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Risk and responsibility : private equity financiers and the US shale revolution

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Field_2021_EA_Risk_CC.pdf (817.0Kb)
Date
01/01/2022
Author
Field, Sean
Funder
European Research Council
Grant ID
715146
Keywords
Hydrocarbons
Oil
Finance
Private equity
Risk
Ethics
Responsibility
GN Anthropology
HG Finance
T-NDAS
MCP
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Abstract
Drawing on ethnographic research in Houston, Texas, I explore how private equity financiers in the US hydrocarbon industry are empowered to define and take financial risks on our collective behalf. The US shale revolution could not have unfolded without the financial risk-taking activities of private equity financiers who channeled billions of dollars into US unconventional exploration and production (“fracking”). These financiers are motivated not only by their own capitalist projects but also by feelings of responsibility to take financial risks for the benefit of others. Shedding light on this enigmatic community, I attend to the relatively neglected area of hydrocarbon finance and highlight how perceptions of financial risk and responsibility become entangled to shape our collective energy present(s) and future(s). As an essential piece of the financial infrastructure that connects investors around the world with US hydrocarbon activities, I suggest that private equity firms are conduits not only of capital but also of responsibility.
Citation
Field , S 2022 , ' Risk and responsibility : private equity financiers and the US shale revolution ' , Economic Anthropology , vol. 9 , no. 1 , pp. 47-59 . https://doi.org/10.1002/sea2.12221
Publication
Economic Anthropology
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/sea2.12221
ISSN
2330-4847
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2021 The Author. Economic Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Anthropological Association. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
This project received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, Grant 715146.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/23790

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