The Underpinnings of Hyper-Financialization

In this ideological and political context – on its way to becoming one track thinking – historically important changes led to an extreme financialization of the economy.

The first was the opening up of the market for goods and services, and, more importantly, opening of the employment market to countries that found themselves suddenly liberated from their walls, iron curtains, and a host of barriers erected by communism. The second was the large-scale adoption of digital information and communications technology (ICT). The third change was the baby boomers (the 1944–1970 generation) reaching maturity, with the prospect of an expected increase in the dependency ratio (the ratio of those no longer in the labor force to the working age population) foreshadowing the demise of unfunded public pension systems.