Much of the Left sees finance as being parasitic on industry. Financialization, in this view, amounts to financial institutions capturing the state, hollowing out the “real” economy, and hastening the decline of capitalism.

But if we survey the last century of capitalist development, we find that, despite the costs to workers and the middle class, financialization has actually boosted competitiveness and strengthened capital — all with the support of an ever stronger and more authoritarian state.

This has culminated since the 2008 crisis in a new economic regime marked by unprecedented concentration and centralization in the hands of the “Big Three” asset management firms (BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street) and supported by the extensive “statization” of the financial system.