This book tackles the gradual transformation of contemporary capitalism, its financialization since the late 1970s, as well as engaging in debate among different currents of heterodox economics.

Nobuharu Yokokawa is Professor of Economics, Musashi University, Tokyo. He is Editor-in-Chief of The Japanese Political Economy and has published widely on the topics of political economy, evolutionary economics, economic history and development economics.

Costas Lapavitsas is Professor of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is internationally known and published widely on money and finance, contemporary capitalism, the Eurozone, and other topics.

Introduction: Money, finance, and capitalist crisis 1. Profitability trends in the era of financialization: Notes on the U.S. economy 2. The comparative advantage of the U.S. shadow banking system and the role of the U.S. dollar 3. Building blocks for the macroeconomics and political economy of housing 4. Marx's Financial Capitalism 5. Financialization and the impasse of capitalism 6. State involvement in cryptocurrencies: A potential world money?