Financial wealth is always a claim on future productivity, but when the credibility of that claim comes into question the financial sector grinds to a halt and securities shed value, causing panic (Akerlof and Shiller 2010; Marazzi 2010, 129–138). Investors stop buying, or, en masse, seek to trade their speculative certificates for more seemingly “real” stores of value (e.g. gold, agricultural commodities, cash). The markets come to a sickening halt, and many are ruined as they realize the fictitious qualities of their capital.

Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, loc. 497