Marx’s Capital through the lens of Roemer’s General Theory (and vice-versa)

Abstract

This paper considers how Roemer’s General Theory of Exploitation and Class and related work has engaged and reframed the historical materialist critique of capitalism initiated by Marx’s Capital project, and in turn how aspects of Marx’s account of capitalist profit and exploitation not addressed in the General Theory might be analyzed within Roemer’s framework of rationally optimizing agents and equilibrating markets. In particular, the paper discusses how imperfect contracting conditions and capital accumulation might figure in a coherent materialist theory of profit and exploitation.