Capitalism with Derivatives: A Political Economy of Financial Derivatives, Capital and Class

by Dick Bryan, Michael Rafferty

What are the links between things as diverse as the prices of pork bellies, interest rates, and corporate stock? They are all being translated into risk and priced through the system of derivative markets. Financial derivatives are now the largest form of financial transaction in the world, and they are transforming in pervasive ways the lived experience of capitalist economies. Financial derivatives are anchoring the global financial system and challenging the conventional understanding of ownership, money and capital. These challenges are examined in this book, providing a significant reinterpretation of contemporary capitalism that will be of interest to both social scientists and conventional finance scholars.

Genres: Economics

256 pages, Hardcover

First published December 16, 2005

Reviews

[Molly]

This is very useful book about how derivatives become a kind of world money, commensurating extremely diverse, contingent property claims (including themselves). It's ever-so-slightly dated now as another stage of financial transformation is already well underway, but to grasp the how and why and what of this moment, it's very important to understand what's discussed in this book.

[Paul]

Brilliant. Must read for anybody interested in the most recent evolutions in financial capitalism.

[dana]

have a lot of problems with this book but some stuff worked for me. the section on jscs as a stand alone was pretty good, though the comparison to emergence of derivative markets seems a little contrived.