Political economy of financialization in the United States : a historical institutional balance sheet approach Combining balance sheet analysis with historical institutional analysis this book traces the evolution of social sector financial balance sheets in the US from 1960 2018. This innovative historical institutional approach ranging from the micro level of households to the macro level of the federal government reveals that the displacement of households by banks has been a long term process. This gradual compounding of financialization is at odds with widely accepted views about financialization contemporary banking theory financial intermediation theory and Post Keynesian and endogenous money approaches. The book returns to time tested traditional principles of banking taps unexpected affinities about market failures in transaction cost economics and financial intermediation theory with classic ideas in political and social economics about economic moralities and social reactions of self defence against unfettered markets. This book provides an alternative explanation for the rise of finance and new ways to think about averting financialization and its devastating consequences. This book marks a significant contribution to the literature on financialization social economics banking and American political economy. Kurt Mettenheim taught at the FGV EAESP in São Paulo Brazil Oxford University the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University.