Financial and Industrial Oligarchy: Present Structure and Some Trends

The paper contains an analysis, based on the 300 biggest industrial corporations and commercial banks, of the degree of concentration of various types of capital. First some techniques of concen tration are explored. At the transnational level, the most conspicuous phenomenon is the forma tion of new types of international teams between banks, teams which imply ever-closer ties between banks. Contributing to increasing concentration are the foreign operations - establishment of repre sentative offices and branches - of major banks.

Some long-term aspects on the degree of con centration are also touched on. These explorations indicate that the degree of concentration has increased considerably since the beginning of the 20th century. Especially (West) Germany and Great Britain have declined in importance, while countries like the US, Japan, and Italy have increased their financial power. The overall con centration of capital power among nations is marked. In the field of banking and multinational business corporations, the degree of concentration is not so conspicuous, although US banks and BINGOs account for 35-40 % of the total activi ties. Neither is the rank order of various nations completely the same; for example Japan has a more dominant role in banking than in other fields, and Great Britain has gained relatively more dominance in the system of BINGOs.

The bulk of the article consists of descriptive analysis of the degree of concentration of capital power and changes in it, but the authors also carry out some explanatory investigations. These investigations indicate, among other things, that the 'free flow' of capital - advocated by OECD - does not change the structure of capital con centration, and that industrial capital alone determines the extent of outflowing capital. Furthermore, the data clearly indicate a division of labor between smaller West European states: relatively speaking, the Netherlands and Switzer land are centers of industrial capital; whereas e.g. Belgium, a political centrum of Western Europe, is much weaker in this respect. The authors also indicate the impact of the war in Vietnam on the banking activities in this region: the most im portant banks of the area have grown very rapidly. This finding is clearly connected with the tendency of finance capital to become involved in large-scale violent conflicts.