Jan Fichtner
Biographic Data
| ID | 316286 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jan Fichtner |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jan |
| FAMILY NAME | Fichtner |
| SIGNATURE | FICHTNER J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Amsterdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7675-400X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 78 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Enduring Structural Power? Assessing the Dominance of the Anglosphere in Global Finance Before the Trump Turn
Historically, the US exerted dominant structural power in global finance – especially via its integration in the wider Anglosphere. We analyze granular data for 10 segments – from portfolio and foreign direct investment to foreign exchange reserves – to assess the power positions of the Anglosphere, the EU, China, and Japan. On balance, the structural power of the Anglosphere in global finance has endured and even increased between 2008 and 2023.…
Channels of influence in sustainable finance: A framework for conceptualizing how private actors shape the green transition
Since the Paris Agreement, interest in decarbonization and sustainable finance has grown rapidly. Within the prevalent derisking regime, investment for decarbonization must come predominantly from the private sector. However, growth in 'sustainable finance' assets is not necessarily causing more sustainability-advancing productive investment to drive the green transition. We thus argue that sustainable finance is not exclusively about investing o…
The New Permanent Universal Owners: Index funds, patient capital, and the distinction between feeble and forceful stewardship
Fundamental change is happening in global finance – the shift from active management to index funds. This money mass-migration into index funds has far-reaching socio-economic consequences, as it has the potential to transform the nature of shareholder capitalism. We call BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street the ‘New Permanent Universal Owners’ that are invested indefinitely in thousands of firms. We provide novel findings on the combined ownersh…
Steering capital: The growing private authority of index providers in the age of passive asset management
Since the global financial crisis, there is a massive shift of assets towards index funds. Rather than picking stocks, index funds replicate stock indices such as the S&P 500. But where do these indices actually come from? This paper analyzes the politico-economic role of index providers, a small group of highly profitable firms including MSCI, S&P DJI, and FTSE Russell, and develops a research agenda from an IPE perspective. We argue that these …
Uncovering Offshore Financial Centers: Conduits and Sinks in the Global Corporate Ownership Network
Multinational corporations use highly complex structures of parents and subsidiaries to organize their operations and ownership. Offshore Financial Centers (OFCs) facilitate these structures through low taxation and lenient regulation, but are increasingly under scrutiny, for instance for enabling tax avoidance. Therefore, the identification of OFC jurisdictions has become a politicized and contested issue. We introduce a novel data-driven approa…
States versus Corporations: Rethinking the Power of Business in International Politics
Over 25 years ago, Susan Strange urged IR scholars to include multinational corporations in their analysis. Within IR and IPE discussions, this was either mostly ignored or reflected in an empirically and methodologically unsatisfactory way. We reiterate Strange’s call by sketching a fine-grained theoretical and empirical approach that includes both states and corporations as juxtaposed actors that interact in transnational networks inherent to t…
Perpetual decline or persistent dominance? Uncovering Anglo-America’s true structural power in global finance
The prediction of America’s decline is a regularly recurring phenomenon; this also pertains to the pivotal field of global finance. This article argues that, first we have to consider the United States together with the other Anglophone countries. The English-speaking countries and territories – Anglo-America – have deep common political and socioeconomic roots, of which the unique global Five Eyes intelligence cooperation is merely one manifesta…
The anatomy of the Cayman Islands offshore financial center: Anglo-America, Japan, and the role of hedge funds
The Cayman Islands is a key node in contemporary global finance, yet it is severely under-researched. This paper compiles the first ‘anatomy’ of the Cayman offshore financial center (OFC), utilizing all sources of publicly available data about the three main segments: banking, direct investment, and portfolio investment. The analysis is performed both diachronically to see when large inflows occurred and geographically to determine what role cert…
Hedge funds: Agents of change for financialization
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine in which ways hedge funds contribute to financialization. Design/methodology/approach – Two already identified conduits through which financialization operates are applied to hedge funds. Findings – The paper finds that hedge funds drive the phenomenon of financialization in two major ways, i.e. the financialization of corporations, and the financialization of markets. Hence, hedge funds can be co…
Steering capital: The growing private authority of index providers in the age of passive asset management
Since the global financial crisis, there is a massive shift of assets towards index funds. Rather than picking stocks, index funds replicate stock indices such as the S&P 500. But where do these indices actually come from? This paper analyzes the politico-economic role of index providers, a small group of highly profitable firms including MSCI, S&P DJI, and FTSE Russell, and develops a research agenda from an IPE perspective. We argue that these …
The New Permanent Universal Owners: Index funds, patient capital, and the distinction between feeble and forceful stewardship
Fundamental change is happening in global finance – the shift from active management to index funds. This money mass-migration into index funds has far-reaching socio-economic consequences, as it has the potential to transform the nature of shareholder capitalism. We call BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street the ‘New Permanent Universal Owners’ that are invested indefinitely in thousands of firms. We provide novel findings on the combined ownersh…
The anatomy of the Cayman Islands offshore financial center: Anglo-America, Japan, and the role of hedge funds
The Cayman Islands is a key node in contemporary global finance, yet it is severely under-researched. This paper compiles the first ‘anatomy’ of the Cayman offshore financial center (OFC), utilizing all sources of publicly available data about the three main segments: banking, direct investment, and portfolio investment. The analysis is performed both diachronically to see when large inflows occurred and geographically to determine what role cert…
Perpetual decline or persistent dominance? Uncovering Anglo-America’s true structural power in global finance
The prediction of America’s decline is a regularly recurring phenomenon; this also pertains to the pivotal field of global finance. This article argues that, first we have to consider the United States together with the other Anglophone countries. The English-speaking countries and territories – Anglo-America – have deep common political and socioeconomic roots, of which the unique global Five Eyes intelligence cooperation is merely one manifesta…
Channels of influence in sustainable finance: A framework for conceptualizing how private actors shape the green transition
Since the Paris Agreement, interest in decarbonization and sustainable finance has grown rapidly. Within the prevalent derisking regime, investment for decarbonization must come predominantly from the private sector. However, growth in 'sustainable finance' assets is not necessarily causing more sustainability-advancing productive investment to drive the green transition. We thus argue that sustainable finance is not exclusively about investing o…
Hedge funds: Agents of change for financialization
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine in which ways hedge funds contribute to financialization. Design/methodology/approach – Two already identified conduits through which financialization operates are applied to hedge funds. Findings – The paper finds that hedge funds drive the phenomenon of financialization in two major ways, i.e. the financialization of corporations, and the financialization of markets. Hence, hedge funds can be co…
The anatomy of the Cayman Islands offshore financial center: Anglo-America, Japan, and the role of hedge funds
The Cayman Islands is a key node in contemporary global finance, yet it is severely under-researched. This paper compiles the first ‘anatomy’ of the Cayman offshore financial center (OFC), utilizing all sources of publicly available data about the three main segments: banking, direct investment, and portfolio investment. The analysis is performed both diachronically to see when large inflows occurred and geographically to determine what role cert…
Uncovering Offshore Financial Centers: Conduits and Sinks in the Global Corporate Ownership Network
Multinational corporations use highly complex structures of parents and subsidiaries to organize their operations and ownership. Offshore Financial Centers (OFCs) facilitate these structures through low taxation and lenient regulation, but are increasingly under scrutiny, for instance for enabling tax avoidance. Therefore, the identification of OFC jurisdictions has become a politicized and contested issue. We introduce a novel data-driven approa…
States versus Corporations: Rethinking the Power of Business in International Politics
Over 25 years ago, Susan Strange urged IR scholars to include multinational corporations in their analysis. Within IR and IPE discussions, this was either mostly ignored or reflected in an empirically and methodologically unsatisfactory way. We reiterate Strange’s call by sketching a fine-grained theoretical and empirical approach that includes both states and corporations as juxtaposed actors that interact in transnational networks inherent to t…
Perpetual decline or persistent dominance? Uncovering Anglo-America’s true structural power in global finance
The prediction of America’s decline is a regularly recurring phenomenon; this also pertains to the pivotal field of global finance. This article argues that, first we have to consider the United States together with the other Anglophone countries. The English-speaking countries and territories – Anglo-America – have deep common political and socioeconomic roots, of which the unique global Five Eyes intelligence cooperation is merely one manifesta…
Steering capital: The growing private authority of index providers in the age of passive asset management
Since the global financial crisis, there is a massive shift of assets towards index funds. Rather than picking stocks, index funds replicate stock indices such as the S&P 500. But where do these indices actually come from? This paper analyzes the politico-economic role of index providers, a small group of highly profitable firms including MSCI, S&P DJI, and FTSE Russell, and develops a research agenda from an IPE perspective. We argue that these …
The New Permanent Universal Owners: Index funds, patient capital, and the distinction between feeble and forceful stewardship
Fundamental change is happening in global finance – the shift from active management to index funds. This money mass-migration into index funds has far-reaching socio-economic consequences, as it has the potential to transform the nature of shareholder capitalism. We call BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street the ‘New Permanent Universal Owners’ that are invested indefinitely in thousands of firms. We provide novel findings on the combined ownersh…
Enduring Structural Power? Assessing the Dominance of the Anglosphere in Global Finance Before the Trump Turn
Historically, the US exerted dominant structural power in global finance – especially via its integration in the wider Anglosphere. We analyze granular data for 10 segments – from portfolio and foreign direct investment to foreign exchange reserves – to assess the power positions of the Anglosphere, the EU, China, and Japan. On balance, the structural power of the Anglosphere in global finance has endured and even increased between 2008 and 2023.…
Channels of influence in sustainable finance: A framework for conceptualizing how private actors shape the green transition
Since the Paris Agreement, interest in decarbonization and sustainable finance has grown rapidly. Within the prevalent derisking regime, investment for decarbonization must come predominantly from the private sector. However, growth in 'sustainable finance' assets is not necessarily causing more sustainability-advancing productive investment to drive the green transition. We thus argue that sustainable finance is not exclusively about investing o…
Business (7 works) · Economics (7 works) · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism (5 works) · Finance (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Corporate governance (3 works) · Institutional investor (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Law (3 works) · State Capitalism and Financial Governance (3 works)