Wójcik, Dariusz, Bassens, David., Lai, Karen P. Y., Sohns, Franziska, Grandi, Silvia and Tan, Gordon (2025). FinGeo in transition. Finance and Space, 2(1), 510–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/2833115X.2025.2589603
McLean, Jessica, Reid, Louise, Lai, Karen P. Y., Roos, Markus and Krishnan, Sneha (2025) ‘Geographies of Responsibility, Care and Repair in Digital Worlds of AI: Introduction to the Themed Intervention’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, e70045. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.70045.
Chu, Jing, Fang, Cheng, and Lai, Karen P. Y. (2025). ‘Reshaping state-finance-tech nexus through central bank digital currencies: the case of the mBridge project‘ Finance and Space, 2(1), 281–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/2833115X.2025.2539714 [Free version here]
Lai, Karen P. Y. (2025) ‘Local AI Growth Zones: What’s At Stake?‘, Climate Action Newcastle, 26 September, https://www.climateactionnewcastle.com/post/ai-growth-zones-what-s-the-trade-off.
Liu, Felicia H.M., Lai, Karen P.Y., Seah, Bertrand and Chow, Winston T.L. (2025) ‘Decarbonising digital infrastructure and urban sustainability in the case of data centres‘, npj Urban Sustainability, Vol. 5, Article No. 15, https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00203-1 [Open Access]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2025) ‘Fintech: Making finance fun’ in Yuko Aoyama, Daniel Haberly, Rory Horner and Seth Schindler (Eds.) A Research Agenda for Economic Geography: Reframing 21st Century Capitalism, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 175–188.
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2025) ‘Atlas of Finance: Seeing and Communicating the (Financial) World Differently’, Commentary for Geoforum on “Atlas of Finance: Mapping the Global Story of Money” (2024) by Wojcik, D., Iliopoulos, P., Ioannou, S., Keenan, L., Migozzi, J., Monteath, T., Pazitka, V., Torrance, M. and Urban, M., Yale University Press. Geoforum, Volume 160, 104229, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2025.104229.
Lai, Karen P. Y. (2025) ‘Financial Geography II: Green Finance and Climate Transition‘, Progress in Human Geography, 49(2): 215-226, https://doi.org/10.1177/03091325251315158 [Open Access]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2025) ‘Finfluencers, Gamification and Youthful Finance‘, Financial Geography Working Paper Series #38, January 2025, Global Network on Financial Geography (FinGeo). [Free access]
Bassens, David, Knox-Hayes, Janelle, Lai, Karen P. Y., Pan, Fenghua, and Wójcik, Dariusz. (2024) ‘Finance in the age of geoeconomics: intersections of finance, production, and digital technology’, Finance and Space, 1(1): 542–555. https://doi.org/10.1080/2833115X.2024.2433898 [Free access]
Bassens, David, Hendrikse, Reijer, Lai, Karen P. Y., and van Meeteren, Michiel (2024) ‘World cities under conditions of digitization and platform capitalism: Updating the advanced producer services complex’, Geoforum, Volume 152, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.104021 [Open access]
— Editorial introduction to the Special Issue on ‘Updating the Advanced Producer Services Complex: Reintermediation under Platform Capitalism‘.
Chow, Winston, Lai, Karen P. Y., Liu, Felicia and Seah, Bertrand (2024) White Paper: Green FinTech and Data Centres in Singapore, April 2024, Singapore: Singapore Green Finance Centre, https://www.singaporegreenfinance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/White-Paper-Green-FinTech-and-Data-Centres-in-Singapore.pdf [Free access]
Wójcik, Dariusz, Bassens, David, Knox-Hayes, Janelle and Lai, Karen P. Y. (2024) ‘Revolution, evolution, progress: Finance & Space manifesto‘, Finance and Space, 1(1): 1-12, DOI:10.1080/2833115X.2023.2275952 [Free access]
Lai, Karen P. Y. (2024) ‘Jessie Poon: International Trade and Geographies of Finance’, in Jennifer Johns and Sarah Marie Hall (Eds.) Contemporary Economic Geographies: Inspiring, Critical and Plural Perspectives, Bristol: Bristol University Press, pp. 65-76.
Lai, Karen P. Y. and Langley, Paul (2024) ‘Playful finance: Gamification and intermediation in FinTech economies‘, Geoforum, Volume 151, May 2024, 103848. [Open Access]
Thomsen, Lotte, Lai, Karen P. Y., and Ponte, Stefano (2024) State action and inaction in the shaping of value and wealth entanglements: The role of Singapore in the global ‘gold chain.’ Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 56(8): 2174-2195, https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X231181128 [Open Access]
Chow, Winston, Lai, Karen P. Y. and Liu, Felicia (2023) Interim Report: Green FinTech and Data Centres in Singapore, August 2023, Singapore: Singapore Green Finance Centre, https://www.singaporegreenfinance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Interim-Report-Green-FinTech-and-Data-Centres-in-Singapore-Final.pdf
Lai, Karen P. Y. (2023) ‘Financial Geography I: The State-Finance Nexus‘, Progress in Human Geography, 47(4): 591–603. [Open Access]
Dörry, Sabine; Wojcik, Dariusz; Lai, Karen P. Y. and Aalbers, Manuel (2023) ‘Lost (in) space for dialogue: On the (abandoned) need for Working Papers in Human Geography’, in Environment and Planning F: Philosophy, Theory, Models, Methods and Practice, 2(3): 438–456.
Bailey, A. J., Breines, M., Emmerson, P., Esson, J., Halvorsen, S., Hope, J. C., Joronen, M., Koh, S. Y., Krishnan, S., Lai, K., McFarlane, C., McLean, J., Reid, L., and Sparke, M. (2023) Care for Transactions. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 48(1): 2–8. [Open Access]
Fang, Cheng, Fenghua, Pan and Lai, Karen P.Y. (2023) ‘ The brokerage role of Hong Kong in global financial networks: the case of mainland Chinese companies’ US listings‘, Regional Studies, Volume 57, Issue 2, pp. 317-329. [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2022) ‘Financial Geography’, in Douglas Richardson, Noel Castree, Michael F. Goodchild, Audrey Kobayashi, Weidong Liu and Richard A. Marston (Eds.) The International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0656.pub2. [Download pre-publication version]
Liu, Felicia and Lai, Karen P.Y. (2021) ‘Ecologies of Green Finance: Green Sukuk and Development of Green Islamic Finance in Malaysia’, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, Vol 53, Issue 8, pp. 1896–1914, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X211038349. [Open Access]
Lai, Karen P.Y. and Samers, Michael (2021) ‘Towards an economic geography of FinTech‘, Progress in Human Geography, Volume 45, Issue 4, pp. 720-739, DOI: 10.1177/0309132520938461. [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. and Pan, Fenghua (2021) ‘Brexit and shifting geographies of financial centres in Asia’, Geoforum, Volume 125, pp. 201-202, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.02.004 [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2020) ‘FinTech: The dis/re-intermediation of finance?’ in Janelle Knox-Hayes and Dariusz Wójcik (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Financial Geography, London: Routledge, pp. 440-458. [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y., Lin, Shaun and Sidaway, James D. (2020) ‘Financing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): Research agendas beyond the “debt-trap” discourse‘, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Volume 61, Issue 2, pp. 109-124, DOI: 10.1080/15387216.2020.1726787. [Download pre-publication version]
Stolz, Dennis and Lai, Karen P.Y. (2020) ‘Impact investing, social enterprises and global development’, in Phil Mader, Daniel Mertens and Natascha van der Zwan (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Financialization, London: Routledge, pp. 288-300. [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y., Pan, Fenghua, Sokol, Martin and Wójcik, Dariusz (2020) ‘New financial geographies of Asia’, Regional Studies, Volume 54, Issue 2, pp. 143-148, DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1689549
Gemici, Kurtulus and Lai, Karen P.Y. (2020) ‘How ‘global’ are investment banks? An analysis of investment banking networks in Asian equity capital markets‘, Regional Studies, Volume 54, Issue 2, pp. 149-161, DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1584393 [Pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2020) ‘Refining the state-finance nexus through urban infrastructure’, Book symposium: Pike et al.’s Financialising City Statecraft and Infrastructure: A reader’s guide, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, Volume 52, Issue 4, pp. 790-813.
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2018) ‘The changing nature of service sectors’, Geography Digest, 2018 Issue 2, pp. 25-34, Geography Unit, Humanities Branch, Curriculum Planning and Development Division 2, Ministry of Education, Singapore.
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2018) ‘Agency, power, and state–firm relations in global financial networks‘, Dialogues in Human Geography, Volume 8, Issue 3, pp. 285–288. [Pre-publication version]
Stolz, Dennis and Lai, Karen P.Y. (2018) ‘Philanthro-capitalism, social enterprises and global development‘, Financial Geography Working Paper Series #13, March 2018, Global Network on Financial Geography (FinGeo).
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2018) ‘Singapore: Connecting Asian markets with global finance’ in Youssef Cassis and Dariusz Wójcik (Eds.) International Financial Centres: After the Global Financial Crisis and Brexit, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 154-181. [Link to chapter preview on Google Books; download PDF chapter here]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2018) ‘Financialisation of everyday life’, in G.L. Clark, M. Feldmann, M. Gertler, and D. Wojcik (Eds.). The New Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 611-627. [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2017) ‘Unpacking financial subjectivities: Intimacies, governance and socio-economic practices in financialisation‘, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol. 35, Issue 5, pp. 913-932. [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. and Samers, Michael (2017) ‘Conceptualizing Islamic banking and finance: A comparison of its development and governance in Malaysia and Singapore‘, The Pacific Review, Vol. 30, Issue 3, pp. 405-424. [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. and Daniels, Joseph A. (2017) ‘Financialization of Singaporean banks and the production of variegated financial capitalism’, in B. Christophers, A. Leyshon and G. Mann (Eds.) Money and Finance After the Crisis: Critical Thinking for Uncertain Times, Antipode Book Series, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 217-244. [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2017) ‘Financial Geography’, in N. Castree, M. Goodchild, W. Liu, A. Kobayashi, R. Marston, and D. Richardson (Eds.), The International Encyclopaedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology, Wiley-Blackwell.[Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2017) Authors Meet Critics Book Symposium: Review of World City Network, by Peter J. Taylor and Ben Derudder. Reviewed in: Urban Geography, Vol 38, No. 1, pp. 153-154, DOI: 10.1080/02723638.2016.1208434
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2016) ‘Financial advisors, financial ecologies and the variegated financialisation of everyday investors’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 27-40, DOI: 10.1111/tran.12101 [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. and Daniels, Joseph A. (2015) ‘Banking on finance in Singapore: The state-led financialisation of banking firms‘, GPN Working Paper Series, GPN2015-002, Global Production Networks Centre, National University of Singapore.
Lai, Karen P.Y. and Tan, Choon Hang (2015) ‘ “Neighbours First, Bankers Second”: Mobilising financial citizenship in Singapore‘, Geoforum, Vol. 64, pp. 65-77. [Download pre-publication version]
Clark, Gordon L., Lai, Karen P.Y. and Wojcik, Dariusz (2015) ‘Editorial introduction to the special section: Deconstructing offshore finance‘, Economic Geography, Vol. 91, Issue 3, pp. 237-249, DOI: 10.1111/ecge.12098 [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2015) Banking across boundaries: Placing finance in capitalism, by Brett Christophers. Reviewed in: Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 127-128, DOI: 10.1111/sjtg.12081.
Coe, Neil M., Lai, Karen P.Y. and Wojcik, Dariusz (2014) ‘Integrating Finance into Global Production Networks‘, Regional Studies, Vol. 48, No. 5, pp. 761-777, DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2014.886772. [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2013), ‘The Lehman Minibonds crisis and financialisation of investor subjects in Singapore, Area, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 273-282. [Download pre-publication version]
Lai, Karen (2013) ‘Singapore’s economic landscapes: local transformation and global networks’, in Elaine Ho, Chih Yuan Woon and Kamalini Ramdas (eds.) Changing Landscapes of Singapore: Old Tensions, New Discoveries, Singapore: NUS Press, pp. 196-217. [Link to chapter preview on Google Books]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2012) ‘Differentiated markets: Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong in China’s financial centre network‘, Urban Studies, Vol 49, No. 6, pp. 1275-1296.
Lai, Karen (2012) ‘From “Paris of the East” to “New York of Asia”? The (re)development of Shanghai as a financial centre’ in Peter Daniels, K.C. Ho and Tom Hutton (eds.) New Economic Spaces of Asian Cities: From Industrial Restructuring to the Cultural Turn, London: Routledge, pp. 150-165.
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2011) ‘Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong within a financial centre network’ in Ben Derudder, Michael Hoyler, Peter J. Taylor and Frank Witlox (eds.) The International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, Cheltanham: Edward Elgar, pp. 429-436.
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2011) Marketisation through contestation: Reconfiguring China’s financial markets through knowledge networks, Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 87-117.
Lai, Karen (2011) Globalization: key thinkers by Andrew Jones. Reviewed in: Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 274-276.
French, Shaun, Lai, Karen and Leyshon, Andrew (2010) ‘Banking on financial services’, in Andrew Jones and Neil Coe (eds.) Economic Geography of the UK, London: Sage, pp. 61-78.
Lai, Karen (2010) Liquidated: an ethnography of Wall Street by Karen Ho. Reviewed in: Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 788-790.
Lai, Karen (2009) New Spatial Logics in Global Cities Research: Networks, Flows and New Political Spaces, Geography Compass, 3 (3): 997–1012.
French, Shaun, Lai, Karen and Leyshon, Andrew (2008) The Place of Nottingham as a Financial Centre, report prepared for Nottingham City Council, March 2008. [Download PDF]
Lai, Karen (2008) Globalization Theory: Approaches and Controversies. Polity edited by David Held, and Anthony McGrew. Reviewed in: Economic Geography Research Group, http://www.egrg.org.uk/bkreview2008_8.html
Lai, Karen (2008) Geographies of the New Economy: Critical Reflections edited by Peter Daniels, Andrew Leyshon, Mike Bradshaw and Jonathan Beaverstock. Reviewed in: Economic Geography Research Group, http://www.egrg.org.uk/bkreview.html
Lai, Karen (2007) Global Shift (Fifth ed.) by Peter Dicken. Reviewed in: Economic Geography Research Group, http://www.egrg.org.uk/bkreview.html
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2006) ‘Developing Shanghai as an International Financial Centre: Progress and Prospects’, Discussion Paper 4, China Policy Institute, University of Nottingham. [PDF download]
Lai, Karen P.Y. (2006) ‘Imagineering’ Asian Emerging Markets: Financial Knowledge Networks in the Fund Management Industry, Geoforum, Vol. 37, pp. 627-642.
Yeoh, Brenda S.A, Teo, Peggy, Ooi, Giok Ling, and Lai, Karen P.Y. (2004) Changing Landscapes of Singapore, Singapore: McGraw-Hill.
Lai, Karen P.Y. and Yeung, Henry W.C. (2003) Contesting the State: Discourses of the Asian Economic Crisis and Mediating Strategies of Electronic Firms in Singapore, Environment and Planning A, Vol. 35, pp. 463-488
Yeoh, Brenda S.A., Lai, Karen P.Y. Charney, Michael W. and Tong, Chee Kiong (2003) ‘Approaching Transnationalisms’ in Yeoh, Brenda S.A., Charney, Michael W., and Tong, Chee Kiong (eds.) Approaching Transnationalisms: Studies on Transnational Societies, Multicultural Contacts, and Imaginings of Home, Massachusetts: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 1-13
Karen P.Y. Lai 