Medir la financiarización: sistematización de la evidencia empírica y aplicación en la agricultura

Abstract

The heterodox literature on financialization, in its post-Keynesian and Marxist schools, has identified signs of this economic phenomenon across various sectors. Beyond determining which of the two theoretical models best explains the causes of financialization, in concrete terms, these symptoms represent socioeconomic challenges that society must address. This study, based on a literature review, identifies five areas in which the influence of financialization is evident: 1) the State, 2) markets, 3) non-financial firms, 4) financial actors, and 5) individuals, that is, households/workers/citizens. This article proposes that this systematization can serve as a basis from which to identify the presence of financialization, allowing for the application of theory to specific cases as well as comparison between cases. Based on this systematization, the objective is to create a financialization index. The article uses the example of the agricultural sector to explore the practical value of this type of instrument to compare historic cases with emerging cases. At the theoretical level, the systematization of empirical evidence offers a pathway to mobilize divergent branches of heterodox economics toward documenting the effects of financialization. It is proposed that this approach would help to confront the negative effects of financialization.