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Financialization: What It Is and Why It Matters

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Author Info
Thomas I Palley
Abstract

Financialization is a process whereby financial markets, financial institutions and financial elites gain greater influence over economic policy and economic outcomes. Financialization transforms the functioning of economic system at both the macro and micro levels. Its principal impacts are to (1) elevate the significance of the financial sector relative to the real sector; (2) transfer income from the real sector to the financial sector; and (3) increase income inequality and contribute to wage stagnation. There are reasons to believe that financialization may render the economy prone to risk of debt-deflation and prolonged recession.

Financialization operates through three different conduits: changes in the structure and operation of financial markets; changes in the behavior of non-financial corporations, and changes in economic policy. Countering financialization calls for a multi-faceted agenda that (1) restores policy control over financial markets, (2) challenges the neo-liberal economic policy paradigm encouraged by financialization, (3) makes corporations responsive to interests of stakeholders other than just financial markets, and (4) reforms the political process so as to diminish the influence of corporations and wealthy elites.

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Paper provided by Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst in its series Working Papers with number wp153.

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Date of creation: 2007
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Handle: RePEc:uma:periwp:wp153

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Related research
Keywords: Financialization; neo-liberal policy; deregulation; debt; financial fragility;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
B50 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - General
E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General

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  1. Palley, Thomas I, 2001. "The Stock Market and Investment: Another Look at the Micro-foundations of q Theory," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(5), pages 657-67, September.
  2. Frank Levy & Peter Temin, 2007. "Inequality and Institutions in 20th Century America," NBER Working Papers 13106, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Palley, Thomas I., 1997. "Managerial turnover and the theory of short-termism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 547-557, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Dew-Becker, Ian & Gordon, Robert J, 2005. "Where did the Productivity Growth Go? Inflation Dynamics and the Distribution of Income," CEPR Discussion Papers 5419, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. De Long, J Bradford & Andrei Shleifer & Lawrence H. Summers & Robert J. Waldmann, 1990. "Noise Trader Risk in Financial Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(4), pages 703-38, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Gerald Epstein & Arjun Jayadev, 2007. "The Correlates of Rentier Returns in OECD Countries," Working Papers wp123, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. [Downloadable!]
  8. Kiyotaki, Nobuhiro & Moore, John, 1997. "Credit Cycles," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(2), pages 211-48, April.
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  9. Gardner Ackley, 1951. "The Wealth-Saving Relationship," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59, pages 154. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Thomas Palley, 2004. "Asset-based reserve requirements: reasserting domestic monetary control in an era of financial innovation and instability," Review of Political Economy, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 43-58, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1996. "The Financial Accelerator and the Flight to Quality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 1-15, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Bronars, Stephen G & Deere, Donald R, 1991. "The Threat of Unionization, the Use of Debt, and the Preservation of Shareholder Wealth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 106(1), pages 231-54, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Ian Dew-Becker & Robert J. Gordon, 2005. "Where Did Productivity Growth Go? Inflation Dynamics and the Distribution of Income," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 36(2005-2), pages 67-150. [Downloadable!]
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