Under "normal" Capitalism, money follows a circuit known as MCM'. Money (M) gets invested in Capital (C ) which generates more money (M', which can be turned around and invested in even more capital). As the rate of profit falls, investors grow more hesitant about investing in capital. They start to think, what if I just invest in financial instruments instead? Cut out the C and just go straight from M to M'. This is the money fetish. This is the driving force behind financialization
The further financialization progresses, the more divorced the economy becomes from any underlying material conditions of production or distribution. Today we have reached at the extreme end of this cycle.
It comes from the second or third volume of Capital (which I haven't read) but gets talked about a lot in Giovanni Arrighi's "The Long Twentieth Century" which examines the rise, fall, and transitions of various global financial systems.
Sean from Antifada did an episode with Terrance from The Trillbillies a while back about the Arrighi book, but the book itself is a banger.
I'm not entirely sure. It could be a later innovation by Arrighi or one of the many works he cites. Arrighi's thesis is essentially that we have gone through several hegemonic cycles of accumulation (spanning anywhere from one to several centuries each) which all exhibit a similar pattern. going from capital accumulation, followed by a "signal crisis" which begins a period of financialization, followed by a "terminal crisis" which spells the end for the hegemony of that system of accumulation. The period of financialization is typically linked to the initial capital accumulation phase of the following hegemonic system.
(I'm just winging it from memory though, there might be some details I'm misremembering)
Under "normal" Capitalism, money follows a circuit known as MCM'. Money (M) gets invested in Capital (C ) which generates more money (M', which can be turned around and invested in even more capital). As the rate of profit falls, investors grow more hesitant about investing in capital. They start to think, what if I just invest in financial instruments instead? Cut out the C and just go straight from M to M'. This is the money fetish. This is the driving force behind financialization
The further financialization progresses, the more divorced the economy becomes from any underlying material conditions of production or distribution. Today we have reached at the extreme end of this cycle.
Do you have a paper that talks about this? Because this is a brilliant way to frame it.
It comes from the second or third volume of Capital (which I haven't read) but gets talked about a lot in Giovanni Arrighi's "The Long Twentieth Century" which examines the rise, fall, and transitions of various global financial systems.
Sean from Antifada did an episode with Terrance from The Trillbillies a while back about the Arrighi book, but the book itself is a banger.
The MCM part is from the 4th volume of capital, I think. but I don't remember the MM part. is that also in there?
I'm not entirely sure. It could be a later innovation by Arrighi or one of the many works he cites. Arrighi's thesis is essentially that we have gone through several hegemonic cycles of accumulation (spanning anywhere from one to several centuries each) which all exhibit a similar pattern. going from capital accumulation, followed by a "signal crisis" which begins a period of financialization, followed by a "terminal crisis" which spells the end for the hegemony of that system of accumulation. The period of financialization is typically linked to the initial capital accumulation phase of the following hegemonic system.
(I'm just winging it from memory though, there might be some details I'm misremembering)
that dude sounds smart