Integrating Finance into Global Production Networks

Abstract

Coe N. M., Lai K. P. Y. and Wójcik D. Integrating finance into global production networks, Regional Studies. While successful in its aim of ‘globalizing’ regional development, the global production network (GPN) approach has thus far paid less attention to the role of finance in the dynamics of the global economy and regional development. This lacuna is significant as finance is arguably even more globalized and networked than production. To address this gap the paper distils the concept of the global financial network (GFN) from financial geography and related scholarship, with advanced business services, world cities and offshore jurisdictions at the core. Interactions between the GPN and the GFN are discussed, focusing on the financing and financializing of GPNs and the co-evolution of globalization and financialization. Integrating finance into GPN research entails more than a simple extension of the approach; it would also enrich it conceptually, and enable it methodologically and empirically.