Dr. Martin Sokol (Principal Investigator)

Email: sokolm@tcd.ie

Webpage: https://www.tcd.ie/Geography/research/gof/members/martin-sokol.php

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martin.sokol.927

Twitter: https://twitter.com/martinsokol (@martinsokol)

LinkedIn: https://ie.linkedin.com/in/martin-sokol-8985069

Academia.edu: http://tcd.academia.edu/MartinSokol

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin_Sokol

ResearcherID: K-6260-2013

ORCID.org: 0000-0002-6046-9244  (link)

Profile 

Martin Sokol is GEOFIN’s Principal Investigator. He is an Associate Professor in Geography at Trinity College Dublin and the Director of the Finance, Economy, Society (FES) Research Group. Martin is a founding member and a Secretary of the Global Network on Financial Geography (FinGeo) . Martin’s research focuses on financialisation in East-Central Europe and its implications for social inequality and uneven development in wider Europe.

Martin has an undergraduate degree from the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava, Slovakia and a Master’s degree from the University of Grenoble, France. He received his doctorate from Newcastle University, UK. His PhD thesis, undertaken in the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), engaged with the ‘knowledge economy’ and the ‘learning region’ concepts while focusing on ‘institutional thickness’ in the UK (Scotland) and East-Central Europe (Slovakia). Since then, Martin was involved in several major research projects, while holding research and teaching posts at University College Dublin (UCD), Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and University College London (UCL), among others.

Selected research projects

  • GEOFIN– Western Banks in Eastern Europe: New Geographies of Financialisation (Principal Investigator). Ongoing European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant project examining the ways in which Western banks penetrated Eastern Europe following the collapse of communism. East-Central Europe is being used as a laboratory to understand how finance entered every nook and cranny of post-communist economies that were previously built on completely opposite principles.
  • POLYNET– Sustainable Management of European Polycentric Mega-City Regions (EU Interreg IIIB project led by Professor Sir Peter Hall on the geography of knowledge-intensive financial and business services in the context of globalising mega-city regions).
  • TRANSFORM– Benchmarking and Fostering Transformative Use of ICT in EU Regions (FP6 project on ‘regional cultures’ and regional institutional capacities and their role in fostering transformational impacts of ICT on the economy and society in Europe).

Research funding

European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant (1.8m EUR); European Commission / FP6; European Commission / Phare ACE Programme; The Foreign and Commonwealth Office / Chevening Scholarship; Regional Studies Association (RSA).

Membership of professional organisations and academic networks 

GEOFIN-related publications, presentations and working papers

Pósfai, Z. & Sokol, M. (2024) Housing financialisation as a tool of managing dependent integration – the case of Hungry between 2008 and 2022.  European Journal of Spatial Development, 21(5): 86-106. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13628095 [OPEN ACCESS] | PDF

Stephens, J. C. and Sokol, M. (2024). Financial Innovation and Climate Obstruction in Finance and Banking. Presented at 35th International Geographical Congress, Session Dynamics of Economic Spaces:Financial innovations for Transformative climate and economic justice, Dublin, 27 August 2024 | PDF

Stephens, J. C. and Sokol, M. (2024). Climate Obstruction in Finance, Banking, & the Field of Economics. Presented at SASE, Co Limerick, 29 June 2024 | PDF

Sokol, M. (2024) Transformation or greenwashing? You are what you eat. Presentation for The Mary Robinson Climate Conference, Session: Climate Justice Universities: Reimagining the Transformative Power of Higher Education. Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland, 5-7 June 2024. | PDF

Stephens, J. C. and Sokol, M. (2024). Climate Obstruction in Finance, Banking, & the Field of Economics. Presented at the CPN-CSS Network Conference 2024 (Critical Policy Studies Network / Climate Social Science Network). Online, March 14th -15th. | PDF

Sokol, M. and Stephens, J.C. (2024) Central Banks Should Be Fighting the Climate Crisis – Here’s Why. The Conversation, January 4. https://theconversation.com/central-banks-should-be-fighting-the-climate-crisis-heres-why-217744

Stephens, J.C. and Sokol, M. (2023) Why the Fed should treat climate change’s $150B economic toll like other national crises it’s helped fight. The Conversation, November 29. https://theconversation.com/why-the-fed-should-treat-climate-changes-150b-economic-toll-like-other-national-crises-its-helped-fight-217979

Stephens, J.C. & Sokol, M. (2023). Financial innovation for climate justice: central banks and transformative ‘creative disruption’, Climate and Development, 1-12, DOI: 10.1080/17565529.2023.2268589 [OPEN ACCESS] | PDF

Stephens, J. C. and Sokol, M. (2023). Financial Innovation for Sustainability Transformation, Climate Justice, & Fossil Fuel Phaseout: A Critical Role for Monetary Policy & Central Banks. Presented at the 14th annual International Sustainability Transitions  (IST) conference 2023 “Responsibility and reflexivity in transitions”. Utrecht, The Netherlands, August 30th – September 1st. | PDF

Stephens, J. C. and Sokol, M. (2023). Financial innovations for sustainable economies and transformative social justice. Presented at the joint 5th SCORAI ((Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative) and 21st ERSCP (The European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production) Conference “Transforming consumption-production systems toward just and sustainable futures”, Session: A01: Beyond Growth: Structural Changes for Sustainable Consumption and Production. Wageningen, Netherlands (and online), 5-8 July 2023. | PDF

Sokol, M. and Stephens J.C. (2023). Financial Innovation for Just Transitions, Climate Justice, & Fossil Fuel Phaseout: A Critical Role for Monetary Policy & Central Banks. Presented at Conference of Irish Geographers (CIG) 2023, Session “Just Transitions to/for Sustainability”. Wexford, Ireland, 16-19 May. | PDF

Bobek, A., Mikuš, M. and Sokol, M. (2023) Making sense of the financialization of households: state of the art and beyond, Socio-Economic Review, 21 (4): 2233–2258, https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwad029 [OPEN ACCESS] | PDF

Sokol, M. and Stephens, J.C. (2023) Monetary Policy, Climate Crisis & Inequality:
A Climate Justice Approach. Paper for the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG). Session: Geographies of Monetary Policy I: Crisis, Inequality and Financial Power. Denver, USA, and online, 23-27 March 2023.| PDF

Pataccini, L. and Sokol, M. (2023) Green monetary and financial policies: missing geographies? Paper for the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG). Session: Geographies of Monetary Policy I: Crisis, Inequality and Financial Power. Denver, USA, and online, 23-27 March 2023. | PDF

Sokol, M (2022) Financialisation, central banks and ‘new’ state capitalism: The case of the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. DOI 10.1177/0308518X221133114

Sokol, M. and Stephens, J. (2022) Monetary Policy and ecological crisis: towards a climate justice approach. Paper presented at 26th FMM conference Post-Keynesian Economics and Global Challenges. Berlin 20-22 October 2022.  PDF (paper)    PDF (slides)

Pataccini, L, Sokol, M and Mikuš (2022) Growth models, dependent financialization and financial infrastructures in CEE: the case of the baltic states. RSA Central and Eastern Europe conference in Leipzig 2022. Special Session: Infrastructures of finance and finance as infrastructure in eastern Europe. | PDF

Sokol, M (2022) Financialisation, central banks and the ‘new’ state capitalism. Global Conference on Economic Geography in Dublin 7-10 June 2022  Special session: Financialisation: Disruptions, Displacements and Discontents | PDF

Fernandez, R, Sokol, M and Pataccini L (2022) Monetary policy, varieties of capitalism and subordinate financialization: What Explains divergent economic geographies of (semi)-peripheries in East-Central Europe. Global Conference on Economic Geography in Dublin 7-10 June 2022  Special session: Financialisation: Disruptions, Displacements and Discontents | PDF

Sokol, M.(2022) Financialisation, central banks and the ‘new’ state capitalism in advanced market economies. Dublin: GEOFIN research, Trinity College Dublin. PDF

Sokol, M. and Pataccini, L. (2021) Financialisation, regional economic development and the coronavirus crisis: a time for spatial monetary policy?, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society. DOI: 10.1093/cjres/rsab033 | PDF

Fernandez, R., Sokol, M. and Pataccini, L. (2021) Subordinate financialization in the European (semi-)periphery: The European Central Bank and the uneven monetary integration of East-Central Europe. 33rd Annual SASE Meeting, Virtual Conference – After Covid? Critical Conjunctures and Contingent Pathways of Contemporary Capitalism. Online, 2-5 July 2021. | PDF

Sokol, M., Fernandez, R. and Pataccini, L. (2021) Financialisation, post-pandemic central banking and regional and urban recovery: A turning point for monetary policy? Regional Studies Association Global E-Festival – Regions in Recovery: Building Sustainable Futures. Special session 34: FinGeo – Financial Geographies of Regional and Urban Recovery. Online, 2-18 June 2021. | PDF | video

Sokol, M. (2021) The (post-)pandemic city: A vicious circle scenario. Paper for the 52nd Annual Conference of Irish Geographers (CIG), Themed session: Sustainable City Futures: COVID & Beyond. Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 18-21 May 2021. | PDF

Sokol, M. and Pataccini, L. (2020) Winners And Losers In Coronavirus Times: Financialisation, Financial Chains and Emerging Economic Geographies of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 111(3): 401-415. DOI: 10.1111/tesg.12433  [OPEN ACCESS]

Lai, K.P.Y., Pan, F., Sokol, M. and D. Wójcik (2020) New financial geographies of Asia, Regional Studies, 54:2, 143-148, DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1689549 

Sokol, M. (2019) Financial Networks and Urban Networks in the International Division of Labour: A ‘Financial Chains’ Perspective. Paper for the 6th FinGeo Global Seminar (Geography, Finance and Uneven Development). Special panel session: Financial Networks and Urban Networks in the International Division of Labour. University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, 15-17 May 2019. | PDF

Sokol, M. (2019) Networks of ‘Financial Chains’: Linking Finance, Geography and Uneven Development. Paper for the 6th FinGeo Global Seminar (Geography, Finance and Uneven Development), Special session: Finance and uneven development in Eastern Europe. University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, 15-17 May 2019. | PDF

Dal Maso, G. and Sokol, M. (2019) Western European Banking Groups in East-Central Europe: A Preliminary Overview. Paper for the 6th FinGeo Global Seminar (Geography, Finance and Uneven Development). Special session: Finance and uneven development in Eastern Europe. University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, 15-17 May 2019. | PDF | Blog

Dal Maso, G. and Sokol, M. (2018) Western Banks in post-socialist East-Central Europe: Towards new perspectives on financialisation. Paper for the Finance & Society Network “Futures of Finance and Society” Conference. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, 6-7 December 2018. | PDF

Sokol, M. (2018) Financial chains and new geographies of financialisation in East-Central Europe. Paper for the Fifth Global Conference on Economic Geography (GCEG), Specialist session on: Finance and financialisation in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, 24-28 July 2018. | PDF

Sokol, M. (2018) Financialisation of housing in the European ‘semi-periphery’: A ‘financial chains’ approach. Paper for the “The financialization of housing in the semi-periphery” Workshop. Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary, 20-22 July 2018. | PDF

Sokol, M. (2018) New Spaces of Financialisation: Financial Chains in East-Central Europe. Paper for the Fifth FinGeo Global Seminar “European Spaces of Financialization”, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium, 28-29 May 2018.

Sokol, M. (2018) GEOFIN – Western Banks in Eastern Europe: New Geographies of Financialisation. Poster presentation for the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), New Orleans, USA, 10-14 April 2018. | PDF

Sokol, M. (2017) Financial chains: a good idea? Paper for the Financial Geography Lab 2017 (Forschungswerkstatt Finanzgeographie), Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Frankfurt, Germany, 9th-10th November 2017. | PDF

Sokol, M. (2017) Financialising Eastern Europe: A Financial Chains Approach. Paper for the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) – Specialist session: ‘European Financial Geographies in Flux: The Changing Urban Geographies of the Advanced Producer Service Complex’, Boston, USA, 5-9 April, 2017.

Sokol, M. (2017) New Geographies of Financialisation. Guest lecture for the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, KU International Lecture Series: “Space – Society – Economy”, Theme: “Glocal Transformations”. Eichstätt, Germany, 1st February 2017.

Sokol, M. (2017) Western banks in Eastern Europe: New geographies of financialisation (GEOFIN research agenda). GEOFIN Working Paper No. 1. Dublin: GEOFIN research, Trinity College Dublin.

Sokol, M. (2017) Financialisation, financial chains and uneven geographical development in Europe: Towards a research agenda. Research in International Business and Finance (RIBAF), Vol. 39, Part B, pp. 678-685. Invited contribution. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2015.11.007

GEOFIN Blogs:
View Martin’s blogs


Other publications (selected) 

Sokol, M. (2013), ‘Towards a “newer” economic geography? Injecting finance and finacialization into economic geographies’. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 501–515. Invited contribution. DOI:10.1093/cjres/rst022.

Sokol, M. (2013) Silicon Valley in Eastern Slovakia? Neo-liberalism, post-socialism and the knowledge economy.  Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 65, No. 7, pp. 1324-1343 (ISSN Print 0966-8136). Invited contribution. DOI:10.1080/09668136.2013.822714.

Sokol, M., (2011) Economic Geographies of Globalisation: A Short Introduction, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 198 pages. (cased: ISBN 978-1-84980-149-2; paperback: ISBN 978-1-84980-153-9).

Sokol, M. (2010) ‘Financial Crisis in Central and Eastern Europe: From Similarity to Diversity’ (book review), Regional Studies, 44:9, 1304 – 1305.

Egeraat, C. van and Sokol, M. (2010), Dublin as a Polycentric City Region? In: ÓBroin, D. and Jacobson, D. (eds.), Local Dublin, Global Dublin: Public Policy in an Evolving City Region, Dublin: DCU Press. pp.147-179. Invited contribution.

Sokol M. (2009), Regional Connectivity. In: Kitchin, R. and Thrift, N. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Volume 9, pp. 165-180. Oxford: Elsevier. Invited contribution.

Sokol, M., Egeraat, C. van, and Williams, B. (2008) ‘Revisiting the “Informational City”: space of flows, knowledge intensive business services and polycentricity in an emerging global city-region of Dublin’. Regional Studies, Vol. 42, No. 8, pp. 1133-1146. (ISSN Print 0034-3404).

Hoyler, M., Kloosterman, R. and Sokol, M. (2008) ‘Polycentric puzzles: Emerging mega-city regions seen through the lens of advanced producer services’. Regional Studies, Vol. 42, No. 8, pp. 1055–1064. (ISSN Print 0034-3404).

Rochovská, A., Blažek, M., and Sokol, M. (2007) Ako zlepšiť kvalitu geografie: o dôležitosti kvalitatívneho výskumu v humánnej geografii (Adding quality to geography: on the importance of qualitative research in human geography). Geografický časopis (Geographical Journal), Vol. 59, No. 4, pp. 323-358.

Sokol, M. (2007) ‘Space of flows, uneven regional development and the geography of financial services in Ireland’. Growth and Change, Vol. 38, No. 2, June 2007, pp.224-259. (Special Issue on European Financial Geographies). (ISSN Print 0017-4815; ISSN Online 1468-2257). Invited contribution.

Rehák, S. and Sokol, M. (2007), Regional pathways towards the knowledge economy: experiences from Slovakia. In: K. Piech (Ed.)Knowledge and Innovation Processes in Central and Eastern European Economies. Warsaw: The Knowledge & Innovation Institute. pp.228-246. (ISBN-13: 978-83-60653-03-6).

Convery, F., McInerney, D., Sokol, M. and Stafford, P. (2006) ‘Organising space in a dynamic economy – insights for policy from the Irish experience’. Built Environment, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp.172-182. (ISSN 0263-7960).

Sokol, M. (2006), City-regions in the global knowledge economy. In: Yarwood, J. (Ed.) The Dublin-Belfast Development Corridor: Ireland’s Mega-City Region? Aldershot: Ashgate, pp.15-27. (ISBN 0 7546 4702 1). Invited contribution.

Egeraat, C. van and Sokol, M. (2006), Service Firm Connections in the Dublin-Belfast Corridor. In: Yarwood, J. (Ed.) The Dublin-Belfast Development Corridor: Ireland’s Mega-City Region?Aldershot: Ashgate, pp.141-162. (ISBN 0 7546 4702 1).

Egeraat, C. van, Sokol, M. and Stafford, P. (2006), ‘Greater Dublin in the Celtic Tiger Economy: Towards a Polycentric Mega-City Region?’ In: Hall, P. and Pain, K. (eds), The Polycentric Metropolis: Learning from Mega-City Regions in Europe, London: Earthscan, pp.187-194. (ISBN-13: 978-1-84407-329-0; ISBN-10: 1-84407-329-7).

Sokol, M. (2004), ‘The “Knowledge Economy”: A Critical View’. In: P. Cooke and A. Piccaluga (Eds.) Regional Economies as Knowledge Laboratories. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.216-231. (ISBN 1 84376 821 6). Invited contribution.

Sokol, M. (2002) Knowledge economy: issues and challenges, Journal of Economics/Ekonomicky casopis, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp.85-106 (in Slovak, English résumé). (ISSN 0013-3035).

Sokol, M. (2001) Central and Eastern Europe a Decade After the Fall of State-socialism: Regional Dimensions of Transition Processes, Regional Studies, Vol. 35, No. 7, pp.645-655. (ISSN Print 0034-3404).