Michel Aglietta is professor emeritus at the Université Paris-Ouest, and scientific advisor at the CEPII [Research and Expertise on the World Economy] and at France Stratégie. He has been a member of the Institut universitaire de France, and a member of the Haut Conseil des finances publiques [High Council of Public Finances].

Financialized capitalism is developing on a trajectory that is not sustainable in the face of the challenges of this century. Financial instability is the price to be paid today for continually weak growth. It is the very nature of this financial momentum. Beyond the problem of macro-financial stability, this growth regimen poses much deeper problems: the rise of social inequality; the concentration of power and wealth among the most privileged; an increase in geopolitical rivalries; a relative decline in hegemonic power. Furthermore, the planetary challenges of this century, from climate change to the unequal distribution of resources, primarily water, and to their depletion, including the destruction of ecosystems, call out the production-driven logic of growth that has prevailed since the industrial revolution.

How can we transform the pattern of growth so that it will be sustainable and inclusive? In particular, which policies and investments will enable changes in structures of production and modes of consumption? And how can we mobilize finance so it can be put in the service of that growth over the long term?

This is the focus of the present book which establishes the conceptual foundations for this fundamental change.