The subprime crisis and the fourth dimension of capitalism - an Marxist approach

Abstract

This paper aims to study the central importance assumed by the derivatives market in the dynamics of contemporary capitalism, focusing in particular on the credit derivatives market and its contribution to the formation and the outbreak of the financial crisis that impacted the U.S. and the world economy in 2007/2008. This dimension is marked by the derivative form, that changes the property relations, introduces new agents and motivations, increases financial integration between the agents and transforms the pricing logic of the major financial markets. Therefore, the paper describes the transformation that the American mortgage market went through,, arguing that such changes gain renewed vigor and are only completed with the rise and growth of credit default swaps (CDS) and synthetic CDOs, that were fundamental to the maintenance of low interest rates on mortgages, thus contributing directly to the bubble in the property market that resulted in the economic crisis.

Keywords:
Derivatives; Crisis; Subprime; Marx; Fourth dimension; Real estate market; Mortgages