Marx on Financial Intermediation
Lessons from the French Crédit Mobilier in the New York Daily Tribune
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10487349 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joseph Ricciardi (Department of Economics Babson College Wellesley, MA 02157, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 79 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 497-526 |
| Publication date | 2015-09-15 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0036-8237 • E-ISSN: 1943-2801 |
| Publisher | Guilford Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1521/siso.2015.79.4.497 |
| OpenAlex | W1890447296 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 10 |
The role of financial intermediaries in economic development can be clarified by examining Marx's contributions to an old debate among economic historians regarding the role of joint stock investment banking and, in particular, the rise of the French Crédit Mobilier, in French economic development. Marx's account of the Crédit Mobilier, in a series of articles written for the New York Daily Tribune during the 1850s, contains the outlines of a theory of the potentially destabilizing role of financial intermediaries in economic development. Five propositions regarding financial intermediaries (FIs) in development emerge: First, FIs promote the multiplication of financial claims to social wealth beyond any conceivable basis for their realization in production. Second, FIs immobilize and misallocate capital. Third, the lender of last resort function of the Central Bank is necessarily ineffective in confronting crises of FIs. Fourth, FIs accelerate the restructuring and concentration of capitalist property. Finally, FIs play an explicit political role in “buying time”in the context of class struggle, deferring conflict to a later date
Economics · Economy · Financial intermediary · Financial system · Intermediary · Neoclassical economics · Political science · Politics · Restructuring · Sociology · Banking stability, regulation, efficiency · Economic Theory and Policy · Finance · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,18 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2019 (5) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |