From practice to structure: mapping the professional micro-foundations of offshore finance
2026-01-17
Macro-level phenomena such as financial globalization are mediated through differences in micro-level practices. Rather than a uniform or convergent process, financial globalization emerges as an uneven and differentiated field structured by distinct professional communities, institutions, and socio-political legacies. In this article, I examine how financial practices and products circulate within the global offshore finance system through variations in professional characteristics. Using novel empirical evidence and an innovative combination of geographic and geometric data analysis, I map 17.622 offshore finance professionals and identify patterns in practices and geographies. I identify sites of distinct offshore practices and thereby provide evidence for how financial globalization in the offshore space develops in differentiated hubs and circuits through professional mediation and innovation. The broader implication here is that professional specialization produces institutional variation in the aggregate.