Source: Cobden Centre
by Elias Moises Sánchez Flores
“During my master’s programme at the University of Leeds, I engaged in a module titled Capitalism in Practice, which often unfolded as a Marxist critique of economic systems — an orientation some lecturers candidly acknowledged. In one exchange, I posed a simple but pointed question: does Marxism offer a coherent monetary theory capable of explaining financialisation and business cycles? The answer was illuminating, not for its content, but for its absence. One lecturer conceded that no clear Marxist framework addressed the institutional mechanisms behind credit cycles or the structural fragilities of modern monetary systems. To her, as to many, financialisation appeared as an inevitable byproduct of capitalism’s evolution — an abstract drift toward finance-dominated economies. Mainstream economics, when confronted with its crises — 1980s, 1990s, 2008 — labels them ‘market failures.’ I challenged that view.” (07/08/25)