The asset economy: conceptualizing new logics of inequality

Abstract

This paper argues that asset ownership is becoming more important than employment as a determinant of class position. The introduction considers this claim with respect to Piketty’s contribution, arguing that the latter is too focused on the growth of wealth at the very top. The first section draws on the work of Hyman Minsky to outline the logic of assets. We differentiate our approach from competing perspectives that tend to overemphasize the orthodox image of the market and in particular the idea that liquidity is an inherent aspect of financialization. Such perspectives neglect that participation in the asset economy often involves (and regularly necessitates) making highly illiquid investments. The subsequent section advances a new analytic of class and inequality, and the last section develops this further in a more philosophical register to consider how the temporal logic of the asset economy is shaping new life-times. The conclusion reflects on the political implications and prospects of the asset economy.