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Financialization and Fictitious Capital: The Rise of Financial Securities as a Form of Private Property

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  • Yair Kaldor

Abstract

In recent decades, financial securities have become a dominant form of private property, accounting for much of the growth of wealth around the world. But what kind of property are financial securities? What are the sources of the income they provide, and what are the social relations that underlie its flow? This article addresses these questions through the Marxist category of fictitious capital. Focusing on corporate stocks and bonds, the article shows that the social relations expressed in these securities are based on the relation of capital and labor and the exploitation of workers in the sphere of production. It concludes that although the rise of financial securities leaves the basic conflict between capital and labor intact, it opens new strategies within this class struggle. JEL Classification: B51, E44, P10

Suggested Citation

  • Yair Kaldor, 2022. "Financialization and Fictitious Capital: The Rise of Financial Securities as a Form of Private Property," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 54(2), pages 239-254, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:54:y:2022:i:2:p:239-254
    DOI: 10.1177/04866134211068885
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Marxist economics; class; property; money and finance; capital accumulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • P10 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - General

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