The Limits to Capital in Spain

Subprime Housing Goes South: Constructing Securitized Mortgages for the Poor in Mexico

“…First, I addressed Saskia Sassen's provocative, yet largely unanswered, question regarding why, and to what extent, countries in the global South are following the “troublesome development path” in which securitized mortgages act as another mechanism of extracting value from low‐income individuals (Sassen ). Second, and more generally, I attempted to contribute to the emerging literature that examines the intersection between the marketization of housing rights in developing countries and its links to global financial flows, particularly as it relates to slum upgrading strategies (Desai and Loftus ; Gruffydd Jones ) and the continued importance of David Harvey's work on the switching crises and capital circuits to the housing question (Charnock et al ; Harvey , ). As such, although my study is confined to the Mexican context, I believe that the tensions and trajectories identified and explained here complement current and past literature on the radical geography of housing for the poor in the global South (Davis ; Gilbert and Varley ; Kumar ).…”

State‐Led Financial Regulation and Representations of Spatial Fixity: The Example of the Spanish Real Estate Sector

“…Authors such as García (), López and Rodríguez (; ), Coq‐Huelva (), Charnock et al . () and Murray () have described the historical roots of the 1995–2007 housing bubble and the eruption of the economic crisis in Spain.…”

“…There is an extensive body of literature dealing directly or indirectly with the urban dimensions of crisis in Spain. Authors such as García (2010), López and Rodríguez (2010;2011), Coq-Huelva (2013, Charnock et al (2014) and Murray (2015) have described the historical roots of the 1995-2007 housing bubble and the eruption of the economic crisis in Spain.…”

“…The roots of such a situation are to be found in the institutional framework resultant from the integration of Spain into the EU. In short, Spain's economic role within the EU was meant to absorb, via the development of the real estate sector, surpluses being produced in export-oriented industrial countries like Germany (López and Rodríguez, 2010;Charnock et al, 2014). Unsurprisingly, shortly after Spain's accession to the EU in 1986, the industrial sector was rapidly dismantled and/or acquired by EU corporations, whereas the real estate sector developed rapidly.…”

“…The second analyses how state actors--primarily the EU and the Spanish government--have responded to the crisis eroding the workforce. This issue has been analysed by Charnock et al (2014) in particular, who have scrutinized the mechanisms via which the financial crisis was converted into a sovereign debt crisis. As these authors explain, the Spanish state followed European Central Bank recommendations, resulting in nationalization of the country's banks.…”