Finance Capital, Financialisation and the Periodisation of Capitalist Development

This chapter provides a detailed comparison between Hilferding’s work on finance capital and contemporary accounts of financialisation. Kilmister focuses in particular on the work of Costas Lapavitsas, showing how Lapavitsas both draws on and criticises aspects of Hilferding’s analysis. This provides the basis for a discussion of the links between differing conceptions of financialisation and corresponding analyses of the periodisation of capitalism. The chapter concludes by examining some criticisms that can be made of Lapavitsas’ approach and exploring the extent to which a re-examination of Hilferding can help in responding to these criticisms. It is suggested that Hilferding’s work does provide opportunities for developing accounts of financialisation but that this will require embedding his insights in a broader framework, so that the tendencies he identified are connected with other developments to provide a richer picture of the changing periodisation of capitalism.