The Financial Production of Bankruptcy: Denaturalizing Fiscal Crisis in the City of Detroit
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The Financial Production of Bankruptcy: Denaturalizing Fiscal Crisis in the City of Detroit by Rachel Jane Phillips A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Geography and Planning University of Toronto © Copyright by Rachel Jane Phillips 2018 The Financial Production of Bankruptcy: Denaturalizing Fiscal Crisis in the City of Detroit Rachel Jane Phillips Master of Arts Department of Geography and Planning University of Toronto 2018 Abstract Accounts of urban crisis in the United States focus largely on issues of deindustrialization, depopulation, property abandonment, and racial conflict. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, however, another issue has come to light: the role of financial shocks and volatile debt arrangements in shaping urban outcomes. Through a case study of the City of Detroit’s 2013 bankruptcy, this thesis questions the seeming inevitability of fiscal crises in declining cities. Instead, it analyzes the ways in which fiscal crises can be understood as products of risky financial relationships and debt structures. Drawing on archival data, policy analysis, and quantitative financial data, the thesis focuses on the City of Detroit’s use of one risk-laden financial instrument—the interest rate swap—and follows this instrument through the city’s fiscal crisis. In so doing, I map out how this volatile financial instrument shaped both the economic and political dynamics of Detroit’s bankruptcy. ii Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge several sources of support for this project. This thesis is the result of two years of learning from friends, fellow students, and faculty members in the Department of Geography and Planning. Particular thanks are due to my supervisor, Jason Hackworth, whose work on urban political economy and urban decline got me excited about geography when I was an undergraduate student, and whose insights and advice helped me to take a jumble of chaotic and vague ideas and turn them into an actual thesis. This project benefitted immensely from your support (and considerable patience toward the end). I am also grateful to my committee members, Alexandra Flynn and Rick DiFrancesco, for making the dreaded defense a lot of fun, and for asking challenging and productive questions that helped me to refine my thinking. The archival research undertaken for this thesis was made possible by the work of staff at the City of Detroit archives, who pointed me in the right directions and fielded my endless requests for more documents. I am especially grateful to Mrs. Beal at the City Clerk’s archive. This research was also made possible by financial support from SSHRC, the School of Graduate Studies at U of T, and the Department of Geography Planning. Although the writing of this thesis was a solo activity, I relied on friends and family for support, conversation, and welcome distraction. At U of T, particular thanks go to my office mates, Jennifer Langill and Philip Kulogowski Chan, who spent many hours in the basement of Sid Smith writing and talking with me. My family was a source of significant and loving support—always there for a phone call, a coffee, a meal, or an escape from Toronto. Finally, I am thankful to my partner Spencer, whose unwavering support and endless ability to make me laugh held this project together. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Research Objectives ........................................................................................................ 6 1.2 Research Design and Methods ......................................................................................... 8 1.2.1 Qualitative Data ................................................................................................. 11 1.2.2 Quantitative Data ............................................................................................... 13 1.3 Outline of Chapters ....................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2 Literature Review ..................................................................................................... 17 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 17 2.1 The Politics of Urban Crisis: From the Fiscal Crisis of the State to Austerity Urbanism....................................................................................................................... 18 2.2 Geographies of Financialization .................................................................................... 24 2.3 The Financialization of Urban Governance .................................................................... 28 2.4 Locating the Limits to Financialization .......................................................................... 35 2.5 Methodologies for the Financialization of Urban Governance: Financial Ecologies and Policy Mobilities ..................................................................................................... 37 2.5.1 Financial Ecologies ............................................................................................ 37 2.5.2 Policy Mobilities................................................................................................ 40 Chapter 3 Making a Market: Interest Rate Swaps and the Financialization of Urban Governance in Detroit .......................................................................................................... 42 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 42 3.1 Turning the Market Inside Out: Locating Interest Rate Swaps in Financialization.......... 44 3.1.1 Outside the Market: Theorizing Derivatives ....................................................... 46 iv 3.1.2 Inside the Market: Constructing Swaps as Solution ............................................ 54 3.2 Interest Rate Swaps and the Politics of Financialization in Detroit ................................. 63 3.2.1 The Finances of a Declining City ....................................................................... 65 3.2.2 Interest Rate Swaps and the Politics of Fiscal Crisis ........................................... 67 3.3 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 74 Chapter 4 The Financial Production of Bankruptcy: Financialized Debt and Detroit’s Fiscal Crisis .................................................................................................................................... 76 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 76 4.1 Detroit’s Path to Bankruptcy ......................................................................................... 79 4.2 The Financial Production of Insolvency ......................................................................... 88 4.2.1 Anatomy of a Swap Meltdown ........................................................................... 88 4.2.2 COPs and the Legacy Expenses of Debt ............................................................. 92 4.2.3 Debt Crises and the Politics of Extraction .......................................................... 94 4.3 Post-Bankruptcy Financialization .................................................................................. 96 4.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 102 Chapter 5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 104 5.1 Research Contributions ............................................................................................... 110 5.2 Research Limitations and Future Directions ................................................................ 113 References .............................................................................................................................. 117 v List of Tables Table 3.1: Key Events in the Development of the Interest Rate Swap Market…………………62 Table 3.2: Sampling of high-profile interest rate swap cases in U.S. Cities……………………65 Table 4.1: Timeline of Key Events Leading up to Detroit’s Bankruptcy Filing………………..87 Table 4.2: City of Detroit Total Liabilities……………………………………………………...90 Table 4.3: City of Detroit Revenues and Expenditures, 2008-2013…………………………….93 Table 4.4: Cashflow Consequences of City of Detroit Major Liabilities in 2013………………97 Table 4.5: City of Detroit Legacy Expenditure Increases, 2008-2013………………………….98 vi List of Figures Figure 3.1: Structure of a traditional debt transaction versus a debt transaction using an interest