Future FinanceLegal Geographies of Financial Centres and the Asset Economy

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£29.99

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About this book

Finance is no longer just about markets – it shapes societies, politics and the planet’s future. At its centre now stands the asset management industry, where power has shifted from public institutions to private authority. This shift has redefined the purpose of finance and exposed deep tensions: principles of justice and sustainability stand in stark contrast to the logic of today’s financial order. Driving this system are international financial centres such as London, New York, Dubai and Dublin. Frequently invoked yet poorly understood, their inner workings remain opaque. In Future Finance, Sabine Dörry uncovers how these centres operate and shows how the decisions made there ripple far beyond finance itself, reshaping economies and societies. Drawing on geography, political economy, sociology, management, history and law, she offers a fresh lens on how finance must adapt – or be compelled to adapt – to the demands of the future.

Reviews

This short book punches far above its weight. Sabine Dörry exposes the trade story of efficient capital allocation, told by Big Finance, as actually being one of opportunistic arbitrage by well-paid lawyers and tax specialists. Future Finance is a must read for everyone interested in the hidden back story to topics like the greening of finance, the hiccups of the European capital market union or even the rise of populism.

By foregrounding the legal machinery that unpins global finance, Sabine Dörry offers crucial insights into the instruments and practices that shape financial centres, firm behaviour, social justice and sustainability. An important book for prompting us to think about what kind of future and what kind of finance we want.

Table of contents

1. Future Finance

2. The rise of the asset economy

3. The global production networks of finance

4. Assemblage of legal bricolage and financial practice

5. Institutionalising professional authority

6. Expanding territorialities of law and legal practice

7. Financial centres as infrastructures and assets

Coda: Future Finance between precarity and permanence

About the author

Sabine Dörry

Sabine Dörry is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the "Governance of Urban Dynamics" Research Cluster in the Department of Urban Development and Mobility at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research.