Employment dynamics, increasing returns and Marx’s falling rate of profit

The digital transformation of a major part of human activities is the basis for the development of modern society. Digitalization of the economy is important in general and for agriculture in the context of changes in production under the influence of digitalization, identification and inclusion of existing innovative potential. Existing research and practice on the use of digital technologies in agriculture show many positive effects, but agribusiness owners, employees, and government agencies are ultimately interested in only one effect: profit and profitability of production. The authors consider the mechanism of indirect influence of digital technologies and software application on profitability indicators in agriculture. The article provides the generalized data on the profitability of agriculture for certain branches of agriculture in Russia, which indicate a significant fluctuation in values. In such a case, the focus is on the variety of profitability indicators. Based on the peculiarities of the production process in agriculture, the author substantiates the need to use both digital agents and programs for managing agricultural production, which will have a significant impact on the volume of production, product quality (sales price) and cost of production. As a result of the increase in profit, the value of assets and capital is expected to increase. The effect of using digital technologies in agriculture will be an increase in the profitability of agriculture, and, consequently, its investment attractiveness. Thus, the article substantiates the positive impact of digitalization of agriculture on all indicators of profitability, but to varying degrees.

Relevance. The article presents the results of an economic assessment, including net income, payback and profitability of production, when using multi-purpose compost and its modifications — organomicroelement complexes: 1. Multi-purpose compost + [Zn + Mo]; 2. Multi-purpose compost ++ [Zn + Cu]) in the grain-grass crop rotation.Methods. Field studies were carried out in the link of the grain-grass crop rotation at the Gubino agropolygon (Tver region, VNIIMS) on sod-weakly podzolic deep and strongly gluey light loamy drained soil on a carbonate moraine. The economic efficiency of fertilizer use was assessed using standard methods.Results. An increase in profitability of 6.6–22.9% and ensuring the profitability of crop production at the level of 237.8–264.8% due to organic fertilizers are shown. It was revealed that the use of mineral fertilizers leads to a decrease in profitability by 9% due to costs due to the high cost of the fertilizers themselves and the cost of their application. It was determined that the organomicroelement complex — Multi-purpose compost + [Zn + Mo] provides the maximum average annual profitability of production of 264.8% and the maximum increase in profitability by 23% relative to the control (option without fertilizers). It has been proven that in the first year of crop rotation, the application of organic and mineral fertilizers, as well as their cost, increase production costs by 2.5–3.0 times relative to subsequent years. A statistically significant correlation was found between the yield of crops in the crop rotation and costs: r = 0.61 in the first year, r = 0.97–0.99 in the years after the effects of fertilizers.

The growing interest in such electromechanical converters as a switched reluctance machine determines the relevance of scientific research and the possibility of using them for their intended purposes. Electric machines of this type are in demand in various fields of industry due to the simplicity of design, high reliability, long service life, low cost of manufacture and rather good indicators of energy efficiency. However, despite the undeniable advantages of this type of electric motor, there are also disadvantages that do not allow increasing its competitiveness. To eliminate gaps at the design stage, these studies were conducted aimed at changing the geometry of the operating part of the switched reluctance machine so that the result was a decrease in the electromagnetic torque ripple and material consumption. Reducing the material consumption of the operating part of the motor of this type will reduce costs for the manufacturer, increase profit and profitability of production. The calculated indicators of economic efficiency—net present value and internal rate of return—allow us to make a conclusion about the economic feasibility of the project for the production of the switched reluctance motor in the case of modernizing these design features. Thus, a positive economic effect is created at the stage of production of these motors. Modernizing the configuration of the operating part made it possible to improve the technical and economic indicators of the switched reluctance motor.KeywordsSwitched reluctance machineThe optimization calculationThe active partThe modernizationEconomic efficiencyMain economic indicatorsThe project

Goal. To develop a system of agricultural production that will greatly increase net revenue and provide a short payback period of capital costs, in particular for the restoration of the irrigation. Methods. Mathematical-statistical, computational and comparative, correlation, economic, analysis of system synthesis, multivariate computer simulation. Results. At the constant rise of the temperature regime, the repetition rate of highly and moderately dry years in the dry zone has reached 80%. In such circumstances, the urgency of the restoration of irrigation areas is of utmost need. The modern widespread practice of a productive activity is farming of winter cereals and sunflower with a profitableness of 100–150 USA dollars/ha, which is usually accompanied by degradation of soil. At the irrigation with balanced precursors of crop rotations with corn and soybeans, this figure will rise to 500–600 USA dollars/ha. However, the volume of capital expenditures for the reconstruction of reclamation systems in size of 3000–5000 USA dollars/ha their payback periods will be most unacceptable. Therefore, the prospect is for the cultivation and production of tomatoes and walnuts. However, areas of these crops are restricted by demand. To achieve a massive increase in net profit is possible through the development of infrastructure of agricultural enterprises with a balanced production of meat and dairy products, sugar, oil, bioenergy, and organic fertilizers. Due to the high level of recycling of nutrients and provision with their resources the cost of «organic» food is on 30–40% lower as compared to the common technological chain. This will ensure a sufficiently high level of competitiveness and liquidity of large volumes of high-quality products. A high level of profitability of such production systems will quickly recoup the cost of all the components of the proposed infrastructure, including the restoration of irrigation. Conclusions. The modern common practice of cultivation in the dry zone for rainfed winter grain and sunflower seeds is futile. It is advisable to solve the problem of restoration of irrigation and the drastic increase in the profitability of agricultural production by the formation of bioenergy agro-ecosystems on the whole area of reclaimed lands. With capital expenditures at the level of 10000 USA dollars/ha the production yield can rise to 8000 or more USA dollars/ha with a payback period of 2–3 years. The widespread adoption of such production systems is limited by the difficulties involved in attracting large amounts of available financial resources and the absence of a land market.

The development of grain farming is considered in the article as the backbone and the most important direction of agricultural production in Kursk region. The research has shown that since 2014 there has been a twofold increase in the share of large grain-sowing farms in the structure of sowing and gross grain harvest, exceeded 60%. The aim of the research is to identify the perspectives of the development of grain farming on the basis of the implementation of the concentration of sowing in a narrow list of large agricultural organizations’ holdfast. The clustering method has been used as the main analysis tool. Its results have made it possible to compare various groups of agricultural organizations formed according to the sowing size of cereal crops due to the main productive and economic indicators of efficiency of grain production. The features of functioning of large agricultural organizations are shown in the research. They determine as the generation of benefits and so they form the difficulties to provide the improvement of the results of grain production. The scale effect enables large business to provide more effective and resultative production, however, the results of the analysis testify that the largest organizations have a relatively lower efficiency of grain cultivation. In the research there has been a conclusion: in the current financial and economic conditions the concentration of land resources in large producers’ holdfast is not the best way to activize the processes of intensification and the increase of productivity and profitability of grain production. It will lead to the formation of an oligopoly in the regional grain market.

A new optimization framework is presented which is able to identify optimal solutions for maximum profit design of subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) systems under limited supply. To solve this complex optimization problem, decomposition is used which splits the problem into three sub‐problems: (i) optimal irrigation control, which maximizes water distribution uniformity and minimizes percolation losses; (ii) optimal irrigation scheduling, which minimizes irrigation water applied in order to meet a high yield with a specified reliability; and (iii) optimal drip line layout, which includes the solutions of the other sub‐problems and maximizes profitability. The multi‐level optimization framework was tested in France with corn cultivated on two SDI plots with drip line spacing of 1.2 m (SDI120) and 1.6 m (SDI160), respectively. HYDRUS simulations estimated adequate irrigation amounts of 20–35 mm per event. For optimal irrigation scheduling, initial schedules were provided at sowing and adapted weekly according to observed weather data and synthetic weather scenarios. The presented framework significantly increased profit and water productivity for deficit SDI designs. The latter was increased up to 30% (SDI120), compared to seven other irrigation experiments. The optimal SDI design was achieved by SDI160, which increased profitability by 27% compared to SDI120. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper investigates the relationship between the rate of profit and technical change using a two-commodity model of growth in which the economy-wide profit share is assumed to be constant. To be more precise, we show how aggregate labor productivity and aggregate capital productivity vary as a result of sectoral technical change, and examine the relationship between the rate of profit and changes in the aggregate productivity. We argue the significance of structural change and the resultant change in relative prices as factors that influence the rate of profit.

Canada and the Oil and Gas Industry Canada offers many attractive opportunities to investors seeking capital appreciation. Canada's oil and gas industry offers the following advantages: abundant natural resources; a strong economy; attractive geological potential; stable governments that encourage exploration and development; access to growing markets, particularly the United States; and, an equitable fiscal environment. Natural Resources Canada is the second largest country in the world, covering an area of 9.8 million km2 (3.8 million square miles). In addition to being highly industrialized, Canada has a large and varied base of natural resources. In terms of hydrocarbon production, Canada is the world's third largest producer of natural gas and the tenth largest producer of crude oil. Many of Canada's other natural resources are also impressive in world ranking:—third largest producer and exporter of metallic minerals;—largest pulp and paper producer;—largest producer of uranium;—second largest supplier of electrical power; and—second largest grain exporter. The Economy Canada has a population of 26 million and boasts the seventh largest economy in the industrialized world. The country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is in the order of $680 billion. With expansion of less than 1% in 1990, the real GDP completed its eighth consecutive year of growth since the 1982 recession. No real growth is forecast for 1991. Capital investment, as measured by business capital formation, has increased steadily since 1982 reaching nearly $80 billion in 1990. Canada has a work force of over 12 Million. Consumer prices in Canada have increased less than 5% annually over the past eight years and are expected to be stable in the near term. The value of oil and gas production for 1990 is estimated to be $22.1 billion. Capital expenditures in the oil and gas industry during 1990 are estimated at $6.3 billion. Exports of oil, natural gas, and petroleum products for 1989 were valued at $9.7 billion, offset by imports of $5.1 billion. Geological Potential Canada's oil and gas activity is centered primarily onshore in the large Western Sedimentary Basin, which extends from the province of British Columbia, at the nation's western extreme, eastward through Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The province of Alberta is Canada's largest producing jurisdiction, accounting for 85% of the total hydrocarbon production. By the end of 1987, 2.70 × 109 m3 (17 billion barrels) of conventional oil and 3.67 × 1012 m3 [130 trillion cubic feet (tcf)] of marketable natural gas had been discovered in western Canada. In its latest report(1), the National Energy Board (NEB) of Canada estimates remaining conventional oil to be discovered in western Canada at 0.59 × 109 m3 (3.7 billion barrels). The NEB also estimates that 2.34 × 1012 m3 (83 tcf) of natural gas remains to be discovered in western Canada (Fig. 1). In addition to extensive reserves of conventional light crude oil and natural gas, Canada has a vast resource base of unconventional deposits such as heavy oil and oil sands in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The article gives an analysis of the term "production concentration", explains the interdependence of concentration and specialization in the field of agricultural production, justifies the application of "production profitability" indicator to assess the scale positive effect in the industry through the analyses of the changes over the thirteen-year period 2002-2015.To achieve the research objectives it has been decided not to use value levels to avoid time incompatibility. The article is devoted to the research of absolute production concentration changes in the agricultural field of the Kursk region in the context of microzones, industries brunches and sub-brunches. The author has used the grouping method, correlation-regression analysis and time series analysis. Moreover variability indicators have also been applied. . Regional agricultural enterprises were grouped according to the micro-zones: south-western, north-western, eastern and suburban. The study was conducted taking into account the largest agricultural sub-brunches which are of greatest importance for the regional economy: grain production, sugar beet production, oil production (sunflower, soybean, rape), dairy and beef cattle, pork, sheep and poultry production. The most significant results of the study are represented in graphic form. These are the graphs that enable to track the indicator changes in three angles (coor-dinates): the number of enterprises, enterprise scale (by industry), time. Thus, the graph simultaneously shows how the number of enterprises has changed with the passing time and how the average scale of the industry changes over time. Then, the comparisons of the values achieved in the microzone section and inter-branch comparisons are made. It was concluded that in most agricultural branches of the Kursk region, the increase in production scale was accompanied by the increase in production profitability and, consequently, there is a positive effect of production scale. Support at federal, regional and local levels is required to create enabling environment for further business scale growth in the leading agricultural sub-branches.

At present, the theory of the falling tendency of the rate of profit is, quite possibly, the most controversial part of Marxist economics. Its empirical validity has been repeatedly tested statistically, without conclusive results.1 In more recent discussions its logical validity has also come under heavy challenge.2 Disagreements about the very meaning of the theory are many and hard to resolve by reference to the original sources. Marx’s statement in Capital, Vol III3 of what he called ‘the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall’ is fraught with deliberate, quite explicit ambiguities. He presented his ‘law’ in two parts. First, the reasons for maintaining that the development of the forces of production in capitalism would bring about the very opposite of what capitalists intended — a fall, instead of an increase in profitability. Second, a number of ‘countervailing influences’ which tended to hold back and even reverse the main tendency. As a result, the basic theory produces no logically necessary prediction as to whether the rate of profit must be expected to rise or to fall, although it is clear that Marx, presumably on grounds of whatever empirical evidence was available to him, had resolved the ambiguity to his own satisfaction, in favour of a progressive decline. From the point of view of empirical testing, this state of the theory can raise insuperable obstacles. Any set of statistics brought forward to testify against the hypothesis of declining profitability can be refuted by means of the claim that, in the period in question, one or other of the ‘countervailing influences’ were successfully offsetting the main trend.

The paper examines the phenomenon of stages in technical and economic development in the context of the theory of technological paradigm. On the basis of a critical rethinking of the approaches of Dosi, Perez, Glazyev et al., the marxist tendency of the rate of profit to fall, as well as an empirical analysis of the US economy, the authors built an econometric model that makes it possible to determine the factors that affect both the change of technological structures themselves and their phases. The incentive that pushes capital to the path of investment in new technologies is the dynamics of the rate of return, which tends to decline and stagnate at this stage. After the new technology was mastered by national producers, and the concentration of capital created national leaders with sufficient competitiveness. foreign economic relations between countries are intensifying, which expresses competition for the development of new markets. The growing rate of return is pushing investors to capitalize on it in the form of further investment in industries where new technology can increase the return on capital. At the same time, this creates the prerequisites for overaccumulation, which is expressed in a gradual drop in the marginal profitability in production, which directs capital to the financial sector. The financialization of the economy and the formation of stock market bubbles are taking place. After their collapse, the economy enters the stage of a fall in the average rate of profit, which again starts the process of searching for a new revolutionary technology that can ensure an increase in labor productivity. The research results make it possible to more fully explain the reasons for the change in the phases of technological orders, as well as predict these processes.

This article discusses the formation in the management accounting system of information necessary for enterprise management to make informed management decisions in the organization of one of the most important indicators of the activities of commercial organizations-the costs of production and sale of products (works, services). The definition of costs is given, the essence of the classification and composition of costs is disclosed, and the types of costs are considered. It is accounting that allows you to give an actual quantitative estimate of costs, it is one of the main functions of cost management. Completeness, accuracy, efficiency and reliability are the main characteristics of cost accounting. Cost management is the main tool in the organization of production activities of the enterprise. Identification of on-farm reserves contributes to the possibility of reducing costs, and more efficient use of them. All this predisposes to an increase in economic efficiency, achieving higher rates of profit growth and profitability of production.

The indicator of "profitability" is one of the main characteristics of the activities of agricultural producers. The article analyzes the change in the profitability of agricultural producers by type of activity, depending on the subsidies received, specialization of production, expenses, taxes. It is shown that an increase in industrial processing of agricultural products at agricultural enterprises by 0.06% in revenue leads to an increase in profitability by 0.26 percentage points, which confirms the need to integrate agricultural production and processing of products in the activities of an agricultural organization. For paying organizations, the Unified Agricultural System obtained a relationship between profitability and the value of the Unified Agricultural System, which showed that a 1% increase in profitability increases tax charges by 3.246 billion rubles.

The results of joint application of the biopreparation Sternifag, SP based on the fungus Trichoderma harzianum and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN-32) on spring wheat cultivated using the No-till technology in the northern forest-steppe of the Priobie region are presented. This zone is characterized by a short growing season and a mean annual moisture coefficient of 1.04–1.08. Under such conditions, No-till, or direct seeding, technology can minimize the cost of grain production. When growing crops according to this technology in the conditions of the northern forest-steppe, the sowing dates are postponed, which actualizes the use of biopreparation to accelerate the mineralization of straw residues. In production and stationary experiments on leached chernozem, the joint application of Sternifag and nitrogen fertilizer in autumn of the previous year activated decomposition of plant residues on second wheat by 33.0–49.0%. Application of the biopreparation together with UAN-32 allowed to obtain in the years of research additional 1 ha 1.5 and 0.96 tons of spring wheat grain (43.7–44.4%) due to an increase in the weight of 1000 grains, ear fineness and better preservation of plants for harvesting. Application of biopreparation Sternifag and UAN-32 on spring wheat grown on the basis of No-till technology in the northern forest-steppe of Priobie is economically beneficial. It is accompanied by an increase in profit by 2.0–2.4 times and an increase in the level of profitability of grain production by 27.0–36.0%. Effectiveness of cultivation of the crop on the background of liquid nitrogen fertilizer UAN-32 is lower. In this variant, grain productivity of spring wheat relative to the control increased in 2018, characterized by high humidity, by 1.1 t/ha, in 2020, characterized by June drought, by 0.74 t/ha. The level of profitability of grain production at application of UAN-32 is higher than in the control by 15.0–17.2%.

It is impossible to achieve the planned yields, product quality, and economic efficiency in agricultural production using only organic fertilizers. joint application of organic and solid mineral fertilizers solves the problem of replenishing the soil content of nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements used by plants. The authors have carried out the research of new methods of variable-rate application of mineral fertilizers in plant growing, allowing to increase the profitability of agricultural production. (Research purpose) is to develop new methods of variable-rate application of mineral fertilizers in crop production, which will allow increasing the profitability of crop production as compared with the conventional methods of applying fertilizers basing on average field indicators. (Materials and methods) The authors have developed a calculation technique implemented in the VBA Excel computer program for determining the main indicators: gross output, fertilizer saving, profit, etc. The main variable to change in the calculations is the planned yield based on average field parameters. At the end of the calculation process, the values of the best result for gross harvest output and profit are displayed on the screen. The research objects for the calculation were represented by elementary areas of crop areas of three farms – “Prodresurs”, Agropoligon VIUA, and “Murminskoye” with different soil types: chernozem, loamy, and sandy-loam. (Results and discussion) The method of proportional variable-rate application of fertilizers on three types of soils gives a stable increase in profit as compared with the application of fertilizers basing on the average field indicators. (Conclusions) Calculations have shown that under the specified conditions and at the equal yield of 30 c/ha the application of organomineral fertilizers is the most effective, profitability has accounted for 40 percents – on mesopodzol sandy-loam soils; 8.7 percents – on sod-podzolic soils; and 1.3 percents – on black soils. The method of proportional variable-rate application of mineral fertilizers accompanied with variable-rate application of organic fertilizers makes it possible to reduce the amount of mineral fertilizers applied by half.