The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo / Edition 2

by Saskia Sassen

Overview

This classic work chronicles how New York, London, and Tokyo became command centers for the global economy and in the process underwent a series of massive and parallel changes. What distinguishes Sassen's theoretical framework is the emphasis on the formation of cross-border dynamics through which these cities and the growing number of other global cities begin to form strategic transnational networks. All the core data in this new edition have been updated, while the preface and epilogue discuss the relevant trends in globalization since the book originally came out in 1991.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691070636
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	09/16/2001
Series:	Princeton Paperbacks
Edition description:	2ND
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Saskia Sassen is Professor of Sociology and of the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. Her other books include Guests and Aliens, The Mobility of Labor and Capital, Losing Control, and Globalization and Its Discontents.

Table of Contents

List of Tables xi

Preface to the New Edition xvii


Acknowledgments xxv

One

Overview 3

PART ONE: THE GEOGRAPHY AND COMPOSITION OF GLOBALIZATION 17

Two

Dispersal and New Forms of Centralization 23

Mobility and Agglomeration 24

Capital Mobility and Labor Market Formation 32

Conclusion 34

Three

New Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment 37

Major Patterns 37

International Transactions in Services 44

Conclusion 63

Four

Internationalization and Expansion of the Financial Industry 65

Conditions and Components of Growth 66

The Global Capital Market Today 74

Financial Crises 78

Conclusion 83

PART TWO: THE ECONOMIC ORDER OF THE GLOBAL CITY 85

Five

The Producer Services 90

The Category Services 92

The Spatial Organization of Finance 110

New Forms of Centrality 122

Conclusion 126

Six

Global Cities: Postindustrial Production Sites 127

Location of Producer Services: Nation, Region, and City 130

New Elements in the Urban Hierarchy 140

Conclusion 167

Seven

Elements of a Global Urban System: Networks and Hierarchies 171

Towards Networked Systems 172

Expansion and Concentration 175

Leading Currencies in International Transactions 187

The International Property Market 190

Conclusion 195

PART THREE: THE SOCIAL ORDER OF THE GLOBAL CITY 197

Eight

Employment and Earnings 201

Three Cities, One Tale? 201

Earnings 221

Conclusion 249

Nine

Economic Restructuring as Class and Spatial Polarization 251

Overall Effects of Leading Industries 252

Social Geography 256

Consumption 284

Casual and Informal Labor Markets 289

Race and Nationality in the Labor Market 305

Conclusion 323

IN CONCLUSION 327

Ten

A New Urban Regime? 329

Epilogue 345

The Global City Model 346

The Financial Order 355

The Producer Services 359

Social and Spatial Polarization 361

Appendices

A Classification of Producer Services by U.S., Japanese, and British SIC 367

B Definitions of Urban Units: Tokyo, London, New York 369

C Population of Selected Prefectures and Major Prefectural Cities 373

D Tokyo's Land Market 374

Bibliography 383

Index 435

Editorial Reviews

"A multi-disciplinary tour de force that should be read not only by regional economists but also by urban geographers, sociologists, and planners."

Development and Change

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1992

From the Publisher

An exciting and persuasive work. It incorporates a herculean research effort.

Journal of the American Planning Association - Susan Fainstein

The implications of Sassen's research . . . are sobering.

Times Literary Supplement - Rudolf Klein

The most detailed and sophisticated anatomy yet published of the functioning of the new producer services sector in the global economy.

Urban Affairs Quarterly - Mark Levine

A landmark study in the political economy of cities.

Newsline - Anthony King

A very significant book indeed. . . . A systematic detailed analysis of the three largest urban economies in the advanced world.

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research - Peter Hall

This is brilliant stuff, both in its broadness of sociological scope and its voluminous collection of data from a vast number of sources in the three cities.

The Times Higher Education Supplement - Scott Lash

An exciting and persuasive work. It incorporates a herculean research effort.
— Susan Fainstein

Journal of the American Planning Association

The implications of Sassen's research . . . are sobering.
— Rudolf Klein

Times Literary Supplement

The most detailed and sophisticated anatomy yet published of the functioning of the new producer services sector in the global economy.
— Mark Levine

Urban Affairs Quarterly

A landmark study in the political economy of cities.
— Anthony King

Newsline

A very significant book indeed. . . . A systematic detailed analysis of the three largest urban economies in the advanced world.
— Peter Hall

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

This is brilliant stuff, both in its broadness of sociological scope and its voluminous collection of data from a vast number of sources in the three cities.
— Scott Lash

The Times Higher Education Supplement

"[A] high-powered and at times horrific book. [Sassen] shows how dangerously city life has been affected by the influx of employees of the multinational firms which move into major cities, and virtually colonise them, driving even greater wedges between the rich and poor, the compulsive spending classes and low-paid part time labour attendant on their whims."

The Observer