Fictitious Capital: How Finance Is Appropriating Our FutureHow finance is a mechanism of social and political domination The 2007–08 credit crisis and the long recession that followed brutally exposed the economic and social costs of financialization. Understanding what lay behind these events, the rise of “fictitious capital” and its opaque logic, is crucial to grasping the social and political conditions under which we live. Yet, for most people, the operations of the financial system remain shrouded in mystery. In this lucid and compelling book, economist Cédric Durand offers a concise and critical introduction to the world of finance, unveiling the truth behind the credit crunch. Fictitious Capital moves beyond moralizing tales about greedy bankers, short-sighted experts and compromised regulators to look at the big picture. Using comparative data covering the last four decades, Durand examines the relationship between trends such as the rise in private and public debt and the proliferation of financial products; norms such as our habitual assumptions about the production of value and financial stability; and the relationship of all this to political power. Fictitious Capital offers a stark warning about the direction that the international economy is taking. Durand argues that the accelerated expansion of financial operations is a sign of the declining power of the economies of the Global North. The City, Wall Street and other centres of the power of money, he suggests, may already be caked with the frosts of winter. |
Contents
Financial Instability | 27 |
The Genealogy of a Concept | 41 |
The Contemporary Rise of Fictitious Capital | 57 |
Financial Accumulation | 75 |
Finance in Service of the Metamorphoses of Capital | 105 |
The Enigma of Profits Without Accumulation | 119 |
Epilogue | 151 |
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Common terms and phrases
activities actors agents allows assets Author's computations based based on OECD bubble capital accumulation capital gains capital's capitalist Carlota Perez cent of GDP cent of gross central bank cial companies context credit money crises derivatives products dotcom bubble dynamic economists Eurozone exchange fictitious capital financial crisis financial income financial markets financial profits financial revenues financial sector financial stability financialisation forms of fictitious funds future Germany UK France global North globalisation gross operating surplus growth Hayek hedge fund households increase indebtedness innovation interest rates investment Japan labour liberalisation linked liquidity loans LTCM managers Marx Minsky mobilise monetary Non-financial corporations financial non-financial firms Nonetheless OECD Paris period policies problem Profits upon alienation profits without accumulation public debt real-estate realised relations result rise risks role securities securitisation shadow banking share shareholders social Source speculation stock market subprime surplus-value tion trade transformation UK France USA valorisation