6. Business Cycles | Jonathan Newman

In this teaching pack, we take a look at satellite crop monitoring and how it is used for both real and financial economic activities. By looking at commodity futures, we give students a sense of what financialization can mean. In the active exercise students learn to discuss these matters and reflect upon them.

Ce court article présente une approche de la monnaie comme élément actif - et non pas neutre - dans l'économie. Après avoir défendu l'idée que que la monnaie et le système monétaire sont à la fois cause du développement économique et de son effondrement, cet article présente un sept manières alternatives de concevoir cet objet.

Le Bitcoin, la Libra : allons-nous vers une nouvelle guerre des monnaies internationales ? Avec le développement des cryptomonnaies, l'hégémonie du dollar sur la scène internationale est-elle menacée ? Les banques centrales ont-elles encore un rôle à jouer ? Des éléments de réponse sont apportés dans cette conférence du Printemps de l'économie.

Since the 1980s, the financial sector and its role have increased significantly. This development is often referred to as financialization. Authors working in the heterodox tradition have raised the question whether the changing role of finance manifests a new era in the history of capitalism. The present article first provides some general discussion on the term financialization and presents some stylized facts which highlight the rise of finance. Then, it proceeds by briefly reviewing the main arguments in the Marxian framework that proposedly lead to crisis. Next, two schools of thought in the Marxian tradition are reviewed which consider financialization as the latest stage of capitalism. They highlight the contradictions imposed by financialization that disrupt the growth process and also stress the fragilities imposed by the new growth regime. The two approaches introduced here are the Social Structure of Accumulation Theory and Monthly Review School. The subsequent part proceeds with the Post-Keynesian theory, first introducing potential destabilizing factors before discussing financialization and the finance-led growth regime. The last section provides a comparative summary. While the basic narrative in all approaches considered here is quite similar, major differences stem from the relationship between neoliberalism and financialization and, moreover, from the question of whether financialization can be considered cause or effect.