Technical Change and the Rate of Profit in Classical-Marxian Models of Economic Growth
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19233296 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Deepankar Basu (0000-0001-5340-0524, University of Massachusetts Amherst, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of Radical Political Economics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0486-6134 • E-ISSN: 1552-8502 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/04866134251387370 |
| OpenAlex | W7125797132 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 11 |
I study the effect of viable technical change on the equilibrium profit rate in Classical-Marxian models of economic growth with alternative labor market closures. Capitalists adopt a new technique of production only if it is expected to increase the profit rate at the existing real wage rate. I consider three alternative closures: (a) constant real wage rate (labor surplus economy), (b) constant wage share (advanced capitalist economy with strong labor), and (c) constant unemployment rate (advanced capitalist economy with weak labor). I show that the equilibrium profit rate can unambiguously fall after viable capital-using, labor-saving (CU-LS) technical for an advanced economy with strong labor. JEL Classification : B51, C02
Profit rate · Rate of profit · Technical change · Technical progress · Unemployment · Unemployment rate · Wage · Wage rate · Economic Growth and Productivity · Economic Theory and Policy · Political Economy and Marxism
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |