Financialisation, Welfare Retrenchment and Subsistence Debt in Britain

Abstract

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Dimensions and Determinants of Financialisation: Comparing OECD Countries since 1997

“…Due to its methodological approach CPE has not given rise to an analysis of the economic mechanisms associated with the financialisation of households, but rather focused on its impact on the construction of identities. Only of late, has heterodox economics explicitly analysed the links between wage stagnation and household debt (Barba and Pivetti, 2008), between financialisation and inequality (ILO, 2008;Alvarez, 2015;Bengtsson and Ryner, 2015;Stockhammer, 2017;Santos, Rodrigues and Teles, 2017) and, most recently, between austerity, financialisation and household debt (Dowling, 2017;Oren and Blyth, 2018;Dagdeviren, Balasuriya, Luz, Malik and Shah, 2019). These are important research areas, closely linked to the question whether financialisation is inherently connected to specific demand regimes.…”

Inequality, poverty and the privatization of essential services: A ‘systems of provision’ study of water, energy and local buses in the UK

“…Indebtedness is on the increase for low-income households, not for indulging in luxuries but simply in order to pay for essential needs, such as food, shelter and key services. Many of these households face difficulties meeting payments across all essential expenditures (Dagdeviren et al., 2020). Policy narratives have shifted the responsibility to individuals for managing the affordability of basic services, masking the structural and systemic causes of increasing deprivation, such as the changes in the labour market, and the welfare system (Dagdeviren et al., 2020).…”

“…Elsewhere in the economy, a bias towards capital at the expense of households has been observed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. For example, the share of gross domestic product allocated to labour has fallen (Kohler et al., 2018) and the post crisis ‘recovery’ is regressive (Dagdeviren et al., 2020; Meek, 2012). This paper contributes to this literature, indicating that a similar bias in favour of capital can be found in the ways in which basic needs are met in Britain.…”

Structural Foundations of Social Resilience

“…Limited prospects for new income sources during austerity and downturn led to unsustainable but unavoidable indebtedness. For example, Balasuriya et al (2019) show that excessive debt for essential needs amongst low income groups has been one of the consequences of the austerity programme in Britain, which weakened their resilience. Organisations that provide debt advice to heavily indebted low-income groups indicate that another reason for vulnerability to debt on low incomes is the inability to accumulate resources and assets (e.g.…”

“…For example, one of the most important sources of vulnerability amongst low income households is their lack of savings, implying limited absorptive capacity against the impact of minor or major crises. The inability to save is directly related to disadvantageous employment conditions and known to lead low-income families into unsustainable debt (Balasuriya et al, 2019). c) Developmental rights such as right of access to knowledge, education and training are crucial for social resilience and are the most likely source of transformative capacity as they enhance the capabilities of individuals to overcome life's challenges (Sen, 1985;Backman and Nilsson, 2011).…”