In the eye of the 'perfect storm': the final salary pension crisis and financialisation of Anglo-American capitalism.

This article considers the crisis of UK and US final salary pension schemes. Contrary to current analysis that the crisis is the outcome of a 'perfect storm' - the unlikely coincidence of falling stock prices and bond rates - the paper argues that the crisis is constituted through several contradictory dynamics in the processes of financialisation, including the rise of theories/models of asset management which transform the investment strategies of pension funds, and, pressures to deliver shareholder value which erode the commitment of employers to occupational welfare. The article will be reprinted in the forthcoming Financialisation Reader (Routledge).