European finance in the American mirror: financial change and the reconfiguration of competitiveness

This article examines the implications of financialisation for the conceptual status of, and the relationship between, the continental European and Anglo-American financial systems. After a theoretical discussion of the issue of institutional variety and convergence, the essay outlines the trajectory of financialisation processes from their American origins to the UK and continental Europe. It emphasizes that in key respects Anglo-American capitalism is a more rather than less ‘embedded’ model of finance and reinterprets the transition to neoliberalism in this light. It proceeds to unpack the concept of financialisation and present an approach that conceptualizes institutional variety not by opposing national systems to globalizing financial markets, but precisely by locating them within that process. The essay then takes a closer look at the reconfiguration of financial competitiveness since the bursting of the dot-com bubble. The conclusion offers some thoughts on the implications of the analysis for the present situation.