ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the literature concerning the distributional consequences of financial integration by focusing on the rise of non-state actors within a transformed international system. It argues that structural change brought on by transnational production and post-industrialization has created space for non-state actors to acquire autonomy from sovereign entities. Financial asset-holders have been able to establish themselves as major players on the international stage due to the advent of global capital mobility. The chapter shows that the Keynesian macroeconomic policies that were adopted reflected the tendencies toward greater centralization and management that had been under way since the adoption of Fordist mass production techniques in the early twentieth century. American leadership and Keynesian demand management went hand in hand in creating for European and Japanese national economies a permissive environment for state-guided growth. The supply shock further revealed the limits of Keynesian demand management policies. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
