City of standards
London and the rise of Libor in global finance
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2159895 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Devin Wiggs (Northwestern University) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 398-421 |
| Publication date | 2022-07-03 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Economy and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03085147.2022.2080926 |
| OpenAlex | W4287958657 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 20 |
The rise of global finance in the latter twentieth century was an epochal transformation in the history of capitalism and new socio-technical devices emerged to value these innovations, among the most significant being the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Today, LIBOR values over $200 trillion in global financial markets despite the repeated attempts by international regulators to repeal the benchmark since its infamous scandal in 2012. How did LIBOR ever rise to its apotheosis in global finance? In this paper, I provide a historical analysis of the rise of LIBOR in global finance, tracing its emergence as an unstandardized rate for eurodollar syndicated loans in the 1960s to its evolution as a standardized benchmark for the growing derivative market in London by the 1980s. In tracing the rise of LIBOR, I argue that global financial markets were shaped by practices and norms particular to the financial centre of London. I conclude by offering the concept of 'positionality' to help theorize the construction of global finance
Economics · Eurodollar · Financial crisis · Financial market · Financial system · Interest rate · Keynesian economics · Libor · Economic Theory and Policy · Global Financial Crisis and Policies · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Finance
Capitals of Capital
The Retreat of the State
Capital and Time
Globalizing Capital
Libor 1986–2021
Financial globalization as positive integration
Radical rentierism
Why hasn't high-frequency trading swept the board? Shares, sovereign bonds and the politics of market structure
The state, the City and the Euromarkets
The Origins of the Eurodollar Market in London
Archipelago Capitalism
Trying to Have Your Cake and Eating It
Material Markets
Financialization and the institutional foundations of the new capitalism
Finance on Trial
| Highly cited | No |
|---|