Prediction and caution after Covid-19 crisis

The ecological and epidemiological risks of financial speculation

Bibliographic Data

ID3833301
AuthorsGuilherme Leite Gonçalves (0000-0003-4906-477X, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, corresponding author), Bruno H P Rosado (0000-0002-8924-8672, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)
Year2022
Volume46
Issue4
Pages503-518
Publication date2022-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCapital & Class (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0309-8168 • E-ISSN: 2041-0980
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/03098168211061581
OpenAlexW4200094296
LanguageEN
References cited43

Since the COVID-19 pandemic spread worldwide, optimistic ecological and economic analyses have arisen. On one hand, the lockdowns that have taken place are pointed out as a means of reducing gas emissions, environmental exploitation, and consequently, factors that reduce the risk of zoonoses. On the other hand, macroeconomic policies that support state intervention in the economy and social benefits are seen as a signal for a more social and eco-friendly organized capitalism. The objective of our article is to call for caution on these predictions, indicating a post-pandemic countertrend according to which the relationship between economy and environment might be even more unstable and conflictual after the pandemic. Here, we discuss the relevance of Karl Marx's fictitious capital concept as a fundamental key to thinking about financial market pressures on the environment. Hereby, we aim to raise the concern that the financial policies adopted in the course of the crisis have encouraged speculative instruments that lead to the overaccumulation of fictitious capital. This, in turn, requires the increased exploitation and expropriation of the environment in order to realize the overaccumulated rights and claims on future surplus value. Thus, we argue that the risk of environmental destruction will not be reduced as claimed by optimistic assumptions, but on the contrary will increase in the next few years. Such a risk does not dismiss, but rather suggests that new zoonoses may also arise

Business · Capitalism · Economics · Expropriation · Financial crisis · Financial market · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Pandemic · Political science · Speculation · Climate Change and Health Impacts · Ecosystem dynamics and resilience · Zoonotic diseases and public health · Finance

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