Financialisation and Poverty Alleviation in Ghana

Myths and Realities
Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-90-04-49997-3
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 209/14, 270 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 604 g

Reihe: Studies in Critical Social Sciences / New Scholarship in Political Economy

The neoliberal policy response to the crisis in Ghana did not succeed in reversing the economic decline in both the medium and long term. In fact, quite the opposite, rather than undoing the economic decline, Frimpong argues that the policy prescriptions further weakened the country’s ability to develop. This is because the policies intentionally and unintentionally encouraged factors that destabilised the possibility of the real productive assets to earn commensurate returns to facilitate the flow of capital to the real sectors to ensure the survival of industrial enterprises. Rising profit in the financial sector incentivised financial capitalist to divert capital into financial assets at the expense of productive investment, further decelerating the pace of real capital accumulation in the country.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Frimpong, Francis Boateng

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziale Ungleichheit, Armut, Rassismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

PREFACE

Vassilis K. Fouskas

Chapter 1 Introduction

The historical background of finance and growth

Scope and limitations of the book

Structure of the book

Chapter 2: Neoliberalisation and Financialisation: the debate

Introduction

The rise of neoliberal capitalism

Theoretical debates and historical precedents of financialisation

From stagnation to financialisation

French regulation school theory of financialisation

Post-Keynesianism and financialisation

Trans-nationalisation and liberalisation of finance

Financialisation and poverty alleviation: banking the unbanked

Conclusion

Chapter 3: Finance-Growth-Nexus: theoretical and empirical literature

Introduction

The rise of finance and the financialisation of everything

The financial profit conundrum – profit in Marxist economics

Real commodity accumulation and fictitious accumulation

Contemporary heterodox perspectives on finance-led growth debate

Economic functions of financial intermediaries

Dynamics of financial development, income distribution, economic growth and poverty reduction in Ghana

Poverty and the pandemic: the case of Ghana

Conclusion

Chapter 4 The case of Ghana

Introduction

Country profile and overview of recent economic performance

The political economy of Ghana: from state-led accumulation to neoliberalism

Political and economic developments from independence (1957) to 1982

Political and economic developments 1983-2019

Neoliberalism in Ghana

Neoliberalism and housing provision in Ghana

Financial sector reforms in Ghana – a historical perspective

Financialisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: accounting for the Ghanaian paradox

Under-financed

…yet financialising

Reverse of net capital flows – a subordinate/inferior financialisation

Conclusion

Chapter 5 Dimensions of capital structure and liquidity management in Ghana

Introduction

Theories of capital structure

Financialisation and capital structure accumulation in Ghana

Classification of capital accumulation process in Ghana

Contradictions in political-economic arrangements in Ghana

Financing challenges

Government policies

Conclusion

Chapter 6 The issue of poverty

Introduction

Poverty measurement conundrum

Absolute poverty

Relative poverty

The paradox of sub-Saharan Africa’s middle class

Neoliberal globalisation and poverty

Conclusion

Chapter 7 Financialisation and households: from theory to the context of Ghana

Introduction

Theory of consumption function: household debt and the life cycle and permanent income hypotheses

The political economy of household finance

Payment systems in Ghana: a route towards financialisation

Financialisation, financial inclusion and mobile money

Conclusion

Chapter 8 Conclusion

Summing up the argument

The content of financialisation in Ghana

Policy recommendations

Über Autor(innen)

Francis B. Frimpong, Ph.D. (2020) from the University of East London, is a Lecturer of Economics and Strategic Business Analytics at the University of East London (UEL). He is also Assistant to the Directors of the Centre for the Study of States, Markets and People (STAMP) at UEL. A recent (co-authored) publication is The Pandemic and the Economy of Africa: Conflicting Strategies between Tanzania and Ghana (2020).