Economic Policies since the Global Financial Crisis

Abstract

In this contribution, we analyse the effects of financialisation on income distribution, before and after the Great Financial Crisis and the Great Recession. The analysis is based on a Kaleckian theory of income distribution adapted to the conditions of financialisation. Financialisation may affect aggregate wage or gross profit shares of the economy as a whole through three channels: first, the sectoral composition of the economy; second, the financial overhead costs and profit claims of the rentiers; and, third, the bargaining power of workers and trade unions. We examine empirical indicators for each of these channels for six OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) economies, both before