Marxian Economics Research Articles

Socialist Political Economy With Chinese Characteristics And Research On The Chinese And Foreign Economies

In 2021, responding to changes in the world political and economic situation and basing itself on Marxist political economy, the New Marxian Economics Synthesis School led by Professor Enfu Cheng carried forward its traditions and forged ahead into the future. The school conducted active, in-depth research on how to uphold the integrity of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics and enrich it with new elements, putting forward a series of theoretical innovations in areas that include the ten essentials of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics, its sources of innovation and logical starting point, the orientation of its practice, and so forth. Based on these theoretical innovations, many of the scholars who make up the school engaged in lively discussion on a range of focal issues of today’s Chinese economy, including common prosperity, the new “dual circulation” development pattern, artificial intelligence and the digital economy, the modernization of national governance and so on. In addition, they made searching criticisms of the financialization of the contemporary capitalist economy and of the new developments seen in liberalism and hegemonism since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. In sum, they recorded a long series of fruitful theoretical achievements.

Acceptance Speech for the World Marxian Economics Award (I)

Acceptance Speech for the World Marxian Economics Award (I)

Exploring the sinicization of Marx's social capital reproduction theory: review and reflection

PurposeKarl Marx's social capital reproduction theory is his significant contribution to economics. The purpose of this paper is to review the contributions of the exploration of Chinese economists (especially Professor Liu Guoguang) in the concretization of Marx’s social capital reproduction theory combined with socialist construction since 1949.Design/methodology/approachDuring this process, Professor Liu Guoguang, a famous Chinese Marxist economist, has made an outstanding contribution by creating a Marxist social capital reproduction model with Chinese characteristics and a distinctive Marxist economic growth model. Professor Liu's exploration is still of crucial practical significance to building a socialist market economy today.FindingsThe process and achievements in the sinicization exploration of Marx's social capital reproduction theory were reviewed. With the reform and opening up, fundamental changes have occurred in China's economic system – the centralized planned economic system has been transformed into a socialist market economic system.Originality/valueThe planned management of the national economy is replaced by a macro-regulation system characterized by gross control gradually, and the concepts of agriculture, light industry, and heavy industry, and their intercorrelation are no longer applied in theory and policy. However, the sinicization exploration of Marx's social capital reproduction theory in the older generation of Marxist economists represented by Liu is not only of historical significance but also of important practical significance.

A new solution to the “difficult problem” of the object of study of political economy

PurposeAs there are different interpretations of the object of study in the preface to the first edition of Capital (Volume I) by Karl Marx, disagreements arise over the object of study on political economy, which becomes a “difficult problem.” The purpose of the paper is to bring a new solution to the “difficult problem.”Design/methodology/approachBased on the analysis of the logic of the original text, the authors attempted to give a new interpretation of the “difficult problem” by analyzing the structure of Capital. The object of study of political economy is “the relations of production in the broad sense” of the capitalist mode of production.FindingsIt comprises relations of production in the narrow sense and exchange relations in the broad sense, and the latter can be divided into exchange relations in the narrow sense and distribution relations. The three of them correspond to Volume I, II and III of Capital, respectively. Consumption in “the four-section theory” is not studied by the political economy.Originality/valueAnd the four-section theory is not a part of the theory of Marxist economics but a part of the classical economics criticized by Marx. Therefore, the object of study of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics is “the relations of production in the broad sense” regarding the socialist mode of production with Chinese characteristics, which is different from the capitalist relations of production in the broad sense.

The reality of the law of value

In the wake of Böhm-Bawerk’s criticism that Marx’s law of value runs contrary to empirical facts, Marxian economics has developed mainly in two different directions: one based on the simple commodity production and the other on the mathematical identity of value with prices of production (the transformation problem). The author agrees with neither, arguing that Marx intended to base the law of value on the production process of capital, as in Capital Volume 1, independently of Capital Volume 3. However, the notion of this process and the law of value have not been sufficiently explained in Volume 1. Marx presents the value of a commodity as socially necessary labour objectified in Chapter 1 on the commodity, and later applies this rule to capitalist commodity products in Chapter 7. Pointing out the defects of this method, this article relocates the presentation of the dual nature of labour to the Labour Process (Chapter 7, Section 1), and the proof of the substance of value or the law of value to the Valorization Process (Chapter 7, Section 2). The Labour Process plays a key role in Volume 1, but it contains a fatal flaw. Consequently, Section 2 ends up with insufficient explanation. By reconstructing the Labour Process and the Process of Creating Value and Surplus value, the author confirms the meaning and reality of the law of value in Chapter 7, Section 2.

Gelir Eşitsizliği ve Kriz Teorileri

This paper aims to review the relationship between crisis theories in Mainstream economics, Post-Keynesian economics, Marxian economics and income inequality, especially within the context of great recession. Emergence of the great recession and its devastating effects, not only on financial sectors likewise on real economy brought discussions of origin of crises back in fashion. Inequality was accepted as an important factor contributing to great recession and it is brought to the fore in crisis theories due to sharply increased income inequality before the great recession even though there is disagreement amongst different schools of thought on causes of crisis.

Pure-Blood and Muggle Marxian Approaches in the Theory of Value and Price

This article argues that to make progress in the theory of value and price we must incorporate in the debate of the transformation problem the methodological discussion about how Marxian economics relates to non-Marxian economics. Two alternative approaches to deal with that relationship are presented in a stylized form, called the “pure-blood Marxian approach” and the “muggle Marxian approach.” Two examples of the “muggle Marxian approach,” represented by two of the most influential communists working in the field of academic economics in the West in the 20th century, Piero Sraffa and Oskar Lange, are presented to show the superiority of this approach over the “pure-blood Marxian approach.”

Camera Obscura or the Way Things Appear: Some Remarks About Marx’s Economic Writings

I analyse the foundations of Marx’s analysis to examine the applicability of Marx’s theory of the capitalist economy to the study of current economic events. In this paper, I do not present critique the interpretations of Marx’s works made by contemporary economists; however, much of modern Marxian economics is invalid in terms of Marx’s own method and inappropriate for understanding modern capitalism. The paper is concerned with topics that have been the subject of contemporary debate and are central to Marx’s own economic writings. Here I present only textual evidence of the main tendencies in the development of capitalism discovered by Marx. There are limits to value (= time) as the sole criterion of economic expediency; the constant reproduction of a scarcity of jobs amid an abundance of goods; enlargement of material commercial relations on the other spheres of social life; development of monetary relations – the emergence of derivatives of money, i. e., ersatz money, digital money. The main conclusion that I came to is that some societies are gradually losing value and moral guidelines, threatening the very development and even the existence of other communities or peoples.

From Fei Xiaotong to Shi Zhengyi: The Chinese Economic Anthropology Pioneers’ Academic Essentials

In China, economic anthropology started relatively later compared with that in the West; however, under the guidance of Marxist theory and based on the needs of China's economic development, it gradually formed unique advantages in its development process. In China's economic and social development practice, Fei Xiaotong and Shi Zhengyi, among other pioneers, creatively applied the economic anthropological paradigm to solve the specific issues, starting from the local characteristics, and completed some excellent academic results. This paper probes and analyzes the scholarly contributions of the pioneers of Chinese economic anthropology; especially, it takes Marxist economics as the starting point to examine Professor Shi Zhengyi's theoretical contributions to the development of Chinese economic anthropology and its practical significance.

The Rise and Decline of Polish Revisionist Marxist Economics: The Fates of Włodzimierz Brus and the Faculty of Political Economy (University of Warsaw), 1953–1968

The paper deals with the history of Polish revisionist Marxist political economy, which flourished between 1956 and 1968, mostly in the academic institutions of Warsaw. The fate of Polish revisionism in Marxist economics is presented in parallel to the intellectual biography of Włodzimierz Brus (one of its leaders) and the fate of the Faculty of Political Economy ( Wydział Ekonomii Politycznej [WEP]), which he co-established at the University of Warsaw. The authors compare contemporary documents and existing analyses of the period with memories of Brus’s colleagues and students, collected decades after the events. The authors show that both the relative freedom of expression and academic research and the process of gradual closing of these possibilities were related to the changing balance of power within Party elites.

Red Rag Magazine, Feminist Economics and the Domestic Labour Pains of Liberation

This article examines the domestic labour debate of the 1970s as it was mediated in the Marxist feminist magazine, Red Rag (1972–80). Red Rag’s visual representations of housework wittily demystified the bonds of ‘love’ that bound women to the everyday routines of domestic labour while its theoretical discussions offered alternative feminist perspectives to the New Home Economics, a neo-classical economic approach to the household as well as to Marxist economics that occluded women’s labour in its emphasis on production. Within the pages of the magazine, an emerging feminist economics developed that challenged the gendered production boundaries reinforcing the division of labour, graphically depicted intra-household conflict and exposed the ideological assumptions that rendered caring labour invisible. It was not only in terms of theory, however, that Red Rag contributed to these debates but also in terms of its collective practice. The process of making the magazine became the subject of editorials reflecting on how feminists worked together. Red Rag’s analysis of its own production processes illuminated the internal tensions within the collective but also pointed to some of the ‘contradictions’ within the WLM, contradictions that were bound up with the cultural capital attached to economic theory and the authority this conferred on the Red Rag collective.

Neo-chartalist or Marxist Vision of the Modern Money? Critical Comparison

ABSTRACT The set of neo-chartalist views on the functioning of money in the economic circulation advertised as Modern Monetary Theory is becoming increasingly popular on the left. Marxist economists usually dispose of this theory as another incarnation of Keynesian reformism. However, because of its growing popularity, confronting this theory with the Marxist theory of money seems to have considerable political significance. A comparison of the two in the descriptive area indicates that there are some similarities between the two theories, but they are very general. On the other hand, my analysis shows that Marxist theory of money is not only compatible with the assumptions of Modern Monetary Theory concerning the functioning of modern money, but also gives a much more complete picture of its significance in the historically limited specificity of capitalism. Therefore, this comparison shows that it is worth promoting the Marxist theory of money as a true, actual theory of modern money, which is in its essence much more practical than alleged pragmatism of the Modern Monetary Theory.

K. Marx's Economic Theory and Current Significance

The article is an attempt to estimate K. Marx's economic theory. The following questions are discussed for this purpose: First, what were the true goals of Marx? Second, to what extent are they realistic and how adequate are the categories constructed and implemented by Marx to nature's and society's trends of growth? Third, is it possible to implement Marxist theory in solving contemporary economic and social problems? The purpose of the analysis is not to praise or criticize Karl Marx and, in general, Marxism, which is not so difficult to do based on historical events and facts, but to realistically evaluate Marx's economic theory and identify all the positive things in his teachings that can be used by economic science to help in overcoming obstacles to the development of modern societies.

Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings

Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings

Lefteris Tsoulfidis and Persefoni Tsaliki, Classical Political Economics and Modern Capitalism. Theories of Value, Competition, Trade and Long Cycles

The revival of Classical Political Economy (CPE) has multiple origins in the history of economic thought since the 19th century. It originated in discussions about Marxian economics in Germany, France, England, Russia, the United States and elsewhere since the Communist Manifesto, in Keynesian and Postkeynesian economics, especially in Cambridge since the 1930s and, probably most important for the academic recognition of this subject, in Sraffa’s publication of Ricardo’s works and his own boo...

Chinese Studies on the Transformation Problem: A Selective Review

Marxian economists in China have put forward several interpretations of the transformation problem that differ from interpretations available in the English Marxian literature. These contributions remain unfamiliar to the English world due to language barriers. Thus, this paper provides a review of four representative Chinese contributions. JEL Classification: B51, C67, D46

The political economy of climate change: the impasse and way out

Mainstream economics attributes climate change to negative externalities of carbon emissions and the lack of climate property rights. Although market-based strategies such as emission trading are widely implemented under the guideline of mainstream economics, there is no evidence that the accelerating trend of global warming has been contained. Marxian economists criticise the theoretical point of departure of the mainstream perspective about climate change and climate governance, and propose an alternative analytical framework focussing on the relationship between climate and capital accumulation. Following the Marxian perspective, we discuss the subject, nature, strategy, and possibility of a popular climate movement that could serve as an alternative to the existing mainstream climate governance.

Five Hundred Years of World Socialism and Its Prospect: Interview with Professor Enfu Cheng

ABSTRACT Recently, Dr. Jun Zhang interviewed Enfu Cheng, a well-known Marxist theorist and economist, President of the World Association for Political Economy, and Chief Professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Professor Cheng reviewed the five hundred years of world socialist development up to our own time, and examined the further prospects for socialism and communism. He explained the different stages of world socialist development, the evolution of world socialist thought, and how a future communist society might be conceived and realized. He explored the causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the first socialist country in the world, and analyzed China’s achievements in developing the socialist planned economy and socialist market economy.

The Implications of the Triumph of Neoclassical Economics over Marxist Economics in China

This paper explores the implications of one of the great intellectual revolutions of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the replacement of Marxist economics by neoclassical economics in China. The analysis summarizes what is distinctive about Marxist and neoclassical ways of thinking. The paper then demonstrates how these differences led to different framings and different conclusions about a number of key topics related to the development of capitalism in China. Among the topics explored are the merits of state-owned enterprises, the nature of inequality in China, and the relationship between capitalism and the environment. The paper concludes with a discussion of the different policy agendas that emerge from the different framings offered by neoclassical and Marxist economics. JEL Classification: B41, B51, P2, O53

Great significance of innovative research on capital for building socialist political economics with Chinese characteristics

PurposeGeneral Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that to uphold and develop socialist political economics with Chinese characteristics, the authors should be guided by Marxist political economics.Design/methodology/approachIt is an essential methodological principle for building a theoretical system of socialist political economics with Chinese characteristics as a “systematic economic theory”.FindingsTo implement this principle, the authors need to understand the rich connotation of Marxist political economics and its relationship with socialist political economics with Chinese characteristics fully and correctly and unswervingly uphold and inherit, creatively transform and innovatively develop the theoretical achievements of Marxist economics, especially capital.Originality/valueIt is also an essential and necessary way to build a theoretical system of socialist political economics with Chinese characteristics.