‘Follow the…’ methods in the study of financialisation

Frances Brill, Sarah Hughes-McLure, Sara Özoğul and Callum Ward

Chapter 6 in Handbook on Financialisation and Space, 2026, pp 75-94 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter outlines two methods for researching planetary financialisation: follow the money and follow the firm. These approaches, developed from geographical interests in ‘follow the’ research strategies more generally and questions of what a firm is and what money is from economic geography, offer powerful frameworks for uncovering the logics, actors, and mechanisms at the core of financialisation. While follow the money traces capital flows and reveals hidden financial infrastructures and spatial consequences, follow the firm highlights how firms act as key agents in mobilising capital, managing risk, and structuring transactions. Each shows how financial rationalities become embedded in specific geographies, influencing sectors from infrastructure to conservation. These approaches extend and complement existing financialisation research, ranging from everyday financial practices to elite asset management, by providing a grounded, place-specific analysis of how global financial architectures produce and reinforce inequalities.

Keywords: Follow the Money; Follow the Firm; Methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035328628
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