Assetization and the 'new asset geographies'.

An asset is both a resource and property, in that it generates income streams with its sale price based on the capitalization of those revenues. Although an asset's income streams can be financially sliced up, aggregated, and speculated upon across highly diverse geographies, there still has to be something underpinning these financial operations. Something has to generate the income that a political economic actor can lay claim to through a property or other right, entailing a process of enclosure, rent extraction, property formation, and capitalization. Geographers and other social scientists are producing a growing literature illustrating the range of new (and old) asset classes created by capitalists in their search for revenue streams, for which we argue assetization is a necessary concept to focus on the moment of enclosure and rent extraction. It is a pressing task for human geographers to unpack the diverse and contingent 'asset geographies' entailed in this assetization process. As a middle range concept and empirical problematic, we argue that assetization is an important focal point for wider debates in human geography by focusing attention on the moment of enclosure, rent extraction, and material remaking of society which the making of a financial asset implies.

Struggling over new asset geographies.

In this response, we address criticisms of our definition of assetization from an accounting perspective, its overlap with financialization, and the relationship between value and valuation it posits. We reflect on a future agenda around assetization emphasizing the political dimensions of externalizing future costs and the implications of rising inflation.

Capitalizing on Hope: Questionable Marketing Approval and Pricing of a New ALS Drug.

Regulatory agencies must balance patient demands to access new treatments for fatal diseases with limited treatment options while ensuring drug safety and efficacy. However, questionable U.S. regulatory actions resulted in the early approval of AMX0035 to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by reconvening advisory commissions to obtain positive decisions and designating the drug as a new molecular entity. Data from one randomized clinical trial suggests minimal delays in disease progression and longer survivability, but debate remains about the lack of confirmatory evidence of effectiveness owing to study limitations. A patient's decision-making process details the experience of using the drug, including perspectives on access, cost, effectiveness, and adverse effects. In line with the "nichebuster" business model, the drugmaker, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, is charging US$158,000/year/patient and thus forecast to turn a profit on a drug with debatable clinical effectiveness prior to completing a Phase 3 trial. Early marketing approval, despite community demands, is unnecessary and may have reduced access because of the end of a compassionate use program, and the high price tag results in restricted coverage and high out-of-pocket costs. Also, the drug's key ingredients are available as a generic and a supplement.

Digital transformation and corporate financialization in emerging markets: Evidence from China.

Corporate financialization poses serious challenges to the development of the real economy. In the context of promoting the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, it is crucial to explore whether digital transformation can inhibit corporate financialization. Using data from Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2021, we construct a fixed effects model and find that digital transformation significantly reduces the level of corporate financialization, a conclusion that still holds after a series of robustness tests such as propensity score matching and adding control variables. Channel analysis shows that that digital transformation inhibits corporate financialization by enhancing the information mobility and operational capability of corporations. In addition, this effect is more pronounced at higher levels of industry competition as well as marketization. Finally, we also find structural differences in the impact of digital transformation on corporate financialization. Our study explores the determinants of corporate financialization in terms of a firm's mode of operation and type of strategy, and the findings provide a theoretical basis for the active development of digital technologies in emerging markets that are undergoing economic transitions, as well as for guarding against the shift of the economy from the real to the virtual.

The Rising Importance of Stock-Linked Assets in the Black-White Wealth Gap.

Studies have examined the racial disparities in household characteristics, homeownership, and familial transfer as primary drivers of the Black-White wealth gap in the United States. This study assesses the importance of stock-linked assets in generating wealth inequality. As financial assets become a growing component of household portfolios, the Black-White wealth gap is increasingly associated with the racial disparity in stock-linked assets. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study shows that the contribution of stock-linked assets to the Black-White wealth gap has expanded in both absolute and relative terms, surpassing those of homeownership and business equity. Furthermore, a substantial disparity in financial wealth exists even for otherwise similar Black and White households. Although the disparity is larger among those with more economic resources, a gap remains among those with less. Lastly, our analysis shows that the combination of lower ownership levels and lower returns on financial wealth among Black households could account for a quarter of the Black-White wealth accumulation gap, net of differences in current net worth and household characteristics. Our findings suggest that considering financial assets is critical for understanding contemporary racial wealth inequality.

What is the purpose of ultra-processed food? An exploratory analysis of the financialisation of ultra-processed food corporations and implications for public health.

BACKGROUND: In recent decades there has been a global rise in consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) to the detriment of population health and the environment. Large corporations that have focused heavily on low-cost manufacturing and extensive marketing of UPFs to maximise profits have driven this dietary transition. The same corporations claim to serve the interests of multiple 'stakeholders', and that they are contributing to sustainable development. This paper aimed to test these claims by examining the degree to which UPF corporations have become 'financialised', focusing on the extent to which they have prioritised the financial interests of their shareholders relative to other actors, as well as the role that various types of investors have played in influencing their governance. Findings were used to inform discussion on policy responses to improve the healthiness of population diets. METHODS: We adopted an exploratory research design using multiple methods. We conducted quantitative analysis of the financial data of U.S. listed food and agricultural corporations between 1962 and 2021, share ownership data of a selection of UPF corporations, and proxy voting data of a selection of investors between 2012 and 2022. We also conducted targeted narrative reviews using structured and branching searches of academic and grey literature. RESULTS: Since the 1980s, corporations that depend heavily on manufacturing and marketing UPFs to generate profits have been increasingly transferring money to their shareholders relative to their total revenue, and at a level considerably higher than other food and agricultural sectors. In recent years, large hedge fund managers have had a substantial influence on the governance of major UPF corporations in their pursuit of maximising short-term returns. In comparison, shareholders seeking to take steps to improve population diets have had limited influence, in part because large asset managers mostly oppose public health-related shareholder proposals. CONCLUSIONS: The operationalisation of 'shareholder primacy' by major UPF corporations has driven inequity and undermines their claims that they are creating 'value' for diverse actors. Measures that protect population diets and food systems from the extractive forces of financialisation are likely needed as part of efforts to improve the healthiness of population diets.

Cities' low-carbon transformation and labor income share of companies: evidence from the low-carbon city pilot program in China.

This article investigates the impact of the low-carbon city pilot program on income distribution. The program is designed to reduce urban carbon emissions in China while also serving as a quasi-natural experiment to examine the income distribution effect of environmental regulatory policies. Using the firm-year level data during 2007-2020, we adopt the staggered difference-in-difference method to explore the impact of the program on labor income share. This study finds that the LCCP program significantly affects firms' labor income share. The proportion of highly educated employees and the level of financialization within the firm act as mediators that influence labor income share. This paper suggests that government should use reasonable environmental regulatory policy to facilitate labor income share to alleviate inequality, promote the scope of the program to more cities, and help firms to improve human capital level as well as serve more financial policies.

The impact of digital finance on SMEs financialization: Evidence from thirty million Chinese enterprise registrations.

Based on the registration information of 30 million Chinese enterprises, this study innovatively constructs a financialization index based on the text information of enterprise business scope. Then, the impact of digital finance on small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financialization is examined. Specifically, this study screens out SMEs involved in financial transactions by counting the keyword information in their business scope. The level of SME financialization is measured at the provincial level, based on a large number of registration samples. Empirical results based on panel fixed effects show that digital finance significantly inhibits SME financialization. On average, for each standard deviation increase in digital finance, SME financialization decreases by 0.087 standard deviations. This conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness analyses. A mechanism analysis shows that digital finance inhibits SME financialization by alleviating financing constraints, especially by providing liquidity to SMEs with relatively high financing constraints. In addition, the risk consequences of SME financialization are further examined, and SME financialization is found to significantly increase bankruptcy risk, while digital finance alleviates financing constraints and thus reduces bankruptcy risk. This study provides a new perspective for the governance of SME financialization and the optimization of the survival environment for SMEs in the context of the digital economy.

Does digital financing influence renewable energy performance in China?

The objective of this study is to examine how digital finance influences renewable energy performance in China. Empirical data from China between 2007 and 2019 is used to evaluate the relationship among these variables. The study uses two techniques, quantile regression (QR) and generalized methods of moments (GMM), to draw empirical conclusions. The results reveal that digital finance significantly influences the renewable energy performance, ecological growth, and financial performance of cities in China. Specifically, digital finance accounts for 45.92% of the variation in renewable energy indicators, 27.60% in ecological growth, and 24.39% in the improved financial performance of renewable energy at the city level. The study also observes that the city-level score for digital finance, renewable energy, and other indicators is heterogeneous in movement. Factors contributing to this heterogeneity include high population (16.05%), access to digital banking (23.11%), province-level renewable energy performance (39.62%), household financial stability (22.04%), and household renewable energy literacy (8.47%). Based on these findings, the study recommends practical implications for key stakeholders.

Sport mega-event fantasies to financialization: the case of Porto Maravilha.

This paper examines the relationship between sport mega-event construction and the financialization of housing in Rio de Janeiro. It focuses on the area of Porto Maravilha, constructed prior to the 2016 Olympic Games, and the particular use of the 2001 federal Statute of City and 1995 Strategic Plan for Rio de Janeiro to create new possibilities for neoliberal-capitalist expansion, initially disguised as democratized access to land yet, in effect, further commoditized land into a form of fictitious capital. To do so, we follow the work of Brazilian architect and author, Raquel Rolnik, and her argument that the legal-institutional emphasis on wealth distribution in urban legislation, propagated at the time of the internationally recognized sport mega-event in Brazil, was not adequately harnessed and instead used to endorse real estate speculation and uneven development in the metropolitan area. The coordination and collaboration between state and nonstate entities in mega-event construction is typically associated with deepened socio-spatial inequities, the privatization of public resource material, and the in/direct displacement of low-income communities. We review pertinent literature to better understand the role of sport mega-event fantasies in the construction of Porto Maravilha-which we come to understand as a speculative logic lubricant for finance. We do this to call attention to future studies to be particularly attuned to financialization in mega-event cities.

Corporate financialization, financing constraints, and innovation efficiency-Empirical evidence based on listed Chinese pharmaceutical companies.

The relationship between financialization and innovation has become a common focus of academic attention. This paper analyzes the influence of corporate financialization on innovation efficiency based on balanced panel data of listed Chinese pharmaceutical companies from 2015 to 2020. Also, it examines the relationship between corporate financialization and innovation efficiency under different levels of financing constraints and the moderating mechanisms that exist. The results of the study show that corporate financialization negatively affects innovation efficiency and that this effect has a lag; corporate financialization hurts innovation efficiency across the different regions and firm nature, with a less inhibiting effect for eastern firms and non-state-owned firms; further tests of the mechanism of action show that there is a non-linear negative relationship between corporate financialization and innovation efficiency. And the inhibition of corporate financialization on innovation efficiency decreases as the level of financing constraints rises. Based on the above findings, this study provides warnings and recommendations for pharmaceutical companies to finance their innovative activities through financialization.

Does green finance restrain corporate financialization?

Green financial policy is one of the important policy tools for China to implement the national carbon peak goal and carbon neutral vision through financial means. This policy has an important impact on the business strategy of corporates. Based on the data of listed corporates from 2013 to 2020, this study examines the impact mechanism of China's green financial reform and innovation pilot zones (GFRIPZ) on corporate financialization (CF) using the difference-in-difference method. The results show the following: (1) The implementation of GFRIPZ significantly restrains the CF. (2) GFRIPZ reversed the short-sighted behavior of firms and guided them to accelerate the green transformation and upgrading for long-term development. Firms' environmental capital expenditure and research and development expenditure increased significantly. (3) The restraining effect of GFRIPZ on CF is stronger in state-owned firms, firms with low-degree managerial myopia, and high-polluting firms. The research clearly identifies the causal relationship and mechanism between GFRIPZ and CF and reveals the formation mechanism and solution path of CF from the green finance perspective. In addition, this study has implications for guiding the green transformation of entity firms and stopping firms from deviating from their intended purpose.

Investigating financialization perspective of oil prices, green bonds, and stock market movement in COVID-19: empirical study of E7 economies.

The drastic influence of the COVID-19 crisis halted almost every industry and economy and made the quality of doing business in the oil industry and stock markets large. Also, COVID-19 diminished financial and economic performance to a greater extent. This issue still warrants modern solutions. Thus, preceding research inquired about the financialization perspective of oil prices, green bonds, and stock market movement in the COVID-19 crisis. For this, E7 economies' data is selected to analyze the empirical findings of the research. The findings revealed that the green bonds have a weak link to crude oil, a weak correlation to stocks in the E7 settings, and a strong correlation to gold prices. While stock market return is also little correlated in COVID-19, stock volatility is highly significant in both directions with oil prices and green bonds movement. The hedging ratio has also shown a significant connection with oil prices and green bonds movement in determining the financialization of E7 economies. Hence, the study directs the implications for important industrial planning and policymaking decisions.

Facilitation or inhibition? Impact of CEO's financial background on industrial AI transformation of manufacturing companies.

Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the impact of CEO's financial background on industrial AI transformation of manufacturing enterprises based on upper echelons theory and imprinting theory. Methods: The paper preliminarily takes listed manufacturing companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets that are affiliated to enterprise groups from 2014 to 2020 as samples, and manually collects and collates datas of CEO's financial background and industrial AI transformation. The research hypotheses are tested by stata 15.0 software. Results: It is found that CEO's financial background significantly inhibits the industrial AI transformation of manufacturing enterprises, and when the CEO works part-time in the parent company, it will strengthen the negative impact of CEO's financial background on industrial AI transformation. Further research shows that enterprise financialization plays a partial intermediary role between CEO's financial background and industrial AI transformation; Compared with private enterprise groups, the inhibiting effect of CEO financial background on industrial AI transformation is stronger in state-owned enterprise groups; CEOs with non-banking financial background have a stronger inhibitory effect on industrial AI transformation. Discussion: Firstly, based on the process of making business decisions, it verifies and clarifies the action mechanism of CEO's financial background on industrial AI transformation through internal driving mechanism, which expands the research horizon of industrial AI transformation, and further applies the Imprinting Theory in biology to the research of business decision-making, which forms a beneficial complement to the relevant research on economic consequences of CEO's financial background. Secondly, different from the research of single independent company, this paper focuses on the special situation of parent-subsidiary corporate governance, and explores the mechanism of action, deepening the research on the synergy of enterprise groups. Finally, this paper further explores the influence of CEO's financial background on industrial AI transformation, which is conducive to a deeper understanding of the heterogeneity of managers except manpower and capital factors in the industrial AI transformation practice of manufacturing enterprises, and provides a new idea and a more comprehensive analysis perspective for industrial AI transformation.

The effect of enterprise financialization on green innovation: evidence from Chinese A-share non-financial listed enterprises.

The financialization of entity enterprises brings both benefits and risks for economic development. In the context of green economy transformation, exploring the impact of enterprise financialization on green innovation deserves more focus. This paper takes the A-share non-financial listed companies from 2007 to 2021 as the research sample to examine how corporate financialization affects green innovation. The results reveal that the enterprise financialization is negatively associated with green innovation, which is more significant for the short-term financialization. Further analysis shows that external supervision governance (institutional investors and analysts' attention) can alleviate the hindering effect of corporate financialization on green innovation. The mechanism tests confirm that enterprise financialization prevents enterprise green innovation by increasing enterprise risk-taking level and reducing R&D investment (capital input and labor input). Heterogeneity analysis reports that higher consumer eco-friendly preference and consumption level can ease the hindering effect of corporate financialization on corporate green innovation. This paper can provide inspiration for enterprises to reasonably arrange asset investment and how to stimulate enterprises' enthusiasm for green innovation, thus powering the green development of the real economy.

Environmental regulation and corporate financialization: insight from Blue Sky Protection Campaign in China.

Environmental regulation restricts corporate pollution emissions and affects corporate investment decisions and asset allocation. Based on the data of A-share listed enterprises in China from 2013 to 2021 and the difference in differences (DID) model, this paper identifies the impact of environmental regulation on corporate financialization with the help of the "Blue Sky Protection Campaign (2018-2020)" (BSPC) of China. The results indicate that environmental regulation has a crowding-out effect on corporate financialization. Enterprises with stricter financing constraints receive more significant crowding-out effects. This paper provides a new perspective on the "Porter hypothesis." Under the constraint of financial resources and high environmental protection costs, enterprises carry out innovative activities and environmental protection investments by consuming financial assets to reduce the risk of environmental violations. The government's environmental regulation is an effective way to guide the financial development of enterprises, control environmental pollution, and promote enterprise innovation.

Does green credit policy mitigate financialization? Evidence from Chinese heavily polluting enterprises.

Green credit policy is an important tool to use financial credit resources to stimulate heavily polluting enterprises to change their production methods. This paper constructs a difference-in-differences model based on the quasi-natural experiment of the green credit policy promulgated in 2007 to explore the impact of environmental regulation on the financialization of heavily polluting enterprises and its mechanism. The empirical results show that the green credit policy significantly inhibits the financialization of heavily polluting enterprises, especially for speculative financial assets. This inhibitory effect is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises, enterprises with severe financing constraints, highly competitive industries, and the eastern region. Furthermore, we find that the green credit policy inhibits the financialization of heavily polluting firms by promoting green innovation, mitigating agency problem, and improving media supervision. At the same time, the 2012 Green Credit Guidelines still have an inhibitory effect on the financialization of heavily polluting enterprises from 2009 to 2019, reflecting that China's green credit policy system has a continuous guiding role in the rational allocation of financial assets of heavily polluting enterprises.

The role of financialization in stimulating environmental innovation implementation in the European region.

This paper empirically examines the influences of financial development on environmental innovation implementation. Our research is based on four measures designed to assess the effectiveness of environmental innovations in 24 European countries, including the percentage of enterprises implementing environmental innovation investment (% of surveyed firms); the percentage of enterprises implementing environmental innovation activities (e.g., implementation of resource efficiency actions, sustainable products, or ISO 14001 certificates) measured, a number of enterprises having new ISO 14001 registration and a number of environmental innovation-related patents. Based on our analysis and estimates, we reveal that the better quality of the financial system improved the environmental innovation performance in the European region during the 2011-2019 period. To shed light on the link between financialization and environmental innovations, we dig deeper into financial markets and financial institutions' depth, access, and efficiency. Our results highlight financial institutions and financial markets' depth and efficiency in enhancing EI activities. However, EI-related patents do not show any significant improvements under the changes in the financial system.

Constructing agri-food for finance: startups, venture capital and food future imaginaries.

Over the past decade, investments in agricultural and food technology startups have grown to previously unknown dimensions. Mushrooming agri-food tech startups that promise to solve critical issues in the agri-food system through technological innovation are increasingly perceived as an attractive new investment opportunity for venture capitalists and investors. This paper investigates how digital agri-food technologies are narrated, constructed, and promoted for financial investment. Through qualitative content analysis of agri-food tech industry reports, articles, and commentaries we trace the logic, rationales, and narratives of this most recent investment rush, and reveal its immanent techno-finance fixes. We conceptualize the agri-food imaginaries produced within the agri-food tech discourse as financialized imaginaries, and argue that they are specifically tailored to construct, incentivize, and legitimize this new agri-food tech space for financial investment. In their attempt to raise money from investors, venture capital firms further fuel this development by discursively creating an 'agri-food tech investment rush'-similar to the land and gold rushes of the past. Investments in agri-food tech startups, however, are presented to investors as both a profitable investment opportunity as well as a moral obligation, allowing for food production to cope with neo-malthusian and environmental threats. This paper contributes to our understanding of digitization as a socio-technical project, which includes the active envisioning and promotion of desirable agri-food futures.

Inadequate Social Housing and Health: The Case of Oliver Bond House, The Liberties, Dublin.

Background: Inadequate housing is an important social justice issue that adversely affects health. Methods: Drawing on an extended ethnography case study, this paper presents the results of a resident-led survey to highlight the health consequences of inadequate social housing, as residents wait for a 'fair regeneration' of their social housing 'flats' estate within a gentrifying inner-city Dublin neighbourhood. Results: Four key concerns were identified by residents as part of this analysis: (1) substandard housing conditions which are physically harmful to health; (2) the emotional toll of an unsafe social environment; (3) lack of child friendly and community green spaces; and (4) constrained mobility due to inaccessible housing design. Conclusions: The results highlight the urgent need to place greater priority on the maintenance of the existing social housing stock and demonstrate the need for public housing policies that recognize the quality and quantity of adequate housing provision, where care is at the heart of housing policies. The paper also presents a novel 'City of Care' framework, following the need to develop an ethics of care within cities where public health, community wellbeing, solidarity, residents' empowerment, and social justice principles are at the forefront. Given that housing is an essential contributor to good health, it is now time for a joint public housing and public health agenda to create healthier homes by confronting the everyday impact of inadequate housing to tackle social inequalities more broadly.