Shanghai municipal investment corporation: Extending government power through financialization under state entrepreneurialism

Abstract

Financialized urban governance means that local governments have been increasingly reliant on financial techniques and in some extreme cases, been captured by shareholders’ interests. However, financialized governance mutates with various characteristics of local governance. This paper unpacks financialized urban governance in China based on the operation of Shanghai Municipal Investment Corporation (SMI). The Shanghai municipal government uses SMI as an intermediary to finance urban development. Based on the latest corporatization of SMI, we illustrate an embryonic form of financialized governance in which the Shanghai municipal government relies on financial means especially shareholding to manage and support SMI. In doing so, the municipal government internalizes financial techniques to manage state assets, seek funding, and guide urban development projects. The power of the state is not undermined during the process of financialization. Instead, the Shanghai government extends its power to the financial market to achieve its goals.