[Themaintainers] NYT Article

Tue Jul 25 03:13:28 EDT 2017

Lee -

Let me disagree a little bit with your post.

In my view, Bill Laconick is not the author of the concept of “financialization". For me, Lazonicks work is, as you also suggest, along the lines of corporate governance.

It is Karel Williams and other people at the former CRESC at Manchester Uni who accrued the term financialization. See for instance

Financialization and Strategy: Narrative and Numbers Hardcover – 2 Feb 2006
by Julie Froud<https://www.amazon.co.uk/Julie-Froud/e/B00IVSEKDG/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1> (Author), Sukhdev Johal<https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_2?ie=UTF8&text=Sukhdev+Johal&search-alias=books&field-author=Sukhdev+Johal&sort=relevancerank> (Author), Adam Leaver<https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_3?ie=UTF8&text=Adam+Leaver&search-alias=books&field-author=Adam+Leaver&sort=relevancerank> (Author), Karel Williams<https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_4?ie=UTF8&text=Karel+Williams&search-alias=books&field-author=Karel+Williams&sort=relevancerank> (Author)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Financialization-Strategy-Narrative-Julie-Froud/dp/0415334179

 A bit of a fuzzy term by the way - thye initially intended to capture the move into financial services of firms whose core capabilities lied elsewhere. For instance GM, GE or Ford making greater profitability of their financing arm than selling cars or equipment.

Here I am not trying to enter into a “first” debate. But following the work of Karel

https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/researchers/karel-williams(10448bbf-3c37-4ccd-9a2a-4b42b6837ef5)/publications.html

, Ismael Erturk, Judy Froud and others around the now defunct CRESC is a much reacher source of ideas than Lazonkic as far as financialization is concerned. I am also bothered that Bill’s article in the Business History Review:

Innovative Business Models and Varieties of Capitalism ...<https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-history-review/article/innovative-business-models-and-varieties-of-capitalism-financialization-of-the-us-corporation/F62FD24017F6FBD409CEC8DE8EAF9D93>
Business History Review, Volume 84, Issue 4 (2011)

 (which in a way is the basis for his claims to fame of financialization) does not really acknowledge the work of Williams et al. (when he had been working with them.. you can clearly see the difference in dates of the publications).

By the way, the no defunct CRESC left a blog and a publication outlet: Journal of Cultural Economy. They are happy to entertain out of the ordinary pieces  (and for full disclosure, I have authored on the blog and sit on the board of JCE):

http://www.charisma-network.net/finance/the-gay-tm-how-to-make-a-splash-with-cash-dispensers

My two satoshis
Bernardo
Bangor Uni (Wales)

On 24 Jul 2017, at 17:20, Lee Vinsel <lee.vinsel at gmail.com<mailto:lee.vinsel at gmail.com>> wrote:

Thanks, Jacqueline and Michael.

Yes, Cyd Harrell's thread is really interesting and right on, I thought.

To focus on one topic she raises, Andy Russell and I have been thinking a lot about how Maintainers-type topics connect to the work of William Lazonick. For years, Lazonick has been warning about the effect of financializing corporations, and particularly the deleterious role of stock buybacks and other post-1980s instruments, focused on "shareholder value," that allow executives to take value out of firms without really generating new value. (Here's Lazonick's great article, Profits without Prosperity<https://hbr.org/2014/09/profits-without-prosperity>) Capital stock and maintenance have suffered during this period in the private sector. The attached graph shows that the average age of private fixed assets has gone up precisely during this period. As Cyd Harrell suggests, in some contexts at least, caretaking and stewardship have been actively devalued in our current system. (See also Wolfgang Streeck's book, _How Will Capitalism End?_)

Very best,

Lee

On Sun, Jul 23, 2017 at 10:55 PM, Michal Migurski <mike at teczno.com<mailto:mike at teczno.com>> wrote:
Cyd Harrell of 18F has an excellent Twitter thread follow-up: https://twitter.com/cydharrell/status/889191629457825793

-mike.

---------------------------------------
michal migurski http://mike.teczno.com<http://mike.teczno.com/>

On Jul 23, 2017, at 7:15 PM, Jacqueline Klentzin <jklentzin at gmail.com<mailto:jklentzin at gmail.com>> wrote:

Maintenence call to action in the New York Times. :)

Let’s Get Excited About Maintenance! https://nyti.ms/2tQdJw4

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