Geographies of infrastructure 1: Economies

Abstract

This progress report explores economies of infrastructure, concentrating on questions of financialization. Interest in infrastructure financialization has grown with concern about financialization more broadly, coming to dominate discussions on economies of infrastructure. Below, I engage with research that explores what infrastructure financialization entails, its scope, as well as the mathematical infrastructures that support it. Questioning the common presentation of financialization as a complete break with past economies of infrastructure, I bookend this report with its links to – and continuities with – debt-led infrastructure development, which prevailed in the post-war period and remains of great importance in contemporary economies of infrastructure.