著者
鶴田 満彦
出版者
経済理論学会
雑誌
季刊経済理論 (ISSN:18825184)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.47, no.2, pp.6-16, 2010-07-20 (Released:2017-04-25)

The big economic fluctuation, which began with the sub-prime loan crisis, and came to a head with the bankruptcies of Leman Brothers, General Motors and Chrysler, seems to be the greatest world economic crisis since 1929, and be able to be called the World Economic Crisis in 2008(or simply the 2008 Crisis). This paper aims to explain the basic character of the 2008 Crisis. The major points to be discussed are as follows. (1) Is the 2008 Crisis cyclical one as a phase of trade cycle, or a catastrophe like 'a crisis that comes only once in 100 years'? (2) What are the relations between the world financial crisis and the over-accumulation which results in the overproduction crisis? (3) what is the historical meaning of the 2008 Crisis? In other words how will the modern capitalism structurely change after the 2008 Crisis? (1) Tadao KAWAKAMI regards the 2008 Crisis as not only a world economic crisis but also a catastrophe, which arised from the US government stopping to change US dollar into gold in 1971, and has been prepared by US making huge current account deficits and the following enormous volume of speculative money in the world. Originally a crisis as a phase of trade cycle clears off the over-capital, and at the same time changes the precedent regime of accumulation. In this sense the 2008 crisis will transform the global structure of accumulation by strengthening the public control over financial institutions and financial commodities and weakening US hegemony over the world economy, but the author does not agree the world capitalism will fall into a catastrophe just through the 2008 Crisis. (2) Kiyoko IMURA regards the 2008 Crisis as a world-scale big financial crisis, which came from 'the speculative financial activities independent of real economies' that could be appear after the US government stopping to change US dollar into gold in 1971. Makoto ITOH also attaches much importance to financial factors in the 2008 Crisis, refering to Marx's 'the second model of money crisis'. According to the author, a financial crisis is nothing but the result of over-credit which is another expression of over-accumulation. Sub-prime loans, car loans, and other consumer loans, many of which ITOH calls 'financialization of labour-power', are mostly modern forms of over-credit. When financial institutions cannot expand over-credit by the limit of their own capital, over-credit comes to the surface as over-accumulation, which results in over-production and over-export in the real economies. (3) The 2008 Crisis was the first greatest crisis on the global capitalism. The global capitalism stemmed from the big changes in the international monetary system in 1970s, following stagflation and the information-communication revolution, characterized by de-regulation over money, labour and trade. The 2008 Crisis showed the failure of these neo-liberal policies and enormous costs of the crisis. After the crisis, the globalization-orientation will not change, but the global capitalism will have to transform into multipolarized,regulation-acceptable, and more public one. In the middle and long run, the most serious problem to the world economy is the environmental problem, including water, food, energy and other resources. With the 2008 Crisis as a turning point people are expected to be able to control the economy wisely in cooperation.