The Great Recession and Marx's Crisis Theory

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2807863
AutoresAndrew Kliman (Art Institute of Chicago, autor correspondente)
Ano2015
Volume74
Fascículo2
Páginas236-277
Data de publicação2015-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Journal of Economics and Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0002-9246 • E-ISSN: 1536-7150
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ajes.12094
OpenAlexW1874377169
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas6
Referências citadas15

To help understand why the Great Recession occurred, this article focuses on its underlying causes and employs Karl Marx's theory of capitalist economic crisis. It shows that U.S. corporations' rate of return on fixed asset investment fell throughout the half-century preceding the recession, and that this fall accounts for the entire decline in their rate of capital accumulation (productive investment). The investment slowdown led to a decline in the rate of economic growth, which was a main cause of rising debt burdens, as were stimulative fiscal and monetary policies that delayed but exacerbated the effects of the underlying economic problems. The article also refutes the claim that the rate of profit could not really have fallen because massive redistribution of income from wages to profits took place, and it argues that it is unlikely that major crises of capitalism can be eliminated

Economic history · Economics · Great recession · Keynesian economics · Neoclassical economics · Positive economics · Recession · Economic Theory and Policy · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Political Economy and Marxism