Capital Accumulation Research Articles

AKUMULASI MODAL DESAINER GRAFIS DI TENGAH PERTUMBUHAN EKONOMI: TANTANGAN ATAU ANCAMAN (?)

Economic growth indicates a demand for design needs, specifically to support MSMEs in Indonesia. This paper aims to explain and understand how capital accumulation is conducted by graphic designers to exist and survive in the Indonesian graphic design arena. The paper attempts to explore the strategies of graphic designers with various starting points. It borrows Bourdieu's perspective related to cultural intermediaries and capital. Graphic designers without a design background try to accumulate cultural capital from self-taught knowledge obtained from tutorials on various digital media platforms. The accumulation of social capital begins within the nearest accessible environment, such as friendship circles. Different from other graphic designers, Bli Putu Angga, who is a fine arts graduate and also a content creator, possesses cultural capital from his branding activities. Social capital enables him to engage in various collaborations, including endorsements. Symbolic capital comes from the number of followers and the blue check mark on his Instagram, which signifies professionalism and quality as a graphic designer. The capital accumulation conducted by graphic designers indicates a desire to exist and climb the social ladder in the graphic design world.

Keynes and the Long Run — to ‘Live Wisely and Agreeably and Well’

ABSTRACT This paper revisits Keynes’s essay titled ‘The economic possibilities for our grandchildren’, featuring Keynes both as a growth theorist and a moral and social philosopher of capitalism. We discuss the three broader trends identified by Keynes that he expected would come to characterize the socio-economic evolution of advanced countries under capitalism: first, continued technological progress and capital accumulation as the main drivers of exponential growth in economic possibilities; second, a gradual general rebalancing of life choices away from work; and third, a change in the code of morals in societies approaching an envisioned stationary state of zero net capital accumulation in which mankind has solved its economic problem and enjoys a lifestyle predominantly framed by leisure rather than disutility-yielding work. We assess actual outcomes by 2024 and attempt to peek into the future economic possibilities for this generation’s grandchildren.

Foreign investment screening mechanisms and emergent geographies of (post)globalization

Technologically advanced states and large emerging economies increasingly use foreign investment screening mechanisms (FISM) to block inward foreign investment targeting sectors considered critical. Is the proliferation of FISM auguring an era of deglobalization, a re-assertion of national-state sovereignty over globalized economic ties, and the end of neoliberal orthodoxies of liberalized investment regimes? To answer these questions, the article draws upon geographic political economy and legal geographies. It argues that the multiplication of FISM is a response to a strategic context defined by three macrogeographic trends: (1) contemporary industrial restructuring and the salience of intellectual property-based monopolies; (2) a historic episode of centralization of capital driven by strategic mergers and acquisitions; and (3) evolving landscapes of state capitalism under conditions of intensified geoeconomic competition. Although FISM reproduce the fiction of state power as expressing the will of the sovereign nation to defend itself against foreign interference, market distortion, and technology theft, they consist of legally enshrining state authority to support national champions, and making sure they engage favorably with competitive dynamics of capital centralization, notably by conserving their monopoly over key intangible assets and strategic resources. FISM are best seen as tools that explicitly mobilize state power and coercion to aggressively (re)negotiate globalization.

Changing Scope of Gentrification in Seoul? Neighborhood Transformation and Displacement in Sangwangsimni and Changsin‐Sungin Industrial Clusters

Gentrification and displacement used to be an integral part of neighborhood transformation in Seoul, contributing to its economic and urban growth. While direct displacement has recently declined, new forms of displacement are emerging. This study employs a qualitative, case‐oriented research approach to understand gentrification in Seoul by comparing neighborhood transformation and displacement in Sangwangsimni and Changsin‐Sungin industrial clusters. In Sangwangsimni, the property‐led urban redevelopment contributed to the direct displacement of residents. In contrast, Changsin‐Sungin residents were able to remain in place because of the state‐led urban regeneration. However, the latter resulted in residents' feelings of powerlessness, emotional distress, and alienation, which increased displacement pressure and contributed to their indirect displacement. The consequences of neighborhood transformation for displacement reveal not only the changing scope of gentrification in Seoul but also the enduring role of the state in facilitating capital accumulation through the class remaking of the city.

Model of “secular” cycle of financial capital accumulation

Crises hitting the world economy since the end of the previous century need a deeper explanation than effects of numerous sudden shocks. According to G. Arrighi’s theory, they manifest the final phase of North-American cycle of capital accumulation. Although analytically promising, the theory doesn’t meet broad recognition. A reason could be its weak formalization. This article addresses this problem by developing a mathematical model of capital growth rates. They are measured by nominal yield and interest rates which represent increments of capital in its general, financial form. If capital level follows a logistic path then its growth rate should be described by logistic differential equation. The model is brought to data on government bonds yields in Great Britain in XVIII– XIX centuries and USA — in XX century up to now. The study provides evidence for the pivotal role of financial-capital accumulation in systemic cycles and its S-shaped form. Besides, it reveals importance of trade balance in specifying cycle phases of domestic and global capital expansion.

Creating airlines’ innovation: linking employees’ perspective of service quality, intellectual capital and innovation performance

ABSTRACT This study investigates various dimensions, including service quality, absorptive capacity, innovation performance, and intellectual capital (specifically organisational capital, social capital, and human capital), within the context of the airline industry. A survey questionnaire was administered to airline employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings indicate that service quality has the potential to generate favourable innovation outcomes, such as increased absorptive capacity, thereby further enhancing employee innovation performance. Service quality is also found to have a simultaneous positive impact on human capital, leading to increased innovation performance and absorptive capacity. Therefore, organisations should prioritise the development of absorptive capacity to enhance both human capital and the accumulation of intellectual capital. Furthermore, both organisational capital and human capital play a vital role in these intricate strategy decision procedures. These factors play a crucial role in strengthening the connections between service quality and innovation performance.

Between Consumption and Liberation – A Critical Analysis of Women’s Legal Trajectory of Emancipation, Regulation and Gender Pricing

ABSTRACT Law is always perceived as pivotal to women’s emancipation. Women gaining any form of legal recognition is construed as a step towards gender equality. Therefore, when looking to address issues around gender pricing – charging consumers differently for the same product or service because of their gender – experts turn to law as an obvious solution. Legal scholars suggest anti-discrimination regulation as the answer to liberation, and economists argue women should make better consumer choices. However, neither of these approaches addresses the problem in its entirety. In this article, instead of presenting anti-discrimination as a solution, I take gender pricing as a case study to map the intersection among law, gender, and capital and understand why the law might not be the answer leading women to emancipation. Through Queer Marxist lenses, I start by presenting gender pricing as a burden affecting women in the consumption sphere. In the second part, I focus on consumption and its relevance for the imposition of gendered subjectivities as part of an accumulation strategy. In the third part, I draw a parallel between the stages of women’s emancipation trajectory and the forms of backlash they face in their liberation struggle. As a case study, gender pricing allows me to understand consumption as an instance or site of regulation of gendered identities that goes beyond the formal equality achieved in law. The conception of women as consumers, mainly in the global North, reinforces particular subjectivities according to a historical process and is part of capital accumulation strategies. While corporations profit from gender pricing commodities, women are comparatively impoverished by gender pricing and other economic burdens, thus allowing men to maintain their hierarchically superior economic position.

State-led smart city with Chinese characteristics: the case of Xiong’an New Area, China

ABSTRACT Smart cities have emerged as either a technical fix to challenges of urbanized accumulation or an adaptable governance strategy under neoliberal, entrepreneurial, and austerity politics worldwide. Utilizing Xiong'an New Area, the most ambitious experimentation in China, as an empirical case, we present a distinct smart city model under the governance framework of state entrepreneurialism. This paper examines the salient and proactive role of the state in the ongoing smartification and digitalization in Xiong’an New Area. We highlight the plural (geo)political agendas parallel to capital accumulation in this state project. Based on in-depth interviews and documentary analysis, we illustrate how the state steered experimental practices through innovating institutional settings and financing strategy, legitimizing ‘digital twin’ experimentation in urban management, and co-opting non-state actors, including technical professional organizations and domestic technology enterprises. Its success rests more on its demonstration effects nationwide than the ‘actually existing’ smart city/urbanism within the territory of Xiong’an. This ‘state-led smart city with Chinese Characteristics’ shows unique features of smart governance shaped by political economic dynamics in China, compared to typical smart city models in Western capitalist countries and Asian developmental countries. The findings further the nuanced understanding of smart initiatives and projects in different contexts and the role of the government through the perspective of entrepreneurialism.

Taxation and entrepreneurship of migrant workers: evidence from China

PurposeMigrant workers play a vital role in the development of countries such as China. However, they often face greater barriers in entrepreneurship. Yet, few studies have focused on the effect of institutional factors on migrant workers' entrepreneurial behaviors. To address this gap, this study concentrates on the role of taxation.Design/methodology/approachThis study takes the agricultural tax abolition reform implemented in rural China since 2004 as an exogenous shock and uses the difference-in-difference (DID) method to examine its effect on migrant workers' entrepreneurship based on longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS).FindingsWe find that the reform significantly improves the probability of migrant workers engaging in entrepreneurship. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the reform exerts a notably more pronounced positive impact on male, younger and migrant workers in the Western region. Further analysis reveals that the three main mechanisms are increased household income, female human capital accumulation and increased social capital, including social networks and social trust.Originality/valueThis study is first to offers an institutional perspective on the determinants of migrant workers' entrepreneurship in China. Additionally, the study can provide insights for policymaking intended to support employment and entrepreneurship among low-skill migrant workers.

‘Let's Go to the Land Instead’: Indigenous Perspectives on Biodiversity and the Possibilities of Regenerative Capital

AbstractThe land has been a source of capital accumulation since colonization through extractive activities like mining and industrial agriculture. Indigenous peoples have profoundly different relationships with the land, which are more relational than extractive. However, their knowledge has been subjugated by and systematically excluded from Western conservation policies, which are based on colonial modes of control. We begin to address this issue by elaborating on a community‐based participatory project, namely a Conservation Impact Bond (CIB), developed in Canada with Deshkan Ziibiing. This CIB was unique since it combined Indigenous and Western knowledges and aimed at restoring ecosystems by building relationships of kinship between peoples and the land. Based on our findings, we propose a Two‐Eyed Seeing relationship‐building process model – a multi‐stakeholder initiative (MSI) incorporating Indigenous and Western knowledges. We discuss the implications of our findings for mobilizing capital to serve collective rather than private interests while promoting Indigenous resurgence and land regeneration. We suggest shifting from extractive to regenerative capital is necessary to address the climate and biodiversity loss crises. This transformation could be achieved by embracing a relational ontology through Two‐Eyed Seeing.

Labour market skills, endogenous productivity and business cycles

This paper analyses how labour market heterogeneity affects unemployment, productivity and business cycle dynamics. To this aim, we set up a model with asymmetric search and matching frictions across skilled and unskilled workers, and endogenous productivity through R&D investment and intangible capital accumulation. Skill mismatch and skill-specific labour market institutions have three main effects on business cycles and growth dynamics. First, the relative scarcity of skilled workers increases the natural rate of unemployment and reduces total factor productivity with long-run effects on the growth rate of output. Second, skill heterogeneity in the labour market generates asymmetric outcomes and amplifies measures of employment, wages and consumption inequality. Finally, the model provides important insights for the Phillips and Beveridge curves. Incorporating skill heterogeneity leads to a flattening of the Phillips curve as wages and unemployment respond unevenly across skill types. Also, the model generates sideward shifts of the Beveridge curve following business cycle shocks, with the extent of these shifts depending on the degree of skill heterogeneity.

Horizontal and vertical foreign direct investment linkages, absorptive capacity and domestic investment: evidence from Indonesian plant-level data

PurposeThis study examines the effect of horizontal and vertical foreign direct investment (FDI) linkages on the investment decisions of domestic plants. It explores this link for plants in a developing country, where the dynamics of FDI spillovers on domestic investment choices are distinct from those in developed countries. It also adds to the literature by examining the role the absorptive capacity of plants plays in this nexus, enriching our understanding of the interaction between FDI and the investment choices of domestic plants and providing insights for policymakers and managers seeking to maximize the positive effects of FDI spillovers.Design/methodology/approachThis study specifies the dynamic investment equation using the Euler and Q models. This equation is estimated using the first-difference and system generalized method of moments GMM estimators, which allow us to address persistency, endogeneity and unobserved plant-specific effects. FDI exposure proxy, calculated by weighing the FDI engagement variable by firm size, captures the strength of foreign equity participation in an industry and time. Input–output (IO) tables are used to calculate the proxies for horizontal and vertical (backward and forward) FDI. Total factor productivity is calculated using a method advocated by Olley and Pakes (1996) that allows us to control for selection and simultaneity.FindingsWe find that FDI inflows into both the domestic plants’ own industry and the input-supplying industry significantly boost the capital accumulation of the average domestic plants. Differentiating plants based on their absorptive capacities reveals that the presence of foreign firms significantly increases capital deepening for domestic plants with high absorptive capacity within their own industry (horizontal linkage) and in industries that supply inputs to the FDI-exposed industry (backward linkage). However, it leads to a decrease in capital deepening for high absorptive capacity domestic plants in industries using inputs produced by the industry exposed to FDI (forward linkage).Research limitations/implicationsThese findings have implications for policymakers and managers who aim to design incentives to maximize the positive spillover effect of horizontal and vertical FDI linkages on the capital deepening of domestic plants. Exploring additional mechanisms that could play a role in this nexus, separately for plants in different industries (such as the industries in which the country has a comparative advantage), may be fruitful.Originality/valueTo our knowledge, the relationship between the investment behavior of the domestic plants and FDI linkages has not been examined for a developing country. It is useful to explore this link in developing countries, as the investment choices of plants in these nations may be impacted differently by FDI spillovers than those in advanced nations. This study further contributes to the literature by investigating whether the plants’ absorptive capacity affects the nexus between FDI linkages and investment decisions of the domestic plants. The findings are valuable for policymakers and managers who aim to increase plants’ capital accumulation in developing countries.

Colonial Racial Capitalism and Violence: Theorising the Relationship between Empire and Israeli Settler Colonialism

This article theorises the relationship between empire and Israeli settler colonialism through the interplay between violence and capital accumulation in colonial racial capitalism. It argues that Israel's genocidal violences of land theft is the means and grounds for Israeli and US imperial capital accumulation. This can be observed in the genocidal operation in the Gaza Strip. The first section contextualizes the genocide in the Gaza Strip within a larger structure of genocide. The section highlights the centrality of the conquest of land in the Zionist settler colonial project and how that appealed to the British empire in the early parts of the twentieth century. The second section examines why the US empire has actively participated in the genocide. States in the US imperial bloc essentially reduce the whole question of Palestine to a simple equation where Palestinian liberation does not equate with their own economic interests, while Israeli settler colonialism does. Though there exists a tension between imperial and settler colonial interests around the question of what kind of violence is preferable for capital accumulation, the article concludes by arguing that a transformation of the logics and systems of colonial racial capitalism cannot arise without activism and pressure from below on states and capitalist structures.

From FOSS to profit: Digital spatial technologies and the mode of production

Existing literature has scrutinized the impact of geospatial technologies from various angles. This article adopts a heterodox vantage point—the mode of production—to illuminate the intricate power dynamics woven into the fabric of these technologies. By focusing on the mode of production, we meticulously demonstrate how ostensibly novel digital technologies and geospatial data formats wield power within social relations of production. Responding to calls to scrutinize the political economy of spatial technologies and map-making tools, we aim to unravel the underpinning social relations, software development techniques, and technologies that shape file formats like GeoJSON and Esri Shapefile. By tracing the historical evolution of these formats, the article reveals how digital labor, both voluntary and expropriated, shapes the landscapes of profit-driven technology firms. The rise of open standards is not a departure from for-profit motives but rather a manifestation of the confluence of free, open, and for-profit. Ultimately, we argue that the intricate connections between digital technologies, geography, and capitalist structures enroll seemingly independent FOSS products into broader systems of capital accumulation. These findings highlight the far-reaching impact of geospatial technologies and their role in perpetuating and reshaping capitalist dynamics.

Estado de excepción neoliberal y resistencia en el sureste de México

In November 2021, the President of Mexico (2018-2024) declared that the priority megaprojects of the National Development Plan (Maya Train, Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor, Dos Bocas Refinery) fall within the realm of national security. Public and private investments in these projects are directed towards southeastern Mexico, covering the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Yucatán, and Tabasco. These regions are home to indigenous peoples and communities that hold 45% of Mexico’s total social property. In some cases, these communities are visibly linked to national political organizations that defend land and territory. The decree is considered a state of exception applied to land-territory use, with dual implications. On one hand, it represents the undivided social field monopolized by monetary metrics. On the other hand, it signifies the expansion of a neocolonial condition promoted by the Mexican federal government, which marginalizes the voice of resistance in favor of adopting the capital logic defined by the stratification of the global economy. The methodology involves participatory action research since 2019, collaborative research through the coordination of workshops, caravans, marches, and political-community meetings, promoted in conjunction with assemblies fighting for territorial defense. We anticipate the increased use of such state of exception in response to the intertwined rise of health, environmental, and economic contingencies that drive the economic cycle, coupled with ineffective governmental policies formulated for regular times. In other words, the state of exception is activated to ensure the continuity of capital accumulation driven by the concentration of private property.

Tax incentives for human capital accumulation and enterprise innovation quality: Evidence of a quasi-natural experiment in China

This study analyzes the impact of human capital tax incentives on enterprise innovation quality. For this purpose, it designs as a quasi-natural experiment, using China's pre-tax deduction policy for employee education and training expenses. The results confirm that tax incentives for human capital accumulation significantly enhance corporate innovation quality. The primary mechanisms driving this effect are the alleviation of financial constraints and the promotion of human capital accumulation. Moreover, this effect is stronger in regions with higher levels of financial development and greater human capital density.

The Power of Speed: High-speed Railways and Scientific Research Competitiveness in China

This paper investigates the impact opening of high-speed railways (HSR) on scientific research competitiveness using data from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) research grants. We employ a difference-in-differences framework to estimate the causal effects of the treatment universities being connected to HSR. Our results indicate that the treatment universities experience significant improvements in their scientific research competitiveness. To understand the underlying mechanisms, we conduct analyses that reveal the extensive positive effects of HSR on human capital accumulation, government funding, and information resources. These findings offer empirical evidence supporting the economic rationale for HSR and shed light on the microscopic mechanisms that facilitate positive spillover of knowledge creation and innovation resources from large cities to small cities through transportation infrastructure.

Optimal pensions with endogenous labour supply

We show that a two-part pension system provides optimal capital accumulation without distorting labour supply, thereby achieving the first-best. An economy with too little retirement saving should combine a negative income tax with a consumption tax to replicate the first-best allocation without using any lump-sum taxes. Our results are shown in a classic Diamond overlapping generations model that is augmented with endogenous labour supply on the intensive margin.

Contextual drivers of energy demand and supply from renewable sources

This study investigates the socio-economic and environmental drivers shaping renewable energy demand and supply within a meso-level setting (Italian regions, 2004–2020). Employing a panel vector error correction mechanism (PVECM) and an integrative biplot analysis, the research outcomes reveal a market equilibrium between demand and supply in the short and long run. Human capital accumulation is identified as pivotal in driving the renewable energy transition. Significant regional heterogeneities indicate challenges in achieving convergence towards sustainability and socio-economic development and well-being. Key empirical implications include enhancing education and vocational training to strengthen human capital and implementing tailored regional strategies for sustainable infrastructure development. These findings support policymakers in formulating targeted policies for a resilient, balanced energy future and addressing regional disparities in renewable energy adoption.

A Life's Work? Unpacking the Existential Meaning of Educational Mobilities for Migrant Families

ABSTRACTIt is axiomatic that middle‐class Asian migrant families invest heavily—practically and emotionally—in their children's education. Scholarship has linked this investment to strategies of capital accumulation. There has been little discussion, however, about the transformative nature of these strategies and how they might be framed in terms of migrants' whole lives. This paper applies theoretical concepts from migration studies and a framework proposed by philosopher Charles Taylor, to argue that educational migration should be seen as profoundly life shaping.