Financial Capital, Class Monopoly Rent and the Secondary Circuit of Capital A Critical Review of David Harvey’s Contribution Jie Meng, Jian Gong Renmin University of China; Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

Methodological transformation Compare with Marx Land as condition of production/factor of production Land property as obstacle to capital accumulation The theory of land property and rent not considered as the core in the laws of motion of capital accumulation. Land as financial asset Land property and rent to be internalized in the circuit of interest-bearing capital; the real subsumption of land to capital To incorporate the understanding of urbanization and built environment into the theory laws of motion of capital accumulation

1.From the first circuit to the secondary circuit of capital accumulation Push: over-accumulation in the first circuit of capital accumulation. Pull: the making of class-monopoly rent More on class-monopoly rent Harvey’s hesitation: class monopoly rent as absolute rent or monopoly rent. The so-called class monopoly. Difference from traditional definition of class.

2. The transformation from the first to the secondary circuit of capital accumulation is supported by state and financial institutions Over-accumulation for private capital in the first circuit, but shortage of investment in the secondary circuit. The form of financial institutions and policies of state in facilitating the transformation, hence the rise of financial capital as the precondition of such transformation.

3.Urbanization and new forms in the reproduction of labor power as mechanism of the transformation Two dimension of urbanization: the making of built environment and the reproduction of labor power. Urbanization and the new modes of mass consumption, the production of new wants and demands. Two forms of exploitation: work-based exploitation and community- based exploitation.

4. The transformation leads to crisis not only in the secondary circuit of capital but general crisis for capital accumulation The generalization of over-accumulation in all three circuits of accumulation. The core contradiction of financial form of contemporary capitalism: to realize valorization without production of value. Urbanization as the root of crisis in contemporary capitalism since

Some remarks 1. Harvey and the Monopoly Capital School Similarity: surplus absorption Difference : urbanization as one of the main source of surplus absorption. 2. Harvey and the SSA/Regulation School Similarity: Institutional analysis of capital accumulation Difference: different understanding of crisis