Finance et économie de la connaissance : des relations équivoques

This paper analyzes the relationships between finance and knowledge which are two major pillars of modern capitalism. The paper starts by showing that the knowledge based economy is nor identical to the information economy, neither to the “new economy” driven by information technology. It is shown that the knowledge based economy has to be analyzed in terms of a new division of labour, including different productive schemes. In the second part of the paper, we show that finance plays a crucial role in knowledge based capitalism. The two major institutions of financial capitalism, i.e. financial markets and firms driven by shareholder value, can be analyzed as endogenous responses to the needs of knowledge based economies. Basically, financial institutions contribute to the marketization of knowledge and to the private appropriation of the wealth created by knowledge. Interactions between finance and knowledge also strengthen internal contradictions of capitalism and lead to increased instability and polarisation of wealth.