Fictitious Capital How Finance Is Appropriating Our Future Englishlanguage Edition Cdric Durand by Cédric Durand, David Broder (translator) 9781784787196, 9781786632845, 9781784787202, 9781784787219, 1784787191, 1786632845, 1784787205, 1784787213 instant download after payment.

The 2007–08 credit crisis and the long recession that followed brutally exposed the economic and social costs of financialization. Understanding what lay behind these events, the rise of “fictitious capital” and its opaque logic, is crucial to grasping the social and political conditions under which we live. Yet, for most people, the operations of the financial system remain shrouded in mystery.

In this lucid and compelling book, economist Cédric Durand offers a concise and critical introduction to the world of finance, unveiling the truth behind the credit crunch. Fictitious Capital moves beyond moralizing tales about greedy bankers, short-sighted experts and compromised regulators to look at the big picture. Using comparative data covering the last four decades, Durand examines the relationship between trends such as the rise in private and public debt and the proliferation of financial products; norms such as our habitual assumptions about the production of value and financial stability; and the relationship of all this to political power.

Fictitious Capital offers a stark warning about the direction that the international economy is taking. Durand argues that the accelerated expansion of financial operations is a sign of the declining power of the economies of the Global North. The City, Wall Street and other centres of the power of money, he suggests, may already be caked with the frosts of winter.

"Fictitious Capital deserves to become an essential text especially for those trying to find a pathway through the burgeoning jungle of financialization literature. It skilfully brings together numerous discussions while also offering a complementary contribution, urging us not to be blinded by financial sectors completely but to re-shift our gaze to internationalized production and corporate control to understand dynamics outside the strict financial sphere that are too often being brushed aside."