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Thomas Marois , States, Banks and Crisis: Emerging Finance Capitalism in Mexico and Turkey (Cheltenham and Northampton, MA : Edward Elgar , 2012), pp. xi+263, £70.00, hb.
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There is an urgent need for political economy analysis that theorises the role of finance in emerging capitalist countries. Thomas Marois's book is therefore an especially valuable - and accessible - contribution to the literature. Marois's thesis is that the current phase of accumulation, which he refers to as 'emerging finance capitalism', marks 'the fusion of the interests of domestic and foreign financial capital in the state apparatus as the institutionalized priorities and overarching social logic guiding the actions of state managers and government elites' (p. 10).
Four premises guide the analysis. Both states and banks are understood as social relations. Banks bring together external relations with other firms, the state and labour, and internal relations between the owners of money capital and bank labour. The third premise is that labour is vital to emerging finance capitalism. This points to Marois's careful attention to the role of labour in understanding bank profitability and operational orientation, something which is all too often overlooked. Finally, crises play a critical role in emerging finance capitalism. The resolution of crisis provides the rationale for the changes that have privileged the power of financial capital.
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