Uneven development, financialised capitalism and subordination

Abstract

The substantive completion of the internationalisation of the circuits of capital marks the passage to a new stage of financialised capitalism, where finance has taken the concrete form of a US dollar market-based system, while production is carried out through global production networks. This has impacted both the size and the nature of the transfer of value from Emerging Capitalist Economies (ECEs) as well as their domestic models of accumulation. In the era of financialised capitalism, most advanced economies relied on debt-led or export-driven growth models. Similar dynamics occurred in ECEs but in a form that reflects their subordinate position within global production networks and the circuits of global finance. Lower levels of income and wealth in ECEs may circumscribe mass debt-led consumption growth models, although periods of externally financed debt booms can occur and temporarily sustain growth. Consistent with their position in global production, most ECEs have relied on forms of export-oriented growth, although this has not always been the product of a deliberate policy choice.