Cédric Durand

How finance is a mechanism of social and political domination The 2007–08 credit crisis and the long recession that followed brutally exposed the economic and social costs of financialization. Understanding what lay behind these events, the rise of “fictitious capital” and its opaque logic, is crucial to grasping the social and political conditions under which we live. Yet, for most people, the operations of the financial system remain shrouded in mystery. In this lucid and compelling book, economist Cédric Durand offers a concise and critical introduction to the world of finance, unveiling the truth behind the credit crunch. Fictitious Capital moves beyond moralizing tales about greedy bankers, short-sighted experts and compromised regulators to look at the big picture. Using comparative data covering the last four decades, Durand examines the relationship between trends such as the rise in private and public debt and the proliferation of financial products; norms such as our habitual assumptions about the production of value and financial stability; and the relationship of all this to political power. Fictitious Capital offers a stark warning about the direction that the international economy is taking. Durand argues that the accelerated expansion of financial operations is a sign of the declining power of the economies of the Global North. The City, Wall Street and other centres of the power of money, he suggests, may already be caked with the frosts of winter.

How Finance Is Appropriating Our Future

Fictitious Capital

Technoféodalisme

Institut La Boétie

Faut'-il se passer du numérique pour sauver la planète ?

Au début des années 2020, le consensus de la Silicon Valley se délite. Inégalités folles, stagnation de la productivité, instabilité endémique... la nouvelle économie n'est pas advenue. Les algorithmes sont omniprésents, mais ce n'est pas pour autant que le capitalisme s'est civilisé. Au contraire. La thèse de ce livre est qu'avec la digitalisation du monde se produit une grande régression. Retour des monopoles, dépendance des sujets aux plateformes, brouillage de la distinction entre l'économique et le politique : les mutations à l'œuvre transforment la qualité des processus sociaux et donnent une actualité nouvelle au féodalisme. Dans l'ordre économique qui émerge, les capitaux délaissent la production pour se concentrer sur la prédation.

Critique de l'économie numérique

Techno-féodalisme

The promise of the 'new economy' gone, we have regressed into the age of techno-feudalism The rise of the IT industry in the nineties promised a new era of freedom and prosperity. It didn’t deliver. Today, algorithms are everywhere, but digital monopolies push us towards the feudal logic of rent, dispossession, and personal domination. How Silicon Valley Unleashed Techno-feudalism tears apart the Silicon Valley consensus to reveal the new economic order, in which capital has abandoned production to focus on predation.

The Making of the Digital Economy

How Silicon Valley Unleashed Techno-feudalism

The rise of the IT industry in the nineties promised a new era of freedom and prosperity. It didn't deliver. Today, algorithms are everywhere, but digital monopolies push us towards the feudal logic of rent, dispossession, and personal domination. How Silicon Valley Unleashed Techno-feudalism tears apart the Silicon Valley consensus to reveal the new economic order, in which capital has abandoned production to focus on predation.

Cédric Durand

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