TY  - UNPD
A1  - Massoc, Elsa
T1  - Banks' structural power and states' choices over what structurally matters. The geo-economic foundations of state priority towards banking in France, Germany and Spain
T2  - LawFin working paper ; No. 26
N2  - Since the 2008 financial crisis, European largest banks’ size and business models have largely remained unchallenged. Is that because of banks’ continued structural power over States? This paper challenges the view that States are sheer hostages of banks’ capacity to provide credit to the real economy – which is the conventional definition of structural power. Instead, it sheds light on the geo-economic dimension of banks’ power: key public officials conceive the position of “their own” market-based banks in global financial markets as a crucial dimension of State power. State priority towards banking thus result from political choices over what structurally matters the most for the State. Based on a discourse analysis of parliamentary debates in France, Germany and Spain between 2010 and 2020 as well as on a comparative analysis of the implementation of a special tax on banks in the early 2010s, this paper shows that State’s Finance ministries tend to prioritize geo-economic considerations over credit to firms. By contrast, Parliaments tend to prioritize investment. Power dynamics within the State thus largely shape political priorities towards banking at the domestic and international levels.
T3  - LawFin Working Paper - 26 
KW  - structural power
KW  - States
KW  - banks
KW  - geo-economics
KW  - institutions
Y1  - 2021
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/61665
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-616658
UR  - https://ssrn.com/abstract=4006168
N1  - This research was funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) – project FOR 2774.
IS  - Date of first version: 15 November 2021
PB  - Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance, House of Finance, Goethe University
CY  - Frankfurt am Main
ER  -