The book’s central theme is to develop a new theory of speculative capital related to other forms of capital, the world market, and the state. Unlike most Marxist and heterodox theories, the book distinguishes credit and fictitious capital from speculative capital to show its hegemony today in the capital markets. Speculative capital structures and also controls the so-called “real capital.” The method is Marxist while also incorporating material from contemporary Marxist and heterodox authors like John Milios, Robert Meister, Tony Norfeld, Li Puma, Harald Strauß, Michael Heinrich, Suhail Malik, Bichler/Nitzan and Ellie Ayache. Offering a comprehensive study of the logic and mode of existence of capital in the 21st century, the book will be of interest to academics and students of monetary and financial economics alongside political economy.
Author(s): Achim Szepanski
Series: Marx, Engels, and Marxisms
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 394
City: Cham
Series Editor’s Foreword
Titles Published
Titles Forthcoming
Acknowledgments
Praise for Financial Capital in the 21st Century
Contents
1 Introduction
References
2 Capital
2.1 Commodity, Money and Capital
2.2 Capital and Total Capital: The Quasi-Transcendentality of Capital and the Actualisation-Virtualisation Connection
References
3 Credit
3.1 Credit and Interest-Bearing Capital
References
4 The Category of Capitalisation
References
5 Fictitious Capital
5.1 The General Term of Fictitious Capital
5.2 Bonds and Shares
References
6 Speculative Capital
6.1 Derivatives
6.1.1 Excursus 1: The Black–Scholes Formula
6.2 Securitisation
6.2.1 Excursus 2: Rating Agencies
6.3 Derivatives as Forms of Speculative Capital and Power Technologies
6.4 The Derivative Market
6.5 Heterodox Positions
6.6 Portfolio Theory
References
7 Private Banks
7.1 The Functions of Private Banks
7.2 Creation of Credit by Private Banks
7.3 Leverage
7.4 Investment Banks and Funds
References
8 The Financial System and the State
8.1 The State
8.2 The Functions of Central Banks
References
9 Capital and the World Market
9.1 Introduction
9.1.1 The Export of Commodities
9.2 Capital Export
9.3 The Financial Industry and the World Market
9.4 Imperialism
9.5 The Dollar as Leading Currency
9.6 Global Value Chains and the Global Proletariat
9.7 The Global Proletariat and the Different Zones
References
10 Technology and Finance
References
11 The Functions of Financial Markets for the Capitalist Economy
References
12 The Financialised Subject of Risk
References
13 Financial System and Crisis
References
Index
