Democratizing Finance

Democratic Theory and Financialized Capitalism

Leah Downey and Stefan Eich. “What Would It Mean to Democratize Finance? An Evaluation of Divergent Conceptions of Democracy and Finance” (2025)

Abstract: Calls to “democratize finance” abound today. But behind this seeming consensus on the democratic deficit of finance loom radically divergent conceptions of both finance and democracy. We engage in a ground-clearing exercise to map these various demands to democratize finance by distinguishing between access- and power-based conceptions of democracy, and by differentiating between three dimensions of finance: payment, investment, and banking. This mapping allows us to make three contributions. First, we critique conceptions of democracy understood as mere access based on unequal inclusion, describing them as a form of “counterfeit democracy.” Second, we argue that conceptions of financial democracy based on access as equal inclusion are more promising but contain within them a tension that pushes towards acknowledging questions of public power and how to democratically share it. Third, we set out some key parameters for a more promising conceptual frame to assess democratization in the realm of finance.