RMB transnationalization and the infrastructural power of international financial centres
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Journal Title
Review of International Political Economy
ISSN
0969-2290
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Pages
1-27
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Green, J., & Gruin, J. (2020). RMB transnationalization and the infrastructural power of international financial centres. Review of International Political Economy, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2020.1748682
Abstract
The internationalization of the renminbi (RMB) raises important questions concerning dynamics of transformation within the post-crisis global monetary order. International political economists have predominantly analysed the currency’s cross-border evolution as a consequence of China’s macroeconomic conditions, domestic politics, and currency statecraft within a broader framework of international monetary hierarchy. In this article, we draw upon insights from financial geography to rethink the rise of the RMB as a process of transnational market-making involving actors and political agency across distinctive scales. We develop a multi-scalar framework that illuminates the distinctive agency of London and Hong Kong in this process, conceptualizing it as a form of subnational infrastructural power that facilitates financial market-making in concert with (and despite) dynamics of interstate geopolitics. This goes some way in remedying the scalar deficiency of existing theories of political economy of international money, as well as integrating considerations of power and political agency into financial geography perspectives. Empirically, we trace how the unique development of London’s offshore RMB market reflects this interplay between private financial actors, municipal-level authorities, and national political priorities. Finally, we discuss how IFC-led market-making relates to system-level dynamics by both facilitating ‘tipping points’ in global monetary change, as well as diluting national monetary power.
Sponsorship
The research for this article was funded by the Great Britain China Centre under the grant ‘Renminbi Internationalisation and Emerging Geographies of International Monetary Power’ and the ESRC Future Research Leaders Fellowship: Grant Number ES/N001982/1.
Funder references
Great Britain China Centre (GBCC) (unknown)
Embargo Lift Date
2021-10-13
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2020.1748682
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/304207
Rights
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