Who benefits from state investment? Interrogating distribution under (urban) state venturism

• Published in: Dialogues in Human Geography
• Main Authors: Cohen, Dan, Rosenman, Emily
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2024
• Subjects: Hudson; Hudson Bay
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/20438206241259462; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/20438206241259462; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/20438206241259462

This commentary traces the longer history of what Su and Lim refer to as urban state venturism as a means of posing questions about the distribution of benefits and risks which result from this model of state investment. Drawing upon the history of the Hudson Bay Company's role in both securing profits and building the British settler colonial empire, we ask how these state projects shape political economic processes beyond regional economic competitiveness. Specifically, we focus on how political projects of stigmatization and marginalization may interact with the geographies unleashed by urban state venturism and how they articulate with other priorities of the state. Through this generative critique we hope to build upon the potential of Su and Lim's work to contribute to debates in economic geography over state capitalism, the blurred lines between public/private finance, and questions of who benefits from these arrangements.