International Joint Research Group: European Financial Geography Network

The key aim of the European Financial Geography Network (EFGN) is to consolidate a global network of scholars involved in cutting-edge research on financial geographies. The 2007-2009 global financial crisis has made the implications of financial globalization painfully clear, with deep entanglements between financial systems at the heart of the way the crisis unfolded. At the same time, the crisis has had geographically variegated outcomes with a deepening process of indebtedness as a general pattern. It has become clear that geography is central to the way finance operates, even though we are still in dire need of understanding its particular geographical underpinnings. The deepened state of financialization of our economy and society, moreover, suggest that the influence of finance reaches far beyond the financial sector, but is in fact a cornerstone of the contemporary way of life, including its extractive use of the natural environment. By focusing on financial geographies, EFGN will address an area of the social sciences where a substantial research lacuna still exists. Beyond its fundamental scientific character, the insights from the research network will also have societal impact: understanding the spatial structure of the global financial system and unpacking the geographically variegated processes of financialization can give us leverage in developing scenarios for more just and sustainable forms of finance.