What Is Financialization?

The paper seeks to distinguish between two broad perspectives on financialization. The first takes the view that financialization relates to the growth of the financial sector in its operations, power, etc. On that basis, financialization has been proceeding with ups and downs for possibly thousands of years. The specific forms financialization may have taken in the past few decades are outlined. The findings from mainstream economics literature on one aspect of financialization (growth of bank deposits, growth of stock markets) and economic growth are reviewed. The second perspective views financialization (financialized capitalism) as a stage or epoch of capitalism dating from circa 1980.