5. Evolution of Commercial and Financial Structures of Capitalism

Starting from the peculiarity of “merchants” and “commercial society,” this chapter discusses the development of commercial and financial relations as the superstructure of the capitalist market economy. In this domain, claims about the imaginary value dominate real economy. This development is grounded on the pursuit of efficient circulation on the one hand, though it produces a multilayered financial structure over the real economy on the other. The last section introduces the evolution of the financial structure of the Japanese economy in the years from its “bubble” period to the slump period. This case illustrates the difficulty of the established financial sector in the adaptation to structural change and the problem of its governance.