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Towards a Marxist theory of financialised capitalism

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  • Powell, Jeffrey

Abstract

In the rapid growth of the literature on financialisation, the term risks becoming meaningless (‘take x, add finance’). This contribution first reviews this literature, highlighting characteristic empirical features at the macroeconomic level and their variegation across different institutional contexts, then turning to meso- and micro-level multidisciplinary studies of how processes of financialisation have manifest in the transformed behaviour of firms, states and households, as well as in the changing mode of provision of public services and the appropriation of the commons. Marxist attempts to theorize the essences of financialisation are examined and found wanting. Two proposals are made in the spirit of advancing this project. First, financialisation as cyclical process must be disentangled from financialised capitalism as secular stage. Second, it is argued that the emergence of financialised capitalism as a new stage within mature capitalism is linked with the central role played by finance in the internationalisation of the circuit of production.

Suggested Citation

  • Powell, Jeffrey, 2018. "Towards a Marxist theory of financialised capitalism," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 20331, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
  • Handle: RePEc:gpe:wpaper:20331
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    File URL: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/20331/1/Powell%20GPPE62.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Costas Lapavitsas & Jeff Powell, 2013. "Financialisation varied: a comparative analysis of advanced economies," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 6(3), pages 359-379.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financialisation; Financialised capitalism; internationalisation; global production networks; Marxist theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • F36 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Financial Aspects of Economic Integration
    • F65 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Finance

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