Current Projects:
Governing Private Debt: the political economy of regulating credit markets in the Global South
My current research project explores how the broader changes in the global economic system with the growing dominance of financial markets in political decision-making have enabled the deepening of financial liberalization reforms, which has gradually given rise to private debt regimes in small open economies. Private debt regimes refer to the governance of private borrowing, repayment and collection of loans via laws, rules, regulations and norms. The mechanisms include formal and informal practices that govern these exchanges. At the same time, there is a great deal of variation in how private debt regimes operate across emerging capitalist economies because the integration of national financial markets into the global circuits of capital varies. Some countries are integrated deeply, others more moderately and some are integrated in a more limited manner. Given this backdrop, PRIDEBT compares three small open economies across Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia to explain and conceptualize emerging private debt regimes, with a focus on Argentina, Malaysia and Turkey. All three countries are classified in the upper middle income by the World Bank, yet occupy the lower echelons of global currency hierarchy and have limited projection of global influence in international markets. Since the onset of neoliberal policy reforms in the 1980s, residents in all three countries have experienced a decline in access to public goods provision due to an emphasis on fiscal discipline, prompting them to seek alternative means to access finance. At the same time, there is a strong correlation between how these countries are influenced by the broader changes in the international economic system, such as the growing influence of financial markets, and the national outcomes with respect to how private debt is governed. Based on original data from these three cases, the project explores the sources of variation in the governance of private credit allocation and repayment terms across the periphery of global finance. [[Click here for more information]]
Celestial Ambitions: Space Race and Capitalism in the 21st Century
I am simultaneously working on a book manuscript (under advance contract with Verso Books) which problematizes the renewed focus on outer space by private and public actors. Space is now the next frontier for capitalist growth where private investors and state officials work together for the commercialization of what was once considered public commons. Amid debates where economic priorities, security concerns, military might, and foreign policy dominate the discussion on the future of the US hegemony, this book project builds on World Systems Theory (WST) and Giovanni Arrighi’s The Long Twentieth Century (1994) to understand the evolution of capitalism on and beyond the planet. Addressing a broader audience, the study explores how US-based economic and political actors seek to maintain their privileged position via transformative changes in the tech industry and the simultaneous expansion of capitalism into extraterrestrial spaces. In doing so, the study also discusses policies of emerging space powers such as China, as well as efforts of middle-income countries that invest in building national space infrastructures as part of their renewed focus on industrial policy, While the book does not provide definitive predictions regarding the probability of success or failure of these efforts, the discussion contributes to—in further detail—the theoretical and empirical discussions that underpin the rapidly changing political and economic landscape we live in today.
Past Projects:
Financialization and Authoritarian Survival
A more recent project has explored how the financial policy toolbox of the autocrats contributes to the resilience of illiberal regimes. The focus has been on financial market building and market regulation–including banking reforms–to explore how these tactics strengthened authoritarian regimes and prolonged their tenure. Until recently, most studies predominantly looked at the ruler’s fiscal toolkit while non-fiscal policies get very little attention. Yet, we know very little about the ruler’s market-building policies in an era of economic globalization. While some argue that market liberalization is not the preferred choice of authoritarian regimes, most of these governments implemented reforms—notably on the financial end—to align national regulations with those in advanced industrialized settings. Thus, the project is motivated by two key questions: Why do non-democratic governments implement financial liberalization reforms despite the associated political risks? Do these reforms create new opportunities to eliminate political opposition and secure authoritarian survival? The findings show that in small open economies in the periphery of financial markets, dependent financialization creates domestic conflicts that are exploited by the incumbent as an excuse to aggrandize their executive power.
Islamic Finance in non-Western Settings
An earlier related project has shifted the research focus from manufacturing to finance in the non-Western world and examined the development of the Islamic financial industry in a comparative perspective. In some countries (especially Malaysia and the UAE), the growth rate of Islamic financial transactions is breathtakingly fast. Previously considered as a niche area, Islamic finance made it to the global headlines--especially after its impressive performance during the 2008 economic crisis. Some identify Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) as exceptional cases with stronger asset quality, higher liquidity, and a rapidly growing consumer base, and argue that religious governance mechanisms--which rely on shared faith-based codes such as mutual risk-sharing, the ban on interest and elimination of contractual ambiguity--explain why these institutions continue to exhibit a solid outlook. Meanwhile, regulatory frameworks that govern IFIs vary widely, especially with respect to the type of contracts they authorize across different jurisdictions. This research is interested in unpacking these distinct institutional configurations through the lens of financial product innovation and development strategies across Malaysia, the UAE, and Turkey. The findings reveal that the state plays a critical role in market building and development through regulatory arrangements that are driven by political competition dynamics.
Skill Formation and Labor Mobilization in the Global South
My first line of research, based on my PhD research, has explored the politically contested terrain of skill formation, unpacking key dynamics behind the transformation of worker skills in the automobile industry using original data collected over fifteen months of fieldwork in Bursa (Turkey), Istanbul (Turkey) and Córdoba (Argentina). As part of this study, I showed that partisan preferences of politicians, businessmen and union leaders are the key to understanding variation in resulting training arrangements. Very importantly, political institutions that surround these exchanges influence the extent to which industrial upgrading programs are contested by workers.
Governing Private Debt: the political economy of regulating credit markets in the Global South
My current research project explores how the broader changes in the global economic system with the growing dominance of financial markets in political decision-making have enabled the deepening of financial liberalization reforms, which has gradually given rise to private debt regimes in small open economies. Private debt regimes refer to the governance of private borrowing, repayment and collection of loans via laws, rules, regulations and norms. The mechanisms include formal and informal practices that govern these exchanges. At the same time, there is a great deal of variation in how private debt regimes operate across emerging capitalist economies because the integration of national financial markets into the global circuits of capital varies. Some countries are integrated deeply, others more moderately and some are integrated in a more limited manner. Given this backdrop, PRIDEBT compares three small open economies across Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia to explain and conceptualize emerging private debt regimes, with a focus on Argentina, Malaysia and Turkey. All three countries are classified in the upper middle income by the World Bank, yet occupy the lower echelons of global currency hierarchy and have limited projection of global influence in international markets. Since the onset of neoliberal policy reforms in the 1980s, residents in all three countries have experienced a decline in access to public goods provision due to an emphasis on fiscal discipline, prompting them to seek alternative means to access finance. At the same time, there is a strong correlation between how these countries are influenced by the broader changes in the international economic system, such as the growing influence of financial markets, and the national outcomes with respect to how private debt is governed. Based on original data from these three cases, the project explores the sources of variation in the governance of private credit allocation and repayment terms across the periphery of global finance. [[Click here for more information]]
Celestial Ambitions: Space Race and Capitalism in the 21st Century
I am simultaneously working on a book manuscript (under advance contract with Verso Books) which problematizes the renewed focus on outer space by private and public actors. Space is now the next frontier for capitalist growth where private investors and state officials work together for the commercialization of what was once considered public commons. Amid debates where economic priorities, security concerns, military might, and foreign policy dominate the discussion on the future of the US hegemony, this book project builds on World Systems Theory (WST) and Giovanni Arrighi’s The Long Twentieth Century (1994) to understand the evolution of capitalism on and beyond the planet. Addressing a broader audience, the study explores how US-based economic and political actors seek to maintain their privileged position via transformative changes in the tech industry and the simultaneous expansion of capitalism into extraterrestrial spaces. In doing so, the study also discusses policies of emerging space powers such as China, as well as efforts of middle-income countries that invest in building national space infrastructures as part of their renewed focus on industrial policy, While the book does not provide definitive predictions regarding the probability of success or failure of these efforts, the discussion contributes to—in further detail—the theoretical and empirical discussions that underpin the rapidly changing political and economic landscape we live in today.
Past Projects:
Financialization and Authoritarian Survival
A more recent project has explored how the financial policy toolbox of the autocrats contributes to the resilience of illiberal regimes. The focus has been on financial market building and market regulation–including banking reforms–to explore how these tactics strengthened authoritarian regimes and prolonged their tenure. Until recently, most studies predominantly looked at the ruler’s fiscal toolkit while non-fiscal policies get very little attention. Yet, we know very little about the ruler’s market-building policies in an era of economic globalization. While some argue that market liberalization is not the preferred choice of authoritarian regimes, most of these governments implemented reforms—notably on the financial end—to align national regulations with those in advanced industrialized settings. Thus, the project is motivated by two key questions: Why do non-democratic governments implement financial liberalization reforms despite the associated political risks? Do these reforms create new opportunities to eliminate political opposition and secure authoritarian survival? The findings show that in small open economies in the periphery of financial markets, dependent financialization creates domestic conflicts that are exploited by the incumbent as an excuse to aggrandize their executive power.
Islamic Finance in non-Western Settings
An earlier related project has shifted the research focus from manufacturing to finance in the non-Western world and examined the development of the Islamic financial industry in a comparative perspective. In some countries (especially Malaysia and the UAE), the growth rate of Islamic financial transactions is breathtakingly fast. Previously considered as a niche area, Islamic finance made it to the global headlines--especially after its impressive performance during the 2008 economic crisis. Some identify Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) as exceptional cases with stronger asset quality, higher liquidity, and a rapidly growing consumer base, and argue that religious governance mechanisms--which rely on shared faith-based codes such as mutual risk-sharing, the ban on interest and elimination of contractual ambiguity--explain why these institutions continue to exhibit a solid outlook. Meanwhile, regulatory frameworks that govern IFIs vary widely, especially with respect to the type of contracts they authorize across different jurisdictions. This research is interested in unpacking these distinct institutional configurations through the lens of financial product innovation and development strategies across Malaysia, the UAE, and Turkey. The findings reveal that the state plays a critical role in market building and development through regulatory arrangements that are driven by political competition dynamics.
Skill Formation and Labor Mobilization in the Global South
My first line of research, based on my PhD research, has explored the politically contested terrain of skill formation, unpacking key dynamics behind the transformation of worker skills in the automobile industry using original data collected over fifteen months of fieldwork in Bursa (Turkey), Istanbul (Turkey) and Córdoba (Argentina). As part of this study, I showed that partisan preferences of politicians, businessmen and union leaders are the key to understanding variation in resulting training arrangements. Very importantly, political institutions that surround these exchanges influence the extent to which industrial upgrading programs are contested by workers.