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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. Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2009. "Capital as Power. A Study of Order and Creorder," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157973.
    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, July.
    3. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801.
    4. 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.
    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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