I am a political economist researching the changing dynamics of financial globalisation and its impact on the norms, institutions and power dynamics that underpin the global economy. My main focus is thereby China’s economic rise and other post-crisis transformation of the global financial system. 

Currently, I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at Goethe University Frankfurt and the Principal Investigator of the DFG-funded StateCapFinance research project. Building on the notion that capital markets are not uniform but influenced by their institutional environment, this project explores whether capital markets in emerging markets function differently, fulfil different socio-economic roles, and lead to different societal outcomes than ‘global’ capital markets.

Previously, I was an IRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the SCRIPTS Centre of Excellence, Lecturer at Freie Universität Berlin as well as an ESRC Doctoral Research Fellow and PhD Candidate in International Political Economy at the University of Warwick. In my PhD project, I researched the development and organisation of Chinese capital markets, focusing on the role that (stock and derivative) exchanges and financial infrastructures play as crucial actors in processes of capital market development. Building on this research, during my SCRIPTS postdoc I investigated whether and how China contests the liberal global financial order – focusing on Chinese capital markets, their increasing internationalisation and gradual integration into global finance.

Building upon this research, my book project Capital Markets with Chinese Characteristics argues that capital markets are not uniform entities and that capital markets in China function fundamentally different from ‘global’ markets because the organisation of these markets is informed by different institutional logics. While the primary underlying principle of global markets is to create ‘efficient’ outcomes by enabling profit creation for private finance capital (liberal logic), in China the primary underlying principle is state control of market behaviour and directing market outcomes towards national development objectives (state-capitalist logic). Consequently, Chinese capital markets function differently, fulfil different socio-economic roles and lead to different societal outcomes than global markets. Going beyond debates on convergence, this book offers a novel perspective on China’s increasing integration into global markets.

I am also a co-founder of the Warwick Critical Finance Group, a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Globalisation & Regionalisation (CSGR), a Management Committee member of the ‘China in Europe‘ (CHERN) COST-Action Research Network, a Steering Committee member of the International Political Economy Working Group at the German Political Science Association (DVPW). 

You can find more information here.

News

15-17 March 2023. I gave two presentations at the International Studies Association (ISA) Conference in Montreal on the importance of indices in ESG capital allocation as well as the BRICS challenge of the global financial order.

15 February 2023. What a day – two articles simultaneously published in the Review of International Political Economy! A research paper co-authored with Fabian Pape on the growing importance of East Asia within the global financial system as well as a pedagogical intervention on (the lack of) China in IPE teaching co-authored with Muyang Chen.

14 February 2023. The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) published a working paper co-authored with Jan Fichtner and Robin Jaspert titled Mind the ESG Gaps: Transmission Mechanisms and the Governance of And by Sustainable Finance. We also wrote a shorter policy brief on the topic!

16 February 2023. I gave an input talk on (missing) China expertise in German/European economic policy during a workshop on practically-oriented China research organised by the Interdisciplinary East Asia Center (IZO) in Bad Homburg.

1 February 2023. Organised a workshop on ‘How to conduct fieldwork’ for a group of PhD students at the International Center for Sustainable and Just Transformation [tra:ce], University of Witten.

28 January 2023. Tobether with Robert Rauls (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University) and Aleksandar Stojanovic (NYU Shanghai), I organised a session on ‘Mapping the Chinese Financial System’ for the INET-YSI Money View Symposium. A recording is available here.

11 January 2023. In our Current Avenues in Comparative and International Political Economy Lecture Series, Saori Katada gave a lecture on ‘Between big-push (quantity) and bankability (quality): Geoeconomics of infrastructure financing in the Indo-Pacific’ analysing different approaches to infrastructure finance in Japan and China.

21 December 2022. Ilias Alami presented his book project ‘The spectre of state capitalism’ at the CIPE Lecture Series in Frankfurt.

9 December 2022. Gave a lecture on ‘Capital markets with Chinese characteristics’ at the Center for China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

7 December 2022. I gave a lecture on ‘Do ESG Funds Mitigate Risks or Create Sustainable Impact?’ at the Hong Kong Forum

1 – 16 December 2022. Back in my favourite city! Fieldwork in Hong Kong on Wall Street’s continuing love affair with China, Hong Kong’s role as a Chinese financial center and geopolitics of capital markets while being a visiting scholar at the Center for China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

30 November 2022. I presented a book chapter on the financial rise of Asia and how Asian developmental logics contest the liberal script that underpins contemporary global financial system at the SCRIPTS Regional Conference ‘Liberal Script(s) — Asian Versions and Contestations of a Concept’ in Delhi.

23 November 2022. In the inaugural lecture of our Current Avenues in Comparative and International Political Economy (CIPE) Lecture Series, Matthias Thiemann presents his work on ‘Taming the cycles of finance? Central banks and the macroprudential shift in financial regulation post-financial crisis’.

15 October – 5 November 2022. After three years, finally back into the field! As a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of International Studies at Ewha Womens University, I conducted fieldwork on developmental logics and the transformation of Korea’s capital markets.

9 October 2022. Out now in the European Journal of International Relations: ‘Beyond ports, roads and railways: Chinese economic statecraft, the Belt and Road Initiative and the politics of financial infrastructures‘ – which explores China’s construction of financial infrastructures along the Belt and Road.

23 September 2022. A few early career researchers and I wrote a Think Piece for the SCRIPTS Cluster of Excellence, reflecting on current difficulties and possibilities of researching China for early career researchers titled ‘How to successfully carry out research on China in challenging times‘.

23 September 2022. Also at the DVPW Political Economy Section Conference, Robin Jaspert, Jan Fichtner and I presented a paper on the governance of green finance.

22 September 2022. What is a developing country? Together with Clara Weinhardt, I discussed a new paper on this topic at the DVPW Political Economy Section Conference in Berlin.

15 September 2022. Presented a paper at the Intersections of Finance & Society Conference at City University London on the perils of ESG investing.

12-14 July 2022. Together with Andreas Nölke, I organised a workshop on the relationship between state and finance in emerging markets as part of the StateCapFinance project at Goethe University Frankfurt.

9-11 July 2022. SASE Marathon in Amsterdam! Organised three panels on finance in China, East Asia and the BRICS and presenting four papers on Asia’s rise on global finance (with Fabian Pape), BRICS and global financial order (with Andreas Nölke), Wall Street in China (solo-authored) and Index Capitalism (with Jan Fichtner, Jan de Konings, Eelke Heemskerk).

8 July 2022. Attending a workshop an Nyenrode Business School on asset management capitalism.

29 June 2022. First time back at Warwick since January 2020 for a book manuscript workshop during the PAIS Research Conference at the University of Warwick, discussing my Capital markets with Chinese characteristics book project with Ben Clift, Lena Rethel and others.

23-24 June 2022. Attended the Green Finance and the Global South Workshop organised by Indradeep Ghosh, Ismael Ertürk and Oliver Kessler in Weimar, presenting a paper on ESG investing.

21 June 2022. Presented a paper titled ‘Norms, power or profit?’ on the relationship between China, Wall Street and liberal order at the DVPW-ÖGPW-SVPW IPE Conference.

20-22 June 2022. As part of the DVPW International Political Economy Working Group, I helped to co-organised the inaugural German-Swiss-Austrian Joint International Political Economy Conference (DVPW-ÖGPW-SVPW) at the TU Munich Akademiezentrum in Raitenhaslach.

24 May 2022. Very happy to be a visiting researcher at the Centre d’Etudes Europénnes (CEE), Sciences Po Paris, for the next four weeks as part of a CHERN Short-Term-Scientific-Mission grant.

19-20 May 2022. Warwick Critical Finance is back! We organised our first in-person event since January 2020. At VU Brussels, we held the ‘WCF Project Development Workshop’ where early career scholars were able to develop, discuss and work on new project ideas – from articles, grant proposals to book manuscripts.

3 May 2022. Carola Westermeier, Barbara Brandl and I organised the first Frankfurt Finance Workshop at Goethe University. Together with Jan Fichtner and Robin Jaspert, I presented our new paper titled ‘To ESG or not to ESG’ on the governance of green finance.

11 April 2022. First session of my new postgraduate course on ‘Research Design in International Political Economy’. The course teaches research methods and enables students to design and carry out their own research projects. You can access the syllabus here.

2 April 2022. First in-person conference since the pandemic! Presented two papers on ‘Challenging the liberal financial order? State capitalism & capital markets in the BRICSS’ and ‘Global financial reallocation towards China: Implications for the liberal financial script’ at the ISA Annual Convention in Nashville.

29 March 2022. During the ISA-International Political Economy Section Pre-Conference Workshop, I presented a paper on ‘Incorporating China into International Political Economy Teaching’ co-authored with Muyang Chen.

11 March 2022. I gave a lecture on ‘China’s rise and the global financial order’ at the University of St. Gallen.

2 March 2022. Very please to be giving a lecture on ‘Capital markets with Chinese characteristics’ at the Economics Seminar Series of NYU Shanghai.

18 February 2022. Based on our recently published artice in Environment and Planning A, Andreas Nölke, Kai Koddenbrock and Johannes Petry published a short blog on state-capitalist stock exchanges in emerging markets for the SAFE Leibniz Institute for Financial Research.

4 January 2022. Honoured for the chance to give a lecture on ‘Capital markets with Chinese characteristics’ for the MBA Program at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington.

17 December 2021. Very happy to have become a member at the Interdisciplinary Centre for East Asian Studies (IZO) at Goethe University Frankfurt.

13 December 2021. Participated in the ‘Interdisciplinary Workshop: The Metamorphosing Landscape of Investors’ Capitalism‘ organised by the Foundations of Law & Finance Centre (LawFin), discussing a paper on the effects of private meetings on asset manager investment decisions and performance (Franks et al. 2021).

7 December 2021. Gave a lecture on ‘The new age of asset management capitalism?’ in the BA course on the politics of financial markets in Frankfurt.

30 November 2021. The points I made during my USCC testimony in March – about the ineffectiveness of the US investment in the face of China index inclusions as well as the developmental nature of Chinese capital markets – made it into the Financial Times!

3 November 2021. Based on recent research from the StateCapFinance project, I published a short article in The Conversation which analyses China’s tech and finance crackdown as a challenge to western conceptions of state-market interactions that cuts across developing world.

4 October 2021. We are happy to share the first publication of the #StateCapFinance project. The paper by Johannes Petry, Kai Koddenbrock and Andreas Nölke titled ‘State capitalism & capital markets: Comparing securities exchanges in emerging markets‘ was published as part of a theme issue on state capitalism in Environment and Planning A: Economy & Space. The paper conducts a comparative institutional analysis of securities exchanges in six increasingly financialised emerging markets, exploring the relationship between neoliberalism, state capitalism and capital markets.

1 October 2021. After a great 1-year postdoc at SCRIPTS, I am happy to start working as the PI of the StateCapFinance research project at Goethe University Frankfurt where we will be exploring the relation between state capitalism, neoliberalism & capital markets in the BRICSS.

24 September 2021. As part of the Warwick Critical Finance Group, I co-organised a manuscript development workshop for early-career researchers.

6 September 2021. Presented a paper on the rise of Asian capital markets within the global financial system at the Critical Finance Studies Conference.

13 August 2021. I participated in a Roundtable on ‘Degrees of Separation: Capital market linkages & portfolio investment flows roundtable’ in the context of US-China relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

13 July 2021. Acted as a discussant for a SCRIPTS research project on “The Challenge to the Challenge” which analyses third country responses to the Belt and Road Initiative in finance and trade conducted by Amrita Narlikar and Mark Hallerberg.

3 July 2021. In a new paper presented at SASE, Fabian Pape and I argue that IPE needs to take Asian Capitalisms more seriously to better understand changing global financial dynamics as we analyse shifting financial flows, institutions & markets that make Asia more central for the global financial system.

2 July 2021. Are capital markets always neoliberal? Kai Koddenbrock, Andreas Nölke and I explore whether a neoliberal or state-capitalist logic dominates finance in Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa an South Korea in a new paper presented at SASE. This paper is the first output of our new DFG-funded StateCapFinance research project.

30 June 2021. Very happy to discuss my research on exchanges, indices and China in the ‘Place de la Bourse’ column in the Brussels Morning in the context of the UK’s Chinese Finance strategy.

30 June 2021. Paper presented at the ‘Politische Ökonomie Werkstatt’ by Thomas Rixen (FU Berlin) on financialization, state capitalism and neoliberalism in the emerging markets.

30 June 2021. Participating in a dialogue workshop between academia, business and politics on China’s challenge of the liberal international order organised by the SCRIPTS Cluster of Excellence, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft & Politik, SWP), the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) and the Federation of German Industries (Bund der Deutschen Industrie, BDI).

16 June 2021. We published a pre-print of our chapter ‘The new gatekeepers of financial claims’ in Benjamin Braun and Kai Koddenbrock’s ‘Capital Claims’ book. At part of the DFG-funded ‘Politics of Money‘ network, we analyse that analyses the relationship between states, investors and index providers in global financial markets.

8 June 2021. Presented a book chapter on ‘China’s financial opening and the liberal global financial order’ at the SCRIPTS jour fixe.

7 June 2021. I gave a lecture titled ‘Organising markets: Exchanges, infrastructures and (structural) power in global finance’ at the Financial Infrastructures Lecture Series organised by Goethe University Frankfurt and University of Gießen.

3 June 2021. Presented a paper on ‘Contesting the liberal economic order from below’ at the ZOiS-SCRIPTS ‘China and the contestation of the liberal economic order’ Workshop.

30 May 2021. I was quoted by The Wire China in an article on the dissemination of Chinese market practices in Hong Kong’s financial system.

28 April 2021. I gave a lecture at the COST-Action China Europe Research Network (CHERN) on ‘China’s construction of financial infrastructures along the Belt & Road Initiative’. You can access a recording here.

12 April 2021. First session of my new course on ‘China and the Global Economy’ at FU Berlin. This undergraduate course aims to place China at the centre of an IPE analysis of the global economy and assess its impact on global trade, production, finance or infrastructure among other aspects.

2 April 2021. Presented a paper on Chinese financial technologies and the Belt and Road Initiative at the Western Political Science Association Conference.

21 March 2021. Our work on the rising political importance of index providers was featured in the Guardian.

19 March 2021. Very honoured that I was invited to provide an expert testimony for the US-China Economic & Security Review Commission (USCC) at a hearing on ‘U.S. Investment in China’s Capital Markets and Military-Industrial Complex‘ (my oral testimony starts at 2:45:00 of the recording, the written testimony can be found here).

2 March 2021. PhD corrections submitted and accepted – now only waiting for the official letter!

24 February 2021. I discussed our research on index providers and developing countries with Ingrid Kvangraven at the first Developing Economics Instagram Live session. You can see the recordings on Youtube and Instagram.

18 February 2021. We hosted the Manuscript Development Workshop 2.0 at the Warwick Critical Finance Group to support early career researchers in publishing their papers.

15 February 2021. I presented a paper on Chinese statecraft, the Belt and Road Initiative and the politics of financial infrastructures at the SCRIPTS Postdoctoral Colloquium.

13 January 2021. Successfully defended my PhD on ‘Capital markets with Chinese characteristics’ at my viva (very minor corrections) with Eric Helleiner and Shaun Breslin as examiners.

5 January 2021. Jan Fichtner and I published a blog post for Developing Economics on the relationship between index providers and emerging markets.

30 December 2020. I was interviewed/quoted by BBC Business about our research on passive investing and the growing power of index providers.

15 December 2020. In a short article published in the Economic Sociology & Political Economy community, I discuss ways to reconceptualise financialization and capital markets by looking at China’s financial transformation.

12 December 2020. How are Tesla’s share price, US pension funds, Chinese defense companies and insider trading on Wall Street linked you ask? We argue that ‘It’s the index, stupid!’ in our article for Nathan Tankus’ Notes on the Crisis Blog.

12 December 2020. I was quoted by the Financial Times on the transformation of global exchanges in the following article.

27 November 2020. Long workshop week – discussion of our new index provider paper on their role in the relationship between states and passive markets at the Politics of Money workshop.

26 November 2020. Discussed another manuscript on China’s capital market internationalisation at the SCRIPTS Postdoctoral Colloquium.

24 November 2020. Drawing on a recently published article, I presented my research agenda on ‘China’s contestation of the global financial order’ at the SCRIPTS Centre of Excellence.

21 November 2020. The East Asia Forum published a short article that analyses how despite recent financial reforms China’s capital markets maintain their state-capitalism characteristics.

1 November 2020. My article ‘Same same, but different: Varieties of capital markets, Chinese state capitalism and the global financial order‘ was published in Competition & Change as part of a special issue on ‘Reconceptualising Markets’, edited by Pascale Massot and Julian Gruin.

1 October 2020. I started my postdoc at the SCRIPTS Cluster of Excellence in Berlin, analysing whether/how China contests the liberal global financial order.

30 September 2020. Submitted my PhD at the University of Warwick!

25 September 2020. I commented FTSE Russell’s China government bond inclusion for ETF Stream.

16 September 2020. I was a speakers on the ‘China A-Shares: Time to dominate indices’ Panel of the ETF Stream Emerging Markets Conference.

4 September 2020. Presented a paper on the politics of global exchanges at the ‘Critical macro-finance’ Special Section at EAEPE 2020 Conference.

1 September 2020. Investment & Pensions Europe published our Guest Viewpoint on the growing influence of index providers and its implications for pension investments in their September issue (with J. Fichtner & E. Heemskerk).

28 August 2020. I wrote an article for The Conversation on how the transformation of exchanges informs the London Stock Exchange-Refinitiv deal and why the European Commission launched an antitrust-investigation into it.

28 August 2020. I presented a paper titled ‘State Capitalism vs Neoliberalism: Capital Markets in China and the Global Financial Order’ at the Critical Finance Conference.

18 July 2020. Presented two papers on ‘the infrastructural power of exchanges’ and ‘how index providers steer financial claims’ (with J. Fichtner) at SASE Conference.

9 July 2020. TABB Forum featured my recent New Political Economy article on the transformation of exchanges.

29 June 2020. Our index provider article was cited in Forbes – apparently index providers are the new avengers of finance.

26 June 2020. My article on the transformation of stock and derivative exchanges from national marketplaces to global providers of financial infrastructures and its implications for the study of (infra)structural power in global finance has been published in New Political Economy.

25 June 2020. ETF Stream published a short article of mine titled ‘Wall Street beyond the Chinese Wall‘ on China’s financial opening, global banks’ aspirations to gain a foothold in China and why they will likely remain at the bottom of the food chain (because infrastructures).

25 June 2020. We translated the introduction of our Finance & Society Special Forum for Dezernat Zukunft, you can find the German version here.

10 June 2020. I wrote a blog for Developing Economics about financialization and the management of capital markets in China’s authoritarian state capitalism.

28 May 2020. Based on the WCF-PERC ‘Critical Macro-Finance‘ Workshop in September 2019, Sahil Dutta, Ruben Kremers, Fabian Pape and I guest-edited a Special Forum on Critical Macro-Finance as an emerging research agenda in Finance & Society. Check out the introduction here.

15 May 2020. I gave an interview to The Wire China on China’s capital markets, their index inclusion and politics of index providers – parts of which were cited in the following article.

28 April 2020. My single-authored article ‘Financialization with Chinese characteristics? Exchanges, control and capital markets in authoritarian capitalism‘ on how the Chinese authorities attempt to steer financialization and the development of capital markets through market infrastructures/exchanges was published in Economy & Society.

27 February 2020. Participant observation at the Eurex Derivatives Forum 2020 in Frankfurt with insights into the latest financial industry discussions on clearing, collateral, indices, ESG and Brexit.

24 February 2020. Jan Fichtner, Eelke Heemskerk and I wrote a short article on passive investing, index providers and its implications for climate change finance for the The Conversation.

27 January 2020. We organised a lecture with Matthias Thiemann from Science Po Paris on the ‘The scientization of central banks: How economists shape macroprudential policy‘ at the Warwick Critical Finance Group.

24 January 2020. An article in Medium also referenced our index provider article.

21 January 2020. Our index provider article was also references on Bloomberg.

20 January 2020. Our recent RIPE article on index providers was discussed in the Financial Times and I also gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal about index providers.

14 January 2020. TabbFORUM advertised our research on index provider in its daily newsletter.

8 January 2020. Based on our recent article, Jan Fichtner, Eelke Heemskerk and I wrote a little piece on the growing power of index providers in global finance for the Washington Post.

19 December 2019. The Financiel Dagblad, the Dutch FT, wrote an piece about our article ‘steering capital‘.

12-13 December 2019. Presenting our forthcoming paper ‘Steering capital: The growing private authority of index providers in the age of passive asset management’ at the ‘Intersections of Finance & Society’ Conference in London.

5-6 December 2019. Attending the Politics of Money Workshop in Amsterdam where we present our book chapter on the changing power-relations between index providers and states.

25 November 2019. Our paper ‘Steering capital: The growing private authority of index providers in the age of passive asset management‘ (with J. Fichtner & Eelke Heemskerk) was accepted for publication at the Review of International Political Economy (open access).

14 November 2019. My review of Stefan Schmalz’s Book ‘Machtverschiebungen im Weltsystem’ (in German) was just published in Politische Vierteljahresschrift.

21 September – 19 October 2019. Conducting additional research on China’s capital markets as a visiting scholar at the East China Normal University in Shanghai.

17 September 2019. Presented my research on varieties of capital markets and China’s integration into global finance at the FinGeo Global Conference at Beijing Normal University.

12-20 September 2019. Final stretch of fieldwork in Beijing – meetings with exchanges, brokers and regulators to learn about current developments in the transformation of China’s capital markets.

9-10 September 2019. As Warwick Critical Finance Group, we organised the WCF-PERC ‘Critical Macro Finance’ Workshop at Goldsmiths, University of London.

19-29 August 2019. Conducting additional interviews with index providers, exchanges and asset managers to fill a few gaps in the index provider paper that were are currently revising.

2 July 2019. Very happy to have been awarded ESRC funding for an Overseas Institutional Visit to spend six weeks at the East China Normal University in Shanghai (Sep-Oct).

27 June 2019. Jan Fichtner, Eelke Heemskerk and I presented our paper on the growing private authority of index providers at SASE 2019; also organised a panel on China’s financial market development where I talked about Chinese stock exchanges.

26 June 2019. I presented a paper on China’s domestic capital market development at the SASE Early Career Workshop in New York.

7 June 2019. I presented a paper on China’s integration into global finance at an International Political Economy Workshop by the German Political Science Association in Frankfurt.

17 May 2019. I presented a paper on China’s capital markets, state capitalism and the global financial order at the Politics of Money Workshop hosted by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, Germany.

11 May 2019. As a follow-up to the ‘Conceptualising Markets’ workshop in March, I published a blog post on ‘China, State Capitalism, and the Global Financial Order’ at the Centre for International Studies (CIPS Blog).

6 May 2019. Second meeting with Jan Fichtner and Eelke Heemskerk from CORPNET in Amsterdam – paper is written, a few final touches and soon to be submitted.

2 May 2019. I attended the BISA-IPEG Conference at King’s College London.

27-29 March 2019. I presented a poster on China’s integration into global capital markets and its implications for the global financial order at the International Studies Association in Toronto.

25-26 March 2019. I attended the ‘Conceptualising Markets‘ Workshop at the University of Ottawa, presenting a paper on China and varieties of capital markets.

21 March 2019. I attended the ‘Finance, Security, Infrastructure‘ Workshop organised by the Collaborative Research Centre on ‘Dynamics of Security‘ at Justus-Liebig University in Gießen.

6 March 2019. As part of WCF, I organised a talk with Daniela Gabor on critical macro-finance and balance-sheet centred approaches in political economy. Check out the recording here!

4-6 March 2019. Catching up with some people in the City of London and Canary Wharf – background discussions on clearing, futurisation and index providers for ongoing research.

18 February 2019. Meeting with Jan Fichtner and Eelke Heemskerk from CORPNET in Amsterdam to discuss a joint paper.