IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/reorpe/v47y2015i4p641-662.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Fourth Dimension

Author

Listed:
  • Ricardo de Medeiros Carneiro
  • Pedro Rossi
  • Guilherme Santos Mello
  • Marcos Vinicius Chiliatto-Leite

Abstract

This paper seeks to address the central role played by derivatives markets in contemporary capitalism. It argues that these financial instruments have added several implications to the dynamics of capitalist economies, so that it forms a new sphere of accumulation here called the fourth dimension, with a new form of capital (the derivative form). In this new dimension, it is possible to observe three major changes compared to the previous dimensions. The first concerns the emergence of new property relations, marked by the separation between the ownership of assets and ownership of the rights on the performance of these assets. The second change relates to the new nature of the gain obtained in derivative transactions, here termed as casino gain. Finally, these changes create the conditions to consider a relationship of subordination of prior dimensions to the fourth dimension, which is consolidated when derivatives markets become the central locus for determining spot prices in key markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Ricardo de Medeiros Carneiro & Pedro Rossi & Guilherme Santos Mello & Marcos Vinicius Chiliatto-Leite, 2015. "The Fourth Dimension," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 47(4), pages 641-662, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:47:y:2015:i:4:p:641-662
    DOI: 10.1177/0486613415574268
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0486613415574268
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0486613415574268?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. L. Wray, 2008. "Money Manager Capitalism and the Commodities Market Bubble," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(6), pages 52-80.
    2. Michel Aglietta & Antoine Rebérioux, 2005. "Corporate Governance Adrift," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3675.
    3. Benjamin Coriat & Geneviève Schméder & Pascal Petit, 2006. "The hardship of nations : exploring the paths of modern capitalism," Post-Print hal-00122735, HAL.
    4. Zapata, T. Randall Fortenbery & Armstrong, Delroy, 2005. "Price Discovery in the World Sugar Futures and Cash Markets: Implications for the Domincan Republic," Staff Paper Series 469, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    5. Yiuman Tse & Ju Xiang & Joseph K. W. Fung, 2006. "Price discovery in the foreign exchange futures market," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(11), pages 1131-1143, November.
    6. Thomas I. Palley, 2013. "Financialization: What It Is and Why It Matters," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Financialization, chapter 2, pages 17-40, Palgrave Macmillan.
    7. Engelbert Stockhammer, 2004. "Financialisation and the slowdown of accumulation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 28(5), pages 719-741, September.
    8. Mark P. Taylor & Lucio Sarno, 2001. "Official Intervention in the Foreign Exchange Market: Is It Effective and, If So, How Does It Work?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 839-868, September.
    9. Dodd, Randall & Griffith-Jones, Stephany, 2007. "Report on derivatives markets: stabilizing or speculative impact on Chile and a comparison with Brazil," Documentos de Proyectos 3559, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    10. Hernandez, Manuel & Torero, Maximo, 2010. "Examining the dynamic relationship between spot and future prices of agricultural commodities," IFPRI discussion papers 988, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. L. Randall Wray, 2008. "The Commodities Market Bubble: Money Manager Capitalism and the Financialization of Commodities," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_96, Levy Economics Institute.
    12. Yang, Jian & Leatham, David J., 1999. "Price Discovery in Wheat Futures Markets," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(2), pages 359-370, August.
    13. Tai Terada & Naoto Higashio & Jun Iwasaki, 2008. "Recent Trends in Japanese Foreign-Exchange Margin Trading," Bank of Japan Review Series 08-E-3, Bank of Japan.
    14. Rex A. McKenzie, 2011. "Casino Capitalism with Derivatives: Fragility and Instability in Contemporary Finance," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 43(2), pages 198-215, June.
    15. Levitin, Adam & Wachter, Susan, 2012. "Explaining the Housing Bubble," MPRA Paper 41920, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Dick Bryan & Michael Rafferty, 2006. "Capitalism with Derivatives," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-50154-6.
    17. Gabriele Galati & Alexandra Heath & Patrick McGuire, 2007. "Evidence of carry trade activity," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    18. Benjamin Coriat & Pascal Petit & Geneviève Schméder (ed.), 2006. "The Hardship of Nations," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4089.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ilias Alami, 2019. "Taming Foreign Exchange Derivatives Markets? Speculative Finance and Class Relations in Brazil," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 50(5), pages 1310-1341, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pedro Linhares Rossi & Guilherme Santos Mello, 2014. "The Fourth Dimension: Derivatives As A Form Of Capital," Anais do XLI Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 41st Brazilian Economics Meeting] 025, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    2. Chiliatto-Leite, Marcos Vinicius, 2021. "Constrained integration in Latin America: analysis based on a twenty-first-century centre-periphery vision," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    3. Bill Lucarelli, 2011. "The Economics of Financial Turbulence," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14252.
    4. Photis Lysandrou, 2016. "The colonization of the future: An alternative view of financialization and its portents," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(4), pages 444-472, October.
    5. Dögüs, Ilhan, 2016. "A Minskyan criticism on the shareholder pressure approach of financialisation," ZÖSS-Discussion Papers 53, University of Hamburg, Centre for Economic and Sociological Studies (CESS/ZÖSS).
    6. Ryszard Kata & Justyna Chmiel, 2020. "Financialisation Level of Non-Financial Enterprises in European Union Countries: A Comparative Analysis," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 378-398.
    7. Yoshihara, Naoki & Veneziani, Roberto, 2018. "The Theory Of Exploitation As The Unequal Exchange Of Labour," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(3), pages 381-409, November.
    8. Leila E. Davis, 2013. "Financialization and the nonfinancial corporation: an investigation of firmlevel investment behavior in the U.S., 1971-2011," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2013-08, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    9. Hein, Eckhard, 2011. "Distribution, ‘Financialisation’ and the Financial and Economic Crisis – Implications for Post-crisis Economic Policies," MPRA Paper 31180, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Araújo, Eliane & Bruno, Miguel & Pimentel, Débora, 2012. "Financialization against Industrialization: a regulationnist approach of the Brazilian Paradox," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 11.
    11. Or Raviv, 2017. "Europe's Mea Culpa: A Global Economy Gone Mad or a Crisis of Our Own Making?," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8(2), pages 159-169, May.
    12. Buchanan, Bonnie G., 2017. "The way we live now: Financialization and securitization," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(PB), pages 663-677.
    13. Soon Ryoo & Peter Skott, 2008. "Financialization in Kaleckian Economies with and without Labor Constraints," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 5(2), pages 357-386.
    14. Eckhard Hein & Achim Truger, 2012. "Finance-dominated capitalism in crisis—the case for a global Keynesian New Deal," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 187-213.
    15. Szabolcs Szikszai & Tamas Badics, 2014. "Enhanced Funds Seeking Higher Returns," Working papers wpaper43, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    16. Takumi HORIBAYASHI, 2007. "Book Review: David Lane and Martin Myant (eds.), Varieties of Capitalism in Post-Communist Countries, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007," The Journal of Comparative Economic Studies (JCES), The Japanese Society for Comparative Economic Studies (JSCES), vol. 3, pages 47-55, December.
    17. Charis Vlados & Nikolaos Deniozos & Demosthenes Chatzinikolaou, 2018. "Global Crisis, Innovation and Change Management: Towards a New Systemic Perception of the Current Globalization Restructuring," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(8), pages 9-29, August.
    18. Paulo Francisco Do Nascimento & Antonio Carlos Macedo E Silva, 2016. "Financeirização E Crescimento: Alguns Experimentos Stock-Flow Consistent," Anais do XLII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 42nd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 085, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    19. Yeva Nersisyan & L. Randall Wray, 2011. "Public Policy to Support Retirement: An Alternative to Financialization," Chapters, in: Joëlle Leclaire & Tae-Hee Jo & Jane Knodell (ed.), Heterodox Analysis of Financial Crisis and Reform, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Guttmann, Robert, 2008. "A Primer on Finance-Led Capitalism and Its Crisis," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 3.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    derivatives; Marx; capitalism; financialization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:47:y:2015:i:4:p:641-662. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.urpe.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.