Financialization and the Future of the American Economy

Financialization is a set of processes which has led to a financially driven and commodified economy with rising inequality, tax avoidance, and a lack of investment in the physical and social infrastructure. Given the influence of money politics, and the secular increase in the burden of debt, financialization has produced a deeply flawed economic system which mainstream economists are unable to address. This book discusses the causes and costs of financial crises, how financialization produces inequality and instability, and the patterns of value extraction it enables. It draws on key theoretical traditions, most prominently the writing of Marx, Keynes, and Minsky that illuminate much that is ignored and rejected in mainstream theorizing, including by many who identify as Keynesians. After decades of low interest rates and years of quantitative easing (QE), keeping borrowing costs near zero, many borrowers - households, businesses, banks, shadow banks, and governments - will not be