The Institutionalist Theory of Capital in the Modern Business Enterprise: Appropriation and Financialization

Abstract:

We seek to expand and update Baldwin Ranson and Philip Klein’s articles on capital formation and power, published in the Journal of Economic Issues in 1987, by incorporating the importance of intangible assets in the process of capital formation, accumulation, and what we refer to as capital appropriation.

Keywords::

• capital
• financialization
• intangible assets
• Veblen

JEL Classification Codes::

• B15
• B52
• M41
• L21

Notes

¹ Although we do not explicitly discuss it here, the concept of a community’s value structure is grounded in the Veblenian dichotomy. More on this subject may be found in John F. Foster (1981b), William Waller (1982), Paul Dale Bush (1983, 1987), and Marc Tool (2000).

² It should be noted that the privatization of such returns depends on an institutional structure that promotes and protects private property rights over the community’s joint stock of knowledge.

³ Incorporeal property refers to the stock and debt issuances by the business enterprise, i.e., issuances of promises to pay at some future date (Commons [1934] 2009).

⁴ Market equities refer to the right to sell in a particular market (Hamilton 1943). Under the institutionalist theory, the accumulation of market equities is a primary concern of the business enterprise as it grants a differential advantage within a given market.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Avraham I. Barane

Avraham I. Baranes is a visiting assistant professor at Rollins College, and his research focus is on issues of financialization with a specific interest in the pharmaceutical industry. Eric R. Hake is a professor of economics at Catawba College and has written primarily on Thorstein Veblen’s theory of business enterprise and its application to specific firms and industries.

Eric R. Hake

Avraham I. Baranes is a visiting assistant professor at Rollins College, and his research focus is on issues of financialization with a specific interest in the pharmaceutical industry. Eric R. Hake is a professor of economics at Catawba College and has written primarily on Thorstein Veblen’s theory of business enterprise and its application to specific firms and industries.