Full Description:
Financialization describes the structural transformation of the global economy where the finance sector expands significantly relative to the “real” economy (manufacturing and services). In this system, the primary goal of corporations shifts from providing goods and services to maximizing shareholder value through financial engineering.

Key Characteristics:

• Short-termism: A focus on quarterly profits rather than long-term investment or stability.

• Asset Stripping: Loading companies with debt to pay dividends to investors, often leading to bankruptcy and job losses.

• Speculation: The explosion of complex financial instruments (derivatives) that generate profit from price movements rather than value creation.

Critical Perspective:
This process decouples the accumulation of wealth from the production of tangible value. It leads to extreme inequality, as profits are funneled to asset holders while wages stagnate. Furthermore, it introduces systemic instability, creating a “casino economy” prone to devastating crashes that require public bailouts.