1980년대 이후 미국 경제의 ‘금융화’ (Financialisation of American Economy Since 1980s)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 경상국립대학교 사회과학연구원
· 수록지 정보 : 마르크스주의 연구 / 2권 / 1호 / 144 ~ 168페이지
· 저자명 : 김수행

초록

1980년대 이후의 신자유주의에서 금융적 자본이 크게 증가했는데, 이 글은 이 현상의 의미를 어떻게 파악해야 할 것인가를 다룬다. 원론적으로 말하면 산업자본의이윤율이 크게 저하하고 성장률이 크게 축소된 상황에서 금융적 자본은 생산부문에서 투자대상을 찾을 수 없어 위험한 투기적 금융 부문에 투자하게 마련이다.
그런데 미국은 1974~1975년의 세계적 대공황을 극복하기 위해 금융 서비스의혁명을 수행하면서 금융계의 경쟁 강화와 자유화, 다양한 금융상품 개발을 추진했는데, 이것이 미국 경제뿐만 아니라 대부분의 자본주의 경제에서 금융화를 일으켰다. 이 금융화가 경제의 구조조정과 자본 축적에 어떤 영향을 미쳤는가를 미국 경제를 중심으로 살펴보고, 세계경제의 금융화를 통하여 미국의 제국주의는 어떤 이익을 얻고 있는가를 고찰할 것이다.

영어초록

Two typical indices indicating financialisation of economy are the relatively rapid increase in asset and profit of financial corporations relative to non-fi- nancial ones, and the increasing portion of portfolio income in the profit of non-financial corporations. According to US statistics, financialization jumped during the 1980s and remained at a high level after that. The reasons for this jump can be attributed to the progress in globalization of capital, revolu- tions in financial services (intensified competition, revised State regulations and new financial instruments such as derivatives), and low profitability in in- dustrial sectors.
This financialisation does not mean 'domination' of industrial capital by fi- nancial capital. As financial capital is unproductive and depends on the sur- plus-value created in the production process of industrial capital, both capitals are mutually complementary. But, at the cyclical crisis phase, financial capital refuses to ease shortage of money in industrial capital, leading to the rate of interest reaching its highest point, bringing about the bankruptcy of in- dustrial capital. Here we can see the tension between industrial and financial capitals. But this tension is not due to financial capital domination.
The fact that non-financial corporations earn interests, dividends and capi- tal gains by engaging in financial activities does not mean the fusion or coa- lescence of industrial and financial capitals which Rudolf Hilferding talked about in his Finance Capital(1911). It is because financial capital can achieve its highest profitability by maintaining liquidity and mobility, and thus re- fuses to be affixed to a certain industrial capital.
The phenomenon of world-wide financialisation greatly helps to maintain the U.S. Empire, because the U.S. government reaps vast seigniorage due to the fact that the U.S. dollar is the world currency. Since foreign govern- ments, corporations and individuals buy and hold large amounts of U.S. dol- lars and U.S. dollar-denominated financial assets, the U.S. Empire escapes the usual consequences of unfavorable trade balances, fiscal deficits, unproductive military expenditures and the high cost of endless wars. But if the U.S. dollar lost its status of world currency, due to depreciation for example, the U.S.
Empire would break down.
The world-wide financialisation has been accompanied by many world fi- nancial crises including the Mexican foreign debt crisis in 1983, the Asian foreign exchange crisis in 1997 and the Argentine financial crisis in 2002. The resulting burdens of these crises were not borne by the financial capital of the imperial countries but by the people of the periphery countries in the form of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

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