Marxian Crisis Theory Research Articles

Rate of Profit, Wages, and Crisis A Marxist Perspective of The Theory of Crisis

The goal of this paper is two-fold. First, the paper aims to discuss Karl Marx’s theory of the falling rate of profit and the alternate, probably inconsistent, Marxian theory of crisis based on the rise of wages. Second, the paper examines the relevance of these theories in our days by reviewing important literature on both classical and neoclassical analysis of crisis. A thorough review of literature revealed that Marx’s focus was to provide a real science that explains the phenomena of recurrent crisis in the capitalist society, as opposed to explaining specific incidents that triggers a certain crisis. Marx viewed the capitalist crisis as an endogenous function to the capitalist society itself

Oil-Fueled Accumulation in Late Capitalism

Capitalist development since the 1940s has been fueled by global oil extraction. Cheap oil was the core energy input in the post–World War II expansion. By the 1970s, the limits of this oil-fueled accumulation regime began to appear. During that decade, a series of oil price hikes combined with other sources of tension to form a deep accumulation crisis. The crisis of the 1970s showed the effects that a strategic circulating capital—in this case, petroleum—has in shaping profitability trends. Today, the possible recessionary effects caused by oil price hikes are joined on the environmental side by another problem: the continued burning of fossil fuels exacerbates the climate crisis. To address this double contradiction, I revisit the Marxian theory of crisis in a world-historical and world-ecological framework. With this framework, I unpack the historical connections between petroleum, uneven development, accumulation crises, and climate change.

労働市場と景気循環-恐慌論批判, 小幡道昭著, [東京大学出版会, 2014年

労働市場と景気循環-恐慌論批判, 小幡道昭著, [東京大学出版会, 2014年

Making Sense of Marxian Crisis Theory in the Light of the History of Economic Thought: Real and Monetary Factors

Making Sense of Marxian Crisis Theory in the Light of the History of Economic Thought: Real and Monetary Factors

The Digital Spatial Fix

This article brings distinct strands of the political economy of communication and economic geography together in order to theorise the role digital technologies play in Marxian crisis theory. Capitalist advances into digital spaces do not make the law of value obsolete, but these spaces do offer new methods for displacing overaccumulated capital, increasing consumption, or accumulating new, cheaper labour. We build on David Harvey’s theory of the spatial fix to describe three digital spatial fixes, fixed capital projects that use the specific properties of digital spaces to increase the rate of profit, before themselves becoming obstacles to the addictive cycle of accumulation: the primitive accumulation of time in the social Web, the annihilation of time by space in high-frequency trading, and affect rent in virtual worlds. We conclude by reflecting on how these digital spatial fixes also fix the tempo of accumulation and adjust the time-scale of Marxian crisis theory.

Crisis of Command: Theorizing Value in New Media

Theorists of free labor have argued that users produce value directly for capital through unwaged participation in online social media platforms. I argue that this interpretation of value is misguided. I begin with a brief overview of the labor theory of value as it has been developed by political economists in the context of new media. I then use Marxian crisis theory to demonstrate the limitations of the concept of free labor. I also elaborate how value is created within media markets through a complex set of interactions among media firms, market researchers, advertisers, finance capital, and unwaged content producers. I conclude with a discussion of the consequences of free labor theory for Marxian politics.

Heterodox Macroeconomics: Crotty's Integration of Keynes and Marx

While heterodox macroeconomic theories agree on a set of general principles, there is far less agreement on specific behavioral relations. With the goal of developing a more potent heterodox framework through the integration of Keynesian, Marxian, and institutionalist perspectives, I consider the seminal work of James Crotty. Crotty has developed the building blocks of an integrated heterodox macro theory that revolve around the nexus of the concepts of fundamental uncertainty, financial fragility, impatient finance, irreversible investment, adversarial class relations, the Marxian concept of competition, Marxian crisis theory, and effective demand. This integration considers numerous dichotomies/regime shifts that are useful for understanding the path of capitalist development.

In Brenner, Everything Is Reversed

Robert Brenners The Economics of Global Turbulence was published as a special issue of New Left Review. Brenners study focuses, in particular, upon the continuing competitive struggle between US, German and Japanese capital. Although he credits US success in repressing workers for its part, Brenner particularly stresses the currency valuation shifts arising from the Plaza Accord of 1985 for improving the state of US manufacturing and deteriorating those of Japan and Germany. Brenner, is not the first person working within the framework of Marxs theory to write about the postwar crisis. Faring even worse in Brenners eyes as an adequate theoretical explanation of the long downturn is the traditional falling rate of profit argument, which he labels the Fundamentalist Marxist theory. To understand the central problem in Brenners explanation of developments , it is essential to recall his membership in the analytical-Marxist fraternity.Keywords: analytical Marxism; capitalism; Marxian theory of crisis; New Left Review; Robert Brenner; The Economics of Global Turbulence

Analytical Marxism and the Marxian theory of crisis

A new phenomenon, a self-designated school of analytical Marxism, centred in particular around the work of John Roemer, Jon Elster and G.A. Cohen. Analytical Marxism begins with the unsupported premise of methodological individualism. In Marxs methodological holism, investigation of structural limits to individual actions is precisely the result of considering the whole first. This chapter briefly discusses Marx's possibility theory of crisis. Marx has noted that, there would be no crisis without the inner unity of factors that are apparently indifferent to each other. The chapter demonstrates the importance of considering the whole explicitly, and conducts a holistic thought-experiment which represents capitalism as a relationship between one capitalist and his wage-labourers. In the rgime of One Capital, it is assumed that, in order to secure a given increase in surplus-value, the rational capitalist initiates a given increase in the technical composition of capital.Keywords: analytical Marxism; capitalism; G.A. Cohen; holistic thought-experiment; John Roemer; Jon Elster; Marxian theory of crisis; methodological individualism; regime of One Capital

The Necessity/Contingency Dualism in Marxian Crisis Theory: The Case of Long-Wave Theory

The Necessity/Contingency Dualism in Marxian Crisis Theory: The Case of Long-Wave Theory

Social Institutions, Interests, and the Empirical Analysis of Accumulation: A Reply to Bruce Norton

It is a pleasure to respond to Bruce Norton's insightful and generous review of our work on the social structure of accumulation (SSA). The intelligence and collegiality with which he has pursued his critique is a welcome relief from the disinformation and acrimony which sometimes mark these exchanges. We will first review the general objectives of our continuing work, then consider some major issues raised by Norton-what he terms the 'tension in the relationship between SSA theory's institutional analysis and the model which represents that analysis mathematically' (13), the question of 'fixed' or 'abstract' interests, the relationship of our work to neoclassical economics and 'analytical Marxism,' and our conception of the relationship between production and circulation. ANALYTICAL OBJECTIVES In our work we have sought to integrate the theoretical and concrete analyses of economic institutions. The first of our two overriding objectives in this project is to provide a conceptual framework capable of embracing what are often conceived as two disparate elements of Marxian theory: the precise modelling of macroeconomic phenomena characteristic of Marxian crisis theory; and the concretely grounded accounts of the structural origins and consequences of conflict and cooperation among classes, other collective actors, and individuals characteristic of Marxian historical studies, or more broadly, of historical materialism. Our second objective is to develop an understanding of the dynamics of the U.S. economy in the postwar period capable of explaining why macroeconomic performance was so successful for so long, why it faltered, and what now might be done about it, either by those who would reconstruct the social structure of accumulation along capitalist

From equilibrium to marxian crisis theory : expectations in the work of Paul Sweezy

From equilibrium to marxian crisis theory : expectations in the work of Paul Sweezy

Social Institutions, Interests, and the Empirical Analysis of Accumulation: A Reply to Bruce Norton

It is a pleasure to respond to Bruce Norton's insightful and generous review of our work on the social structure of accumulation (SSA). The intelligence and collegiality with which he has pursued his critique is a welcome relief from the disinformation and acrimony which sometimes mark these exchanges. We will first review the general objectives of our continuing work, then consider some major issues raised by Norton-what he terms the 'tension in the relationship between SSA theory's institutional analysis and the model which represents that analysis mathematically' (13), the question of 'fixed' or 'abstract' interests, the relationship of our work to neoclassical economics and 'analytical Marxism,' and our conception of the relationship between production and circulation. ANALYTICAL OBJECTIVES In our work we have sought to integrate the theoretical and concrete analyses of economic institutions. The first of our two overriding objectives in this project is to provide a conceptual framework capable of embracing what are often conceived as two disparate elements of Marxian theory: the precise modelling of macroeconomic phenomena characteristic of Marxian crisis theory; and the concretely grounded accounts of the structural origins and consequences of conflict and cooperation among classes, other collective actors, and individuals characteristic of Marxian historical studies, or more broadly, of historical materialism. Our second objective is to develop an understanding of the dynamics of the U.S. economy in the postwar period capable of explaining why macroeconomic performance was so successful for so long, why it faltered, and what now might be done about it, either by those who would reconstruct the social structure of accumulation along capitalist

Marxian crisis theory and the rate of profit in the postwar U.S. economy

Journal Article Marxian crisis theory and the rate of profit in the postwar U.S. economy Get access Thomas E. Weisskopf Thomas E. Weisskopf *Department of Economics, University of Michigan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Cambridge Journal of Economics, Volume 3, Issue 4, December 1979, Pages 341–378, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.cje.a035429 Published: 01 December 1979

The Marxian theory of crisis, capital and the state∗

An interpretation of the Marxian theory of crisis that rejects the ‘Keynesianism’ of most post-war contributions on the topic. Various criticisms of Marx's position are examined and two popular but incorrect versions of the theory are discussed; the underconsumptionist and disproportionality theory of crisis. An attempt is made to begin an analysis of the role of state intervention in the economy and indicate the limitations of intervention by the capitalist state implied by Marx's theory of crisis.