The Chilean economy, an analysis of the dynamics of profits, investments and production

A Marxist approach

Bibliographic Data

ID3833347
AuthorsGustavo Durán (0000-0001-6800-3599, University of Duisburg-Essen, corresponding author), Michael Stanton (0000-0002-8142-6569, Independent Researcher, Chile)
Year2022
Volume46
Issue3
Pages377-400
Publication date2022-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCapital & Class (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0309-8168 • E-ISSN: 2041-0980
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/03098168211054799
OpenAlexW3209163302
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited13

This article aims to examine the dynamics of the Chilean economy as a consequence of actions taken by companies whose aim is to make profits. As such, the economic analysis used is Marxist and makes use of those classical indicators described in Capital (Rate of Surplus-Value, Organic Composition of Capital and Rate of Profit). It is maintained that with the Marxist method, we can discover that behind the accumulation of incomes lies the fact that out of each 8 hours worked, only 3 finance wages and 5 benefit the owners of capital. That fraction of the unpaid labour received by capital but invested back as new capital, plus that 'excess' surplus value that is consequence of high copper prices, raises the physical, but not necessarily the value, capital-per-worker ratio. As a consequence, that relation of exploitation to capital accumulation, which Marx called the Rate of Profit, is found to fall, rise and then fall again. We understand that various approaches have been made to calculate the classical indicators and include some of them as alternative methods in our results

Capital accumulation · Capital formation · Capitalism · Economics · Financial capital · Fixed capital · Marxist philosophy · Microeconomics · Prices of production · Profit rate · Rate of profit · Surplus value · Economic Theory and Policy · Political Economy and Marxism

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Open DOIOpen Access