capitalism and the Firm
4 - Comparing Financial Systems in a Global Economy
5 - Financialization and the Welfare State
6 - Corporate Transformation and Employee Pensions
7 - The Global Financial Crisis and Beyond

Adam D. Dixon is a senior lecturer in economic geography at the University of Bristol. His research focuses on comparative economic geography, the geography of finance, and the political economy of institutional investors. He is co-author with Gordon L. Clark and Ashby H.B. Monk of Sovereign Wealth Funds: Legitimacy, Governance and Global Power (2013, PUP) and co-editor with the same of Managing Financial Risks: From Global to Local (2009, OUP). He is a visiting scholar at Stanford University's Global Projects Center and has held visiting positions at Heidelberg University in Germany and Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He has a D.Phil from the University of Oxford, and master's and bachelor's degrees, respectively, from L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and The George Washington University in Washington, DC.