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Financial Crisis, Inequality, and Capitalist Diversity: A Critique of the Capital as Power Model of the Stock Market

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  • Baines, Joseph
  • Hager, Sandy Brian

Abstract

The relationship between inequality and financial instability has become a thriving topic of research in heterodox political economy. This article offers the first critical engagement with one framework within this wider literature: the Capital as Power (CasP) model of the stock market developed by Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan. Specifically, we extend the CasP model to other advanced capitalist countries, including Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Our findings affirm the core prediction of the CasP model, showing that unequal power relations reliably predict future stock market performance. Yet when it comes to the CasP model’s explanation of why power relations predict stock market returns, our findings are more ambiguous. We find little empirical support for the claims that capitalist power is dialectically intertwined with systemic fear, and that systemic fear and capitalised power are mediated through strategic sabotage. The main lesson of our analysis is that any model of the stock market must be attentive to the geographical unevenness and continued national diversity in capitalist development.

Suggested Citation

  • Baines, Joseph & Hager, Sandy Brian, 2019. "Financial Crisis, Inequality, and Capitalist Diversity: A Critique of the Capital as Power Model of the Stock Market," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Online Fi.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:196607
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2019. "The Harder They Fall," EconStor Preprints 191311, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2023. "The Capital As Power Approach. An Invited-then-Rejected Interview with Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan," Review of Capital as Power, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism, vol. 2(2), pages 96-174.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    capital as power; comparative capitalisms; financial crisis; inequality; stock market;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • G17 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Financial Forecasting and Simulation

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