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The Ritual of Capitalization

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  • Fix, Blair

    (York University)

Abstract

For more than a century, political economists have sought to understand the nature of capital. The prevailing wisdom is that there must be something ‘real’ — some productive capacity — that underpins capitalized values. This thinking, I argue, is a mistake. Building on Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler’s theory of capital as power, I argue that capitalization is an ideology. It is a quantitative ritual for converting earnings into present value. Although the ritual is arbitrary, it gives rise to astonishing empirical regularities, reviewed here.

Suggested Citation

  • Fix, Blair, 2021. "The Ritual of Capitalization," SocArXiv cf5xv, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:cf5xv
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/cf5xv
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2016. "A CasP Model of the Stock Market," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue 77, pages 119-154.
    2. Nitzan, Jonathan, 1992. "Inflation As Restructuring. A Theoretical and Empirical Account of the U.S. Experience," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157989, September.
    3. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801, January.
    4. Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2009. "Capital as Power. A Study of Order and Creorder," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157973, September.
    5. William D. Nordhaus, 2007. "A Review of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(3), pages 686-702, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fix, Blair, 2023. "How to Make the Oil Industry Go Bust," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue 103, pages 2-25.
    2. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2021. "The Capitalist Degree of Immortality," EconStor Preprints 247643, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

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