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Financialised Capitalism Soviet Style? Varieties of State Capture and Crisis*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2010

Oane Visser  and
Don Kalb
Oane Visser
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen [o.visser@maw.ru.nl]
Don Kalb
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen [o.visser@maw.ru.nl]
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Abstract

Looking for new ways to interpret the failings of the neo-liberal economy, this article argues that financialised capitalism at the eve of the 2008 financial crisis showed striking analogies with the characteristic combination of oligopoly and informality of the Soviet economy at the eve of its collapse. State capture by oligopolists, a large "virtual economy", the inability of agencies to obtain insight into economic and financial operations, the short term orientations of managers not coinciding with enterprise viability, and a "mystification of risk" by high science are some of the analogies to be discussed. It is argued that not only the origins but also the aftermath of the crisis may show significant analogies.

Résumé

L’hypothèse défendue est que le capitalisme financier de 2008 présentait de frappantes analogies avec l’économie soviétique à la veille de son effondrement. On examinera la mise en coupe réglée de l’État par les oligopoles, l’imposture de l’économie virtuelle, l’incapacité des agences de contrôle à suivre les opérations financières, la focalisation des managers sur le court terme au détriment de la viabilité à long terme de l’entreprise, le traitement mystificateur du risque par la mathématique financière. Outre les origines de la crise actuelle, on peut avancer que les lendemains prolongent les analogies.

Zusammenfassung

Die Finanzkrise 2008 scheint, so die Arbeitshypothese, Ähnlichkeiten mit dem sowjetischen Wirtschaftssystem kurz vor seinem Zusammenbruch aufzuweisen. Untersucht werden die Unterwerfung des Staates durch die Oligarchen, der Betrug der virtuellen Wirtschaft, die Unfähigkeit der Kontrollorgane die Finanzgeschäfte zu verfolgen, die kurzfristige Planung auf unternehmerischer Seite, der mystische Umgang der Wirtschaftmathematik mit dem Risiko. Nicht nur die Ursprünge der Krise sondern auch die Folgeerscheinungen weisen Ähnlichkeiten auf.

Keywords

CapitalismPlanned EconomyFinancial CrisisState CaptureInformalityCapitalismeÉconomie planifiéeCrise financièreCaptation de l’ÉtatÉconomie informelleKapitalismusPlanwirtschaftWirtschaftskriseStaatlicher EinflußbereichInformelle Wirtschaft
Type
Research Articles
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , August 2010 , pp. 171 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2010

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