Value and Wealth in Chains for Gold Jewellery: Some Perspectives on Governance

This paper seeks to identify and explore aspects of value and wealth creation and management in gold jewellery chains. It argues that the gold jewellery sector is a case in point for the examination of how value and wealth creation and protection are intertwined. The global value chain (GVC) for gold jewellery encompasses highly complex and diverse processes of raw material supply, processing and retailing. As for fine jewellery in general, it is an essential and distinctive facet of gold jewellery products, and their constituent gold inputs, that they are not only objects of consumption, but also essential for financing, investment and pawning practices. Therefore, links between (a) retail and consumption, and (b) protection and management of the wealth that these commodities entail are relatively clear and interconnected in this particular sector. The paper focuses on Singapore as an important place for the creation and protection of value and wealth that also illustrates well the role of the state and financial centres in chains. It explores the nature and role of Singapore in the interim of GVCs and global wealth chains (GWCs), with a focus partially on retail and partially on the Singaporean state as a (de-)regulator. The paper also discusses the implications of the findings for our understanding of linkages between GVC and GWC governance. Empirically, it draws on a combination of secondary material and qualitative interviews conducted in Singapore in 2017.