Financialization is a multifaceted social phenomenon with a notable degree of transnational heterogeneity. This thesis seeks to approach existing literature gaps that may account for such...Show moreFinancialization is a multifaceted social phenomenon with a notable degree of transnational heterogeneity. This thesis seeks to approach existing literature gaps that may account for such transnational heterogeneity. The first literature gap is the under-exploration of possible connections of democracy to financialization. The second is the lack of a multidimensional analysis exploring the possible relationship between financialization and institutional characteristics. These institutional characteristics are centred around the type of democracy and capitalism regimes which is based on a majoritarian versus consensus-based democracy whereas the economic side is approached through varieties of capitalism and demand regime theory that are respectively dichotomized into liberal market economy versus coordinated market economy and export-led versus debt-led regimes. Financialization is based on three different approaches: the emergence of a new regime of accumulation, the ascendency of shareholder orientation, and the financialization of everyday life. The thesis is hypothesis generating, based on a possible relationship between democracy and capitalism with financialization. The research design employs a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis based on 23 countries. The findings of this thesis are largely inconclusive, requiring further research through different or more refined approaches. In the emergence of a new regime of accumulation and the financialization of everyday life, a general pattern divided the financialization and no-financialization outcomes on a largely geographic basis with a East-West Europe divide. The ascendency of shareholder orientation, meanwhile, saw a large number of necessary or quasi-necessary conditions that may help account for the financialization outcome and only occurred in cases where the emergence of a new regime of accumulation and financialization of everyday life also occurs indicating a possibility that those are necessary conditions.Show less
Economic recovery in Sierra Leone after the devastating 1991-2002 civil war has rested to a great extent on the booming iron ore sector. The thesis analyses the development of this sector in light...Show moreEconomic recovery in Sierra Leone after the devastating 1991-2002 civil war has rested to a great extent on the booming iron ore sector. The thesis analyses the development of this sector in light of academic discussions on the growing role of China in the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa and the literature on the financialization of the economy with a particular emphasis on the extraction and trade of mineral commodities. It uses the country’s leading iron ore mining firms, African Minerals Ltd. and London Mining Plc., as a case study. Financialization, here defined as growing importance of financial institutions, e.g., private equity firms, over the real economy, leads firms to increasingly tailor their business to deliver shareholder value in the short term. Rising demand for mineral resources in China drove investment in resource extraction. The operations of both companies were profoundly shaped by the demands of investors, resulting in a prioritisation of shareholder value over all other business considerations. This model of resource extraction could only be viable under extremely favourable economic and fiscal conditions. These findings suggest that the developmental potential of iron mining in Sierra Leone is undermined by the process of financialization.Show less
This thesis analyzes the impacts of over-financialization and illegality on Malta's economic development. This is done through examining Malta's four different financialization strategies between...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the impacts of over-financialization and illegality on Malta's economic development. This is done through examining Malta's four different financialization strategies between 2013-2019 to investigate their impacts on Malta's economic development by applying the theory of Finance Curse. These impacts are analysed in terms of three risks: political, economic and societal, to study the net contribution of financialization to Malta. The result shows that the net growth of Malta's economy is lower when illegality intertwined with financialization due to the exposure of the three risks.Show less
