financialization

/fʌɪˌnanʃl̩ʌɪˈzeɪʃn̩/

financialization means conversion of intangible value into financial instruments.

financialization is pronounced /fʌɪˌnanʃl̩ʌɪˈzeɪʃn̩/.

Why “financialization” is a great word

The process of converting intangible value or economic activities into tradable financial instruments, or the increasing dominance of financial actors, markets, and motives in the economy. From 'financialize' (to make financial) + the noun-forming suffix '-ation', first attested in 1909. Unlike securitization—a narrow technical act of bundling assets into securities—or monetization—the simpler conversion into revenue—financialization describes a wholesale cultural and systemic shift. It is the alchemy that turns a mortgage into a collateralized debt obligation, a student's promise into an asset-backed security, and the very risk of failure into a dizzying array of derivatives—the quiet colonization of ordinary life by the logic of speculation, until the weather itself seems to exist only as a position to be hedged.

Etymology

From financialize + -ation.

noun

Conversion of intangible value into financial instruments.
The act of making, or treating as, financial; bringing something into the sphere of finance.

Words closest in meaning

By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.

biocapitalism 82% match — The commodification of biological processes. vs financialization →
biocapital 81% match — Biological processes regarded as an economic commodity. vs financialization →
technocapitalism 81% match — A form of capitalism associated with the emergence of new technology sectors and the power of corporations. vs financialization →
industrialization 81% match — A process of social and economic change whereby a human society is transformed from a preindustrial to an industrial state. vs financialization →
globalisation 81% match — The process of becoming a more interconnected world. vs financialization →
ritualization 80% match — the act of giving something a ritual meaning or significance vs financialization →
pauperization 80% match — The act or process of reducing to poverty. vs financialization →
reify 80% match — To regard something abstract as if it were a concrete material thing. vs financialization →