While successful in its aim of 'globalizing' regional development, the Global Production Network (GPN) approach has thus far paid less attention to the role of finance in the dynamics of the global economy and regional development. This lacuna is significant as finance is arguably even more globalised and networked than production. To address this gap the paper distills the concept of the Global Financial Network (GFN) from financial geography and related scholarship, with advanced business services, world cities, and offshore jurisdictions at the core. Interactions between the GPN and the GFN are discussed, focusing on the financing and financializing of GPNs and the co-evolution of globalization and financialisation. Integrating finance into GPN research entails more than a simple extension of the approach; it would also enrich it conceptually, and enable it methodologically and empirically.

Although the investment-oriented development model for economic growth adopted by Chinese governments has generated spectacular results, the risks of debt-financed urbanisation and economic development have recently become evident in mounting local debts that are undermining the financial system, triggering concerns with respect to local governments’ indebtedness, financial stability and sovereign risk in China. In this paper, we portray the uneven spatial and temporal dynamics of local government debt in China, and examine the ways in which it is intertwined with institutional, political and economic factors. Our analysis shows that while global and national economic conditions have resulted in a dramatic increase in local government debt, particularly in the late 2000s and the early 2010s, the spatial variation of local debt accumulation in China could be partly explained by two institutional factors: land finance and inter-jurisdictional competition. We argue that the behaviour of local governments may harm the long-term future of Chinese cities.

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