Nearly two hundred years have passed since the birth of Karl Marx and continuing to this day the influence of his economic views, insights and theories can still be felt. However, since the publication of Das Kapital, the scientific community has not been sitting idle – it is time to evaluate Marx as an economist and explore what he can bring to modern economic thinking, particularly post-Keynesian economics. Starting with Marx’s schemes of reproduction, which, it is shown, are the basis of the linear model of production as used since the 1960s by Piero Sraffa, Michio Morishima and others, the book reviews and assesses Marx’s major economic theses. These include: the labour theory of value; accumulation and technical change and its impact on labour; the concept of unproductive labour; the tendential falling rate of profits; the evolution and determinants of the share of wages in national income; as well as short-run and long-run economic dynamics. The Economic Ideas of Marx's Capital updates the theses of the labour theory of value and the conditions for balanced growth using the recent scholarly literature, and also further develops issues related to Marx’s concept of productive labour. Moreover, the book analyses the intellectual relationship of Marx’s economic theory with post-Keynesian neo-Marxism, particularly in the writings of Michal Kalecki, Joan Robinson and others. By doing so, the book shows the need and possibilities of integrating major insights of Marxist and post-Keynesian theory. This volume will be of interest to those who wish to explore Marx’s economic theories through a non-ideological approach, as well as students of Marxist economics, post-Keynesian economics and the history of economic thought.
Author(s): Ludo Cuyvers
Series: Routledge Frontiers Of Political Economy, Vol. 218
Publisher: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group
Year: 2017
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF
Pages: 337
Tags: Marx, Karl,: 1818-1883: Kapital, Marxian Economics, Economic Policy
The Economic Ideas of Marx’s Capital- Front Cover......Page 1
The Economic Ideas of Marx’s Capital......Page 2
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page
......Page 5
Dedication
......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
Figures......Page 12
Tables......Page 13
Foreword......Page 14
Introduction......Page 16
1.1 Production and reproduction......Page 24
1.2 The Marxist schemes of reproduction: introduction......Page 26
1.3 The workings of the Marxist schemes of reproductionunder capitalism......Page 29
1.4 What can be learned from Piero Sraffa’s“standard system”?......Page 33
1.5 The significance of the Marxist schemes of reproduction......Page 37
2.1 What is the labour theory of value saying?......Page 47
2.2 The transformation problem......Page 53
2.3 Elements of a formal solution to the transformation problem: corrections of Marx’s procedure......Page 59
2.4 What is the logic in transforming values into prices of production?......Page 67
2.5 A short digression into technological coefficients, subsistence wages and the “law of value”......Page 71
2.6 What about monopoly prices?......Page 75
2.7 Post-Keynesian views about the labour theory of value......Page 77
2.8 To conclude......Page 81
3.1 The “standard system” again......Page 90
3.2 The maximum rate of growth and the attainable economic growth in case of non-necessary consumption......Page 94
3.3 Full versus incomplete realisation of surplus value......Page 100
3.4 What about socially necessary consumption?......Page 103
3.5 The contribution of the post-Keynesian neo-Marxists......Page 106
Chapter 4: Productive and unproductive labour......Page 116
4.1 Spending out of surplus value......Page 117
4.2 Cost-increasing inputs, value creation and the technological inputs structure......Page 118
4.3 The translation of unproductive inputs and outputs in the linear model of production......Page 123
4.4 Prices and cost-increasing inputs in the total inputs structure......Page 126
4.5 Unproductive cost-increasing inputs and the rate of profits......Page 132
4.6 Unproductive labour today and further arguments......Page 138
4.7 Capitalist cost-increasing inputs: productive but wasteful . . .......Page 142
4.8 Conclusions......Page 144
Chapter 5: Laws of motion of capitalism – accumulation, technical change and super-profits......Page 150
5.1 Marx on the relationship between capital accumulation, the rate of profits and the wage rate, and the so-called“ industrial reserve army”......Page 151
5.2 The capitalist hunger for super-profits as the motivation for technical change and innovation......Page 152
5.3 The effect of technical change on the surplus value and the rate of surplus value......Page 155
5.4 The effect of technical change on the organic composition of capital......Page 160
5.5 The scope for labour-saving but also capital-using technical change in the pursuit of super-profits......Page 167
5.5 How did the early post-Keynesians look at mechanisation and technical change? The case of Joan Robinson’s“ real-capital ratio”......Page 170
5.7 To conclude......Page 176
6.1 Marx’s theory of the falling rate of profits – in a nutshell......Page 184
6.2 The rate of profits in the linear production model......Page 189
6.3 The relationship between labour-saving technological change and the rate of profits: generalisations in Okishio’s theorem......Page 192
6.4 The rate of profits in the long run: some statistical data......Page 199
Chapter 7: Long-term developments – changes in the rate of surplus value, the distribution of income and the class struggle......Page 209
7.1 Absolute and relative surplus value from Marx’s standpoint......Page 210
7.2 Class struggle and the share of labour in value added......Page 214
7.3 Exploitation and class struggle: game-theoretical insights......Page 217
7.4 The degree of monopoly and “mark-up” pricing......Page 221
7.5 The working of the “profits squeeze”: some neo-Keynesian and neo-Marxist interpretations......Page 227
7.6 Some statistical evidence......Page 233
7.7 What to conclude?......Page 234
8.1 The economic cycle in Das Kapital......Page 242
8.2 The economic cycle and the post-Keynesian neo-Marxists......Page 245
8.3 Labour values and prices of production in money terms......Page 248
8.4 Money and credit in Das Kapital......Page 251
8.5 The money supply in post-Keynesian economic theory......Page 255
8.6 Economic crisis and the role of money capital......Page 257
8.7 Notebook B 113......Page 259
8.8 To conclude......Page 260
Chapter 9: Long-term developments – underconsumption, stagnation, long waves and financialisation......Page 268
9.1 Underspending and incomplete realisation of surplus value in Das Kapital......Page 269
9.2 Underspending based on the schemes of reproduction......Page 272
9.3 The importance of external markets for surplus value realisation in the long run......Page 276
9.4 The importance of military spending for surplus value realisation in the long run......Page 277
9.5 Technological innovations as an “external market”......Page 280
9.6 Long waves in economic activity and accumulation?......Page 283
9.7 The development of the service sector and “financialisation” of the capitalist economy......Page 295
9.8 To conclude......Page 299
10.1 The importance of the “no nonsense” approach of Das Kapital......Page 310
10.2 The linear Marx-Leontief production model......Page 311
10.3 Which of the fundamental principles of Marx’s economic theory are still intact: value, unproductive labour and the “law of value”?......Page 315
10.4 What about the dynamics in Marx’s economic theory: technological innovation, the rate of profits and exploitation in the long run, economic cycles . . . ?......Page 318
10.5 Is Marx’s economics an independent doctrine, a module of the post-Keynesian theory or a starting point for a post-Keynesian neo-Marxist synthesis?......Page 324
Index......Page 332
