ABSTRACT
One may think that the global financial crisis should not have been allowed to happen, or that it will be prevented from continuing or repeating itself in the future. The modern economy, precisely because it is so value-creative, has much room for manoeuvre, for absorbing shocks, as the mechanical image has it, or accustoming itself to surprises. Most economists trust that serendipity will come to their aid when their explanations are found to be wanting. Everyone of these instances, which could be multiplied a thousand-fold, every time an individual seeks to take responsibility for his own economic life, is an opportunity for aspirational capital to come into being, for the financial markets to be given a fresh focus. Access to markets or credit is never so free and self-directed as when based on financial literacy; finance is never so stable as when it provides the wherewithal for an initiative rather than trying to exist unto itself.
