Money, Finance and Capitalist Development

In the past 30 years the financial sector has seen unparalleled growth and has exerted increased economic and political influence and significance. This growth has come hand-in-hand with several serious economic crises and greater monetary instability. Set against this background, this book offers a wide ranging, critical analysis of the financial sector. Each of the chapters explores a different theme under the topic of money, finance and capitalist development. The performance of capitalist economies is first analyzed from a Keynesian evolutionary perspective before moving to a focus on the East Asian crisis and asking the question of whether the global neo-liberal regime can survive in Asia. The rapid growth of the financial sector has involved, amongst other changes, a dramatic growth in the sale of financial derivatives. This activity is examined and found to increase uncertainty rather than decrease risk. The nature of money, and in particular the nature of endogenous credit money, is thoroughly discussed, and the political economy of central banks and their operations is reviewed. The book concludes with a critical assessment of the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment. "Money, Finance and Capitalist Development" should be of great value and interest to financial and monetary economists, as well as students and scholars of macroeconomics and finance.