The Impacts of Subordinated Financialisation on Workers in Peripheral Countries: an Analytical Framework and the Cases of Brazil and Colombia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper examines the effects of subordinate financial integration on workers in peripheral countries. The objective is to link the financial, productive and social reproduction spheres, taking into account the centre-periphery dynamic in the global process of capital valorisation. In this sense, the main contribution is the proposition of an analytical framework on the subject, based on Marxist and post-Keynesian inspired literature. Considering the asymmetric international relations within the hierarchical monetary system, the dynamics of capital cycles and the external imbalances of peripheral economies, five transmission channels are proposed concerning: (i) the burden of wealth transfer, (ii) the rise in household indebtedness, (iii) the effects of exchange rate volatility on real wages, (iv) the increased pressure for fiscal discipline which contributes to labour and social security reforms, and (v) the regressive specialisation of the productive structure and its impacts on employment. The secondary contribution refers to the comparative analysis of the cases of subordinate financialisation of Brazil and Colombia. The results of this analysis reveal the relevance of the proposed channels in terms of the dynamics of workers’ social reproduction in a contemporary context, particularly with regard to wages, employment, household indebtedness and labour and social security rights.