Call for papers SASE 2012: A Comparative Political Economy of Securitization

Call for Papers

Society for Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) 24th annual conference

June 28-30, 2012 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

http://www.sase.org/mit-cambridge/sase-24th-annual-conference_fr_82.html

A Comparative Political Economy of Securitization

Session organizers:

Manuel B. Aalbers and Ewald R. Engelen,

Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research,

University of Amsterdam

Arguably, securitization – i.e. the technique of transforming illiquid and opaque future streams of income into transparent, liquid, fungible and hence tradable financial products – has been at the root of the current financial crisis. Starting in the US, where securitization triggered an unsustainable housing and debt bubble, the fall of Lehman bank, through its international trading network, subsequently dispersed a freefall of securitized assets throughout the interconnected networks of financial intermediaries. While ostensibly a deterritorializing technique, which projects an image of seemingly universal applicability, there are also subtle geographies to the permutations that securitization has undergone in its transfer to different legal jurisdictions. We invite papers to explore the political economy, history and geography of securitization. Varieties of Capitalism, Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Social Studies of Finance, Critical Accountancy, and other perspectives on securitization are welcomed. Studies of securitization outside the U.S. are particularly encouraged.

Please e-mail m.b.aalbers@gmail for expressions of interest.

Deadline for abstracts: January 9, 2012.

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