Critical examination of the theory of financialization

Abstract

We examine in this note the theory of financialization of François Chesnais. We criticize his conjecture about the recent evolution of capitalism, because it is restricted to condemn the parasitic dominance of industrial capital by finance capital. The predominance of the logic of finance in the conduct of accumulation, according to him, comes demote the growth prospects of the capitalist economy
and thus the wages of workers engaged in the system. It is shown that this formulation just renewed a very old tradition in political economy, which consists in condemning the so-called “rent-seeking”, leaving, however, to condemn capitalism as such. Our text, however, also makes an additional comment on the theory of financialization of José Carlos Braga.