The Intellectual Odyssey of James R. Crotty: From the War on Vietnam to a Socialist Alternative to Global Capitalism

We summarize the intellectual journey of James R. Crotty in this tribute. We discuss how Crotty’s approach to macroeconomics based on Marxian and Keynesian insights led to a series of flexible models based on realistic assumptions that help us better understand the contradictory evolution of capitalism from the 1970s to the 2010s. The basic building blocks of Crottyian macroeconomics consist of the emphasis on macro foundations, focus on the concrete capitalist processes with their endogenous, dynamic, and conflict-ridden nature, and the centrality of money, credit, and competitive dynamics of the capitalist system. We also discuss how a study of these dynamics led to his final work on “liberal socialism” as the way to end the disruptive cycles of capitalism. We argue that those aiming to construct a solid theoretical foundation to guide the understanding, transformation, and transcending of contemporary capitalist societies would find much inspiration in Crotty’s intellectual legacy

Too Big to Manage: US Megabanks’ Competition by Innovation and the Microfoundations of Financialization

Disagreements over the systemic implications—the future—of financialization can be traced in part to the absence of sustained attention to the role of banking firms in driving this secular shift forward. That is, the financialization literature lacks an adequate microfoundation. Accounting for the drivers of financialization processes solely at the macro level overlooks the problems of how these processes came about and whether they are sustainable. This paper addresses this explanatory gap, arguing that a key independent microeconomic driver of increasing financialization did exist: the incessant efforts by money-centre banks in the USA to break out of Depression-era restrictions on their size, activities, and markets. These banks’ growth strategies in turbulent times led to an institutional (meso) shift—the rise of a megabank-centred shadow banking system—that now shapes global financial architecture even while operating in ways that are unsustainable. In short, too-big-to-manage megabanks are at the heart of the fragility and instability of the economy today