State action and inaction in the shaping of value and wealth entanglements: The role of Singapore in the global ‘gold chain’

IF 4.6 1区社会学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Environment and Planning A-Economy and Space Pub Date : 2023-08-21 DOI:10.1177/0308518x231181128

Lotte Thomsen, Karen P. Y. Lai, S. Ponte

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Value and wealth creation, capture and protection are important features of contemporary global capitalism. However, global value chains and global wealth chains have been studied mostly in isolation from each other. In this article, we address this limitation by revealing the entanglements of value and wealth in the gold sector. We develop a typology of state action and inaction in value and wealth chains to explain how the state shapes the mobilisation and management of tangible and intangible assets. In our empirical analysis, we chronicle the creation of a ‘gold hub’ in Singapore that pulls together value and wealth functions, and highlight the various roles of the Singaporean state – as facilitator, deregulator-cum-redistributor, and direct actor. We show that entanglements of value and wealth are shaped by specific configurations of state action and inaction, and are built upon intangible dimensions of legal affordance and cultural practice coupled with very tangible facilities and infrastructure. Our analysis pinpoints the co-dependence of value creation and wealth protection systems as vital to processes of accumulation.

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价值和财富纠缠的形成:新加坡在全球“金链”中的作用

价值和财富的创造、获取和保护是当代全球资本主义的重要特征。然而，全球价值链和全球财富链的研究大多是相互孤立的。在本文中，我们将通过揭示黄金行业中价值和财富的纠缠来解决这一限制。我们在价值和财富链中发展了国家行为和不作为的类型学，以解释国家如何塑造有形和无形资产的动员和管理。在我们的实证分析中，我们记录了新加坡“黄金中心”的创建过程，该中心将价值和财富功能结合在一起，并强调了新加坡政府的各种角色——作为促进者、放松监管和再分配者以及直接参与者。我们表明，价值和财富的纠缠是由国家行动和不作为的特定配置所塑造的，并建立在法律支持和文化实践的无形维度以及非常有形的设施和基础设施之上。我们的分析指出，价值创造和财富保护系统的相互依赖对积累过程至关重要。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Environment and Planning A-Economy and Space Multiple-

CiteScore

9.50

自引率

9.50%

发文量

100

期刊介绍： Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space is a pluralist and heterodox journal of economic research, principally concerned with questions of urban and regional restructuring, globalization, inequality, and uneven development. International in outlook and interdisciplinary in spirit, the journal is positioned at the forefront of theoretical and methodological innovation, welcoming substantive and empirical contributions that probe and problematize significant issues of economic, social, and political concern, especially where these advance new approaches. The horizons of Economy and Space are wide, but themes of recurrent concern for the journal include: global production and consumption networks; urban policy and politics; race, gender, and class; economies of technology, information and knowledge; money, banking, and finance; migration and mobility; resource production and distribution; and land, housing, labor, and commodity markets. To these ends, Economy and Space values a diverse array of theories, methods, and approaches, especially where these engage with research traditions, evolving debates, and new directions in urban and regional studies, in human geography, and in allied fields such as socioeconomics and the various traditions of political economy.