Heterodox Political Economy and Financialisation by Sam Ashman

Abstract

The penetration of finance into ever greater areas of economic and social life is now increasingly recognized. It has brought forth, within heterodox political economy at least, renewed attempts to theorize the relationship between real accumulation and fictitious accumulation. The last decade or so has seen considerable innovations in Marx’s theory of money, and of finance, as a result of attempts to understand the political economy of advanced capitalism.

The term ‘financialization’ has emerged from within heterodox political economy, both post-Keynesian and Marxist, but is understood in a number of different ways. This seminar will begin with a critical assessment of post-Keynesian literature on financialization, arguing that despite the insights provided, Marxist political economy has greater explanatory power through its grounding of financialization within a broader political economy of capitalism and in the (historically constructed and contingent) articulation between different forms of capital.

The greater part of this seminar will discuss Marx’s analysis of the circuits and reproduction of capital and develops a particular interpretation of Marx’s analysis which not only emphasizes the subordination of real accumulation to the accumulation of fictitious capital (as is increasingly recognized) but simultaneously the integration of real accumulation into the realm of interest bearing capital. Finally, it discusses some of the implications of the analysis for the real economy through reference to the prolonged nature of the current crisis and the difficulties of bringing about recovery.

Chair:  Susan Newman

Discussant:  Karim Knio

Further info:

kingdon@remove-this.iss.nl