Financialization Historically Contemplated: Putting Old Wine in New Barrels

Abstract

This article examines the extent to which financialization is a new phase of capital accumulation characterized by its own economic laws in which the real (production) economy adjusts accordingly. In order to examine this hypothesis, the authors invoke the share of the financial sector in the GDP of the US, as the best meaningful metric to approximate the expansion of the financialization over time. The findings suggest that the financialization phenomena of the post-1982 years are comparable to those of the “roaring twenties.” The observed differences are quantitative, in the main, and although they indicate the presence of regularities, they, nevertheless, do not suggest an altogether different stage of finance-led capitalism.