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Hi, for those of you in the UK or passing through ... all most welcome, but do RSVP as below, so we can make sure there are plenty of seats and snacks and drinks and things ---Nigel OpenSpace - Doreen Massey 2nd Annual Lecture With Professor Susan Smith (Girton College, Cambridge) "Close encounters: a tale of three markets and four visions" Wednesday, 10th March 2010 The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA Berrill Lecture Theatre:14:00 -16:00 Refreshments:16:00 Berrill Café http://www3.open.ac.uk/contact/locations.aspx Organised by the OpenSpace Research Centre and the Geography Department of the Open University http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/about-the-faculty/departments/geography/research/research.php **RSVP Lynda Lynn - [log in to unmask] to confirm your attendance. Professor Susan Smith Bio Susan J. Smith is Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge. She was formerly Professor of Geography and a Director of the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University; and before that she held the Ogilvie Chair of Geography at the University of Edinburgh. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, as well as a member of the Academy of Social Sciences, and of the Society of Authors. Her current research focuses squarely on the issues raised in this lecture; her latest work appears in Smith, S J and Searle, B A. (eds) 2010, The Blackwell Companion to the Economics of Housing (Wiley-Blackwell), as well as in recent issues of Environment and Planning A, GeoForum, Housing Studies, Journal of Social Policy, and the European Journal of Housing Policy. Abstract The steady integration of housing, mortgage and financial markets is a hallmark of the modern economy. The prevailing wisdom, boosted by the credit crisis of 2007-8, is that this has already gone too far; that processes tying households' accounts into global financial flows could and should be reversed. But other ideas are in play. Most governments, for example, are struggling to restore 'business as usual' in the world of lending and borrowing; while some economists suggest that housing and financial markets should be more - not less - closely integrated. This lecture considers all these visions for housing's financial future, and - of course - adds its own. Substantively, the discussion hangs around a financial curiosity. Few disagree that the housing economy is, to an extent, implicated in the recent recession. But it is odd that so much turns on the credit/debt rather than investment/equity side of the equation. The spotlight is on the securitisation of lending, the incorporation of mortgage backed securities into complex credit derivatives, and the failure of credit default swaps to manage the risks this implies. But this is only part of the picture. Why, for example, has there never been a market for financial instruments based on the performance of housing assets? Why aren't home buyers better protected against the investment risks built into their housing package? Using the tools of material sociology, cultural economy and the geography of finance to address questions like this, I consider what might be achieved if a 'synthetic' housing market were to succeed; and what might be lost if it failed. Dr. Nigel Clark Faculty of Social Sciences: Geography The Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK Å +44 (0)1908 654 507 Ê+44 (0)1908 654 488 ________________________________ The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).