Financial Capital in the 21st Century

"A brilliant contribution to present-day discussions on Marx's value theory, money, capital and finance, highlighting the cardinal regulatory role of the financial sphere in capitalism. Achim Szepanski, following Marx's analyses, takes finance seriously. He shows that 'financialization' is not a deviation from some 'good' industrial capitalism, or a new, 'predatory', method of exploitation ('exploitation by dispossession' etc.), a 'bad' exploitation as opposed to the 'good' exploitation by the 'productive' capital, but a historic development expressing the formal determinations innate in the capitalist mode of production."

• John Milios, Author of The Origins of Capitalism as a Social System

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.

Achim Szepanski is the founder of the Electronic Music Labels Force Inc., and Mille Plateaux. His research focuses on speculative capital. His recent publications are Capitalisation 1 & 2, Non-Marxism, Capital and Power in the 21st Century, Imperialism, State-Fascism and the War Machines of Capital, and Ultrabablack of

Music. He is the Editor of the online magazine NON.

Auteur

Achim Szepanski is the founder of the Electronic Music Labels Force Inc., and Mille Plateaux. His research focuses on speculative capital. His recent publications are Capitalisation 1 & 2, Non-Marxism, Capital and Power in the 21st Century, Imperialism, State-Fascism and the War Machines of Capital, and Ultrabablack of Music. He is the Editor of the online magazine NON.

Résumé

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.

Contenu
Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2. Capital

2.1 Commodity, Money, Capital

2.2 Capital and Total Capital: The Quasi-Transcendentality of Capital and the Actualisation-Virtualisation Connection

Chapter 3. Credit

3.1 Credit and Interest-Bearing Capital

Chapter 4. The Category of Capitalisation

Chapter 5. Fictitious Capital

5.1 The General Term of Fictitious Capital

5.2 Bonds and Shares

Chapter 6. Speculative Capital

6.1 Derivatives

Excursus 1: The Black-Scholes Formula

6.2 Securitisation

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

Chapter 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

Chapter 8. The Financial System and the State

8.1 The State

8.2 The Function of Central Banks

Chapter 9. Capital and the World Market

9.1 Introduction

9.2 The Export of Commodities

9.3 Capital Export

9.4 The Financial Industry and the World Market

9.5 Imperialism

9.6 The Dollar as Leading Currency

9.7 Global Value Chains and the Global Proletariat

9.8 The Global Proletariat and the Different Zones

Chapter 10. Technology and Finance

Chapter 11. The Functions of Financial Markets for the Capitalist Economy

Chapter 12. The Financialised Subject of Risk

Chapter 13. The Financial System and Crisis