The Theory of Accumulation: A Marxian Approach to the Dynamics of Capitalist Economy

Description

This book treats the mechanisms of growth and cycles in capitalist economies in a unified manner, incorporating a highly original macro-dynamic theory based on Marxian micro-foundations and historical perspectives. That theory was developed about 50 years ago by Nobuo Okishio (1927–2003) and included the ideas of Keynes and Harrod. In mainstream economics, it used to be standard to analyse long-term economic growth and business cycles in different frameworks. That approach has been changing recently, but it still tends to be common to discuss them separately. At the outbreak of the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the prolonged stagnation that followed, there was strong criticism among policymakers and businesspeople that mainstream macroeconomics failed to provide convincing explanations and effective policy recommendations. This book offers an alternative perspective that responds to those criticisms. All these macroeconomic difficulties call for new wisdom beyond the limited neoclassical framework. The sharp, wise thoughts of Okishio will add new tools for young researchers worldwide to meet the challenges of the current resource misallocation, the Great Recession and the Lost Decades problems. Okishio proposes a historical perspective for the capitalist system, first. He argues that production relations are conditioned by productive force. The former should evolve as the latter improves, and the latter should evolve in order for human society to survive. While reproduction is indispensable for the economy to continue in any production relations, it takes a specific form in capitalist economy. He next shows that the existence of profit requires the exploitation of the labourer. This is called the Fundamental Marxian Theorem. He also shows a trade-off relationship between the real wage rate and the profit rate. In his theory, the real wage rate is determined to clear commodity markets in the short run as in the Keynesian theory, while Marx believed that the real wage rate is given at subsistence level or is influenced by the labour market. Okishio attributes the origin of the business cycle to labourers’ under-consumption and private capitalists’ dispersive decision of accumulation. The former is caused by exploitation, and the latter is based on the capitalist class’s private ownership of the means of production. Both are derived from the nature of the capitalist economy. He argues lastly that, in the long term, the development of productive force through the business cycle will transform the production relation into a new economic system. Preface to English Edition Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Contents About the Author List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction 1.1 The Structure of This Book 1.2 Various Issues Today 1.3 The Relationship Between Capital and This Book 2 Fundamental Structure of Capitalist Economy 2.1 The Characteristics of a Capitalist Economy 2.1.1 Productive Force and Production Relations 2.1.2 Productive Forces and Production Relations in the Capitalist Economy 2.2 The Conditions for Profit Existence 2.2.1 Various Vulgar Views 2.2.2 Casual Observations and the Question 2.2.3 The Conditions for Profit Existence 2.2.4 A Mechanism to Guarantee Profits 2.3 Theories of Determination of the Real Wage Rate 2.3.1 The Reproduction Cost Theory 2.3.2 The Marginal Productivity Theory 2.3.3 The Labor-Market Theory 2.3.4 The Commodity-Market Theory 2.4 Mechanism of Determination of the Real Wage Rate 2.4.1 Reproduction of Wage-Labor Power and Real Wages 2.4.2 Temporary Determination of the Real Wage Rate 2.4.3 Factors that Determine the Real Wage Rate 2.4.4 Movement of the Real Wage Rate Mathematical Appendix Uniform Profit Rate and Real Wage Rate Temporary Equilibrium of the Real Wage Rate 3 Extended Reproduction in the Capitalist Economy 3.1 Reproduction 3.1.1 Reproduction in General 3.1.2 Reproduction in the Capitalist Economy 3.2 Various Theories on the Capital Accumulation 3.2.1 David Ricardo’s Point of View 3.2.2 Malthus’s View 3.2.3 Sismondi, the Narodniks, and Luxemburg’s View 3.3 Extended Reproduction in the Capitalist Economy 3.3.1 Reproductive Replacement in the Capitalist Economy: Simple Reproduction 3.3.2 Extended Reproduction in the Capitalist Economy 3.4 The “Equilibrium” Accumulation Trajectory 3.4.1 Steady Extended Reproduction Trajectory 3.4.2 The Equilibrium Accumulation Trajectory: A Constant Technology Case 3.4.3 The Implication of the Equilibrium Accumulation Trajectory 3.4.4 An Equilibrium Trajectory of Capital Accumulation with Technological Progress Mathematical Appendix Equilibrium Accumulation Trajectory and Sector Ratio 4 Accumulation and Crisis in Capitalist System 4.1 Cumulative Process of Disequilibrium 4.1.1 The Vulgar View 4.1.2 Importance of Accumulation Demand 4.1.3 Capitalists’ Decision on Accumulation Demand 4.1.4 Cumulative Process of Disequilibrium 4.2 Theories on Economic Crisis 4.2.1 Underconsumption Theory 4.2.2 Theory of Declining Profit Rate Due to Real Wage Rate Increase 4.3 Economic Crisis 4.3.1 Inevitability of Economic Crisis 4.3.2 Triggers of Economic Crisis 4.3.3 Implications of Economic Crisis 4.4 Reversal 4.4.1 Inevitability of Reversal 4.4.2 Triggers of Reversal 4.4.3 Business Cycle Mathematical Appendix Cumulativeness in Disequilibrium 5 Tendency Law in Capitalistic Accumulation 5.1 Arguments on Tendency Law 5.1.1 Counterarguments Against Tendency Law 5.1.2 Equilibrium Growth Theory 5.1.3 Breakdown Theory 5.2 Marx’s Tendency Law 5.2.1 Law of the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall 5.2.2 The Law of the Progressive Production of the Relative Surplus Population 5.2.3 Implication of the Laws 5.3 Capitalist Production Relations and Fetters to the Productive Force 5.3.1 Difficulty of Realization and a Fall in the Profit Rate in Relation to an Increase in the Productive Force 5.3.2 Increase in the Minimum Required Funds and the Mobilization of Public Funds 5.3.3 Global Control Over Nature and Environmental Pollution 5.3.4 Information-Processing Ability and Its Monopoly 5.4 Transformation of the Capitalist System 5.4.1 Rebellion of the Labor Class 5.4.2 Realistic Direction of Human Continuance 6 A Vision Toward New Society Correction to: The Theory of Accumulation Correction to: N. Okishio, The Theory of Accumulation, Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7905-6 References Index