INFORMATION AND FINANCE CAPITAL

Abstract

This article examines the political economy of information in relation to finance capital from the vantage points of commodity, spatiality, and temporality by using Reuters as an illustrative case. The use and exchange values of financial information are examined in productive capital; and the fixed value of financial information as capital goods in finance capital is assessed. The value of financial information is argued to be both time and space dependent. The circulation of financial information constitutes a specific historical time in capitalism, which David Harvey characterized as ‘time–space compression’. Financial information is integral to both spatial fixes and temporal fixes, which have been used to solve the problem of surplus over-accumulation.

Keywords:

• finance capital
• financial information
• Reuters
• political economy of information
• commodity
• spatiality
• temporality

Notes

Financial information products include those produced in the divisions of sales and trading, research and asset management, and enterprise. News information products are produced in the media division.

Timeline. NYSE Euronext. http://www.nyse.com/about/history/timeline_chronology_index.html