IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/b/zbw/esmono/157973.html
   My bibliography  Save this book

Capital as Power. A Study of Order and Creorder

Author

Listed:
  • Nitzan, Jonathan
  • Bichler, Shimshon

Abstract

Conventional theories of capitalism are mired in a deep crisis: after centuries of debate, they are still unable to tell us what capital is. Liberals and Marxists both think of capital as an 'economic' entity that they count in universal units of ‘utils’ or 'abstract labour', respectively. But these units are totally fictitious. Nobody has ever been able to observe or measure them, and for a good reason: they don’t exist. Since liberalism and Marxism depend on these non-existing units, their theories hang in suspension. They cannot explain the process that matters most – the accumulation of capital. This book offers a radical alternative. According to the authors, capital is not a narrow economic entity, but a symbolic quantification of power. It has little to do with utility or abstract labour, and it extends far beyond machines and production lines. Capital, the authors claim, represents the organized power of dominant capital groups to reshape – or creorder – their society. Written in simple language, accessible to lay readers and experts alike, the book develops a novel political economy. It takes the reader through the history, assumptions and limitations of mainstream economics and its associated theories of politics. It examines the evolution of Marxist thinking on accumulation and the state. And it articulates an innovative theory of 'capital as power' and a new history of the 'capitalist mode of power'.

Suggested Citation

  • Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2009. "Capital as Power. A Study of Order and Creorder," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157973, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esmono:157973
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/157973/1/bna-259_20090522_nb_casp_full_indexed.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clifford Winston, 1998. "U.S. Industry Adjustment to Economic Deregulation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 89-110, Summer.
    2. Wolff, Edward N, 1975. "The Rate of Surplus Value in Puerto Rico," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(5), pages 935-949, October.
    3. Whitley, Richard, 1986. "The transformation of business finance into financial economics: The roles of academic expansion and changes in U.S. capital markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 171-192, March.
    4. Ning Wang, 2007. "Measuring Transaction Costs: Diverging Approaches, Contending Practices," Division of Labor & Transaction Costs (DLTC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(02), pages 111-146.
    5. Richard D. Wolff & Bruce Roberts & Antonino Callari, 1982. "Marx's (not Ricardo's) ‘Transformation Problem’: A Radical Reconceptualization," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 564-582, Winter.
    6. L. Randall Wray (ed.), 2004. "Credit and State Theories of Money," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3204.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2018. "El capital como poder. Un estudio del orden y el creorden," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 177844, June.
    2. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "Firm Growth, Institutions and Structural Transformation," Ratio Working Papers 150, The Ratio Institute.
    3. Haidar, Jamal Ibrahim, 2012. "The impact of business regulatory reforms on economic growth," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 285-307.
    4. Théret, Bruno, 2011. "Du keynésianisme au libertarianisme.La place de la monnaie dans les transformations du savoir économique autorisé," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 10.
    5. L. Randall Wray, 2011. "Waiting for the Next Crash: The Minskyan Lessons We Failed to Learn," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_120, Levy Economics Institute.
    6. Lucas W. Davis, Shaun Mcrae, and Enrique Seira Bejarano, 2019. "An Economic Perspective on Mexico's Nascent Deregulation of Retail Petroleum Markets," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    7. Alan Freeman, 1998. "A General Refutation of Okishio’s Theorem and a Proof of the Falling Rate of Profit," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Riccardo Bellofiore (ed.), Marxian Economics: A Reappraisal, chapter 10, pages 139-162, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. Lambert Jerman, 2013. "La Juste Valeur : Une Comptabilite Actuarielle Pour Les Marches ... Ou Les Comptables ?," Post-Print hal-00991877, HAL.
    9. Winston, Clifford & Yan, Jia, 2011. "Can privatization of U.S. highways improve motorists' welfare?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 993-1005.
    10. L. Randall Wray, 2012. "Keynes after 75 Years: Rethinking Money as a Public Monopoly," Chapters, in: Thomas Cate (ed.), Keynes’s General Theory, chapter 15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Enrico Sergio Levrero & Giacomo Sbrenna, 2022. "Some Factors Affecting US Capital Profitability over the Last Decades," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 16(2), pages 77-101, December.
    12. Ravenscroft, Sue & Williams, Paul F., 2009. "Making imaginary worlds real: The case of expensing employee stock options," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 770-786, August.
    13. Mak, James & Sheehey, Christopher & Toriki, Shannon, 2010. "The passenger vessel services act and America's cruise tourism industry," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 18-26.
    14. Phil Armstrong, 2020. "Can Heterodox Economics Make a Difference?," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 19964.
    15. Yan, Jia & Winston, Clifford, 2014. "Can private airport competition improve runway pricing? The case of San Francisco Bay area airports," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 146-157.
    16. Ovtchinnikov, Alexei V., 2013. "Merger waves following industry deregulation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 51-76.
    17. Jeff Everett & Constance Friesen & Dean Neu & Abu Shiraz Rahaman, 2018. "We Have Never Been Secular: Religious Identities, Duties, and Ethics in Audit Practice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1121-1142, December.
    18. Hélène Rainelli & Hélène Rainelli-Weiss, 2019. "Recherche en finance : quand la performativité invite à la réflexivité," Post-Print halshs-02025011, HAL.
    19. Yongil Jeon & Stephen M. Miller, 2002. "Has Deregulation Affected Births, Deaths, and Marriages in the U.S. Commercial Banking Industry?," Working papers 2002-26, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    20. Dick Zorn, 2003. "Le triomphe du directeur financier:conceptions du contrôle et accession au pouvoir du directeur financier dans les entreprises américaines," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 6(4), pages 155-183, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:esmono:157973. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.