Theoretical controversies about finance in contemporary Marxism: financialization, interest-bearing capital and fictitious capital

Abstract

In recent years, a group of Marxist authors has highlighted in their research the enormous weight of finance on the economy using the notion of financialization, however, within this very tradition there has been no clear consensus on which one the universal definition of this word should be. This paper aims to analyze financialization from a Marxist perspective, identifying the theoretical controversies that are present in the discussions around contemporary Marxism, from the dialogue between authors located in different latitudes to the most personal debates between authors who coexist as coworkers in the same institution. Thus, in the face of this sea of Marxian interpretations, we seek to rescue the key elements that could guide the construction of a Marxist theory of financialization. First, we analyze some of the different perspectives on the concept of financialization that have been proposed by authors who identify themselves as Marxists and then, we present a theoretical discussion inspired by classical Marxism on the categories interest-bearing capital and fictitious capital.