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Confronting Financialisation

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Book cover Financial Liberalisation

Part of the book series: International Papers in Political Economy ((IPPE))

Abstract

The period since c. 1980 has been as one of financialization, involving the growth of the financial sector, development of a wide range of financial instruments, deregulation and liberalization, the ownership of corporations by financial institutions and the pursuit of ‘shareholder value’, privatization and de-mutualization of the financial sector, etc. Financialization has global reach, but develops at different speeds and forms. Many researchers have pointed to deleterious effects on the economy and society of these processes of financialization, in some contrast to previous mainstream economics research which had portrayed the growth of the financial sector as economically and socially beneficial. The relationships between the growth of the financial sector and economic performance are reviewed. The general conclusion reached is that the financial sector has become ‘too large’. This leads into discussion of de-financialization through the development of alternative financial institutions focused on alternative ownership forms and objectives, and the use of taxation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Sawyer (2014) for a critique of the bank-based vs. market-based dichotomy, and authors such as Christophers (2015), Hardie and Howarth (2013), Hardi et al. (2013) for the arguments on the fusion between banks and markets.

  2. 2.

    See Brown et al. (2015) for some evidence on the spread of the financial sector and the differences across countries leading into notions of variegated financialization. See also Ferreiro and Gómez (2016).

  3. 3.

    For other studies see, for example, Barajas et al. (2012, 2013), Rioja and Valev (2004, 2005), Aghion et al. (2005), Dabla-Norris and Srivisal (2013).

  4. 4.

    Calculated from http://www.fsa.gov.uk/about/press/facts/fines and http://www.fca.org.uk/firms/being-regulated/enforcement/fines/2015-fines.

  5. 5.

    http://www.federalreserve.gov/communitydev/cra_about.htm; accessed March 2014.

  6. 6.

    See, for example, Arestis and Sawyer (2013) for recent discussion on financial transactions taxes, and the references cited there.

  7. 7.

    See Sawyer (2015) for further discussion on financial activity taxes.

  8. 8.

    See, for example, Brown et al. (2015).

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  1. Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Malcolm Sawyer

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  1. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Philip Arestis

  2. University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

    Malcolm Sawyer

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Sawyer, M. (2016). Confronting Financialisation. In: Arestis, P., Sawyer, M. (eds) Financial Liberalisation. International Papers in Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41219-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41219-1_2

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