A Political Economy of Contemporary Capitalism and Its Crisis: Demystifying Finance

ISBN-13: 9781138901117 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 266 str.

Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos; John Milios; Spyros Lapatsioras

Opis

The recent financial meltdown and the resulting global recession have rekindled debates regarding the nature of contemporary capitalism. This book analyses the ongoing financialization of the economy as a development within capitalism, and explores the ways in which it has changed the organization of capitalist power. The authors offer an interpretation of the role of the financial sphere which displays a striking contrast to the majority of contemporary heterodox approaches. Their interpretation stresses the crucial role of financial derivatives in the contemporary organization of capitalist power relations, arguing that the process of financialization is in fact entirely unthinkable in the absence of derivatives. The book also uses Marx s concepts and some of the arguments developed in the framework of the historic Marxist controversies on economic crises in order to gain an insight into the modern neoliberal form of capitalism and the recent financial crisis. Employing a series of international case studies, this book will be essential reading for all those with an interest in the financial crisis, and all those seeking to comprehend the workings of capitalism."

Spis treści

Introduction  Part I: The Long Tradition of Finance as a Counter-Productive Activity in Heterodox Thinking: A Marxian appraisal  1. The Parasitic Absentee Owner in the Keynes-Veblen-Proudhon Tradition  2. Ricardian Marxism and Finance as Unproductive Activity  3. Is Finance Productive or ‘Parasitic’?  Part II: Financial Innovation, Money and Capitalist Exploitation: A short detour in the history of economic ideas  4. Derivatives as Money? A short detour in the history of economic ideas  5. Finance, Discipline and Social Behavior: Tracing the terms of a problem that was never properly stated  Part III: Rethinking Finance: A Marxian analytical framework  6. Episodes in Finance  7. Fictitious Capital and Finance: An introduction to Marx’s analysis (in the third volume of Capital)  8. Financialization as a Technology of Power: Incorporating risk into the Marxian framework  Part IV: The Crisis of the Euro Area  9. Towards a Political Economy of Monetary Unions: Revisiting the crisis of the Euro area  10. European Governance and its Contradictions  Conclusions