The Chilean economy, an analysis of the dynamics of profits, investments and production: A Marxist approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 030981682110547
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Durán ◽  
Michael Stanton
Keyword(s):  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Hours Worked ◽  
Surplus Value ◽  
Organic Composition ◽  
High Copper ◽  
Marxist Approach ◽  
Unpaid Labour ◽  
Rate Of Profit

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.

scholarly journals A "Primeira Versão" da Teoria da Crise de Marx: a queda da massa de mais-valia social e o limite interno absoluto do capital

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-203
Author(s):  
Nuno Miguel Cardoso Machado
Keyword(s):  
Surplus Value ◽  
Capitalist Economy ◽  
Organic Composition ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The Law ◽  
Rate Of Profit ◽  
Composition Of Capital

Abstract Marx's theory of crisis is usually associated with the law of the tendential fall in the rate of profit presented in volume three of Capital. According to Marx, the rising organic composition of capital - the fact that variable capital grows in absolute terms, but falls relatively because of the faster growth of constant capital - results in the fall of the general rate of profit, which undermines the reproduction of capital. In this article I will argue that: i) there is a "first version" of Marx's theory of crisis, outlined especially in the Grundrisse, which ascribes the secular crisis of the capitalist economy to the absolute decline of living labour and, therefore, to the falling mass of socially produced surplus-value; ii) only this "first version" of the theory of crisis allows the absolute internal limit of capital to be deduced consistently.

scholarly journals Teoria da crise e a queda da taxa de lucro

2019 ◽  
pp. 15-35
Author(s):  
David Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Technical Change ◽  
Surplus Value ◽  
Organic Composition ◽  
Productivity Increase ◽  
Value Production ◽  
The Law ◽  
Rate Of Profit ◽  
Composition Of Capital ◽  
Profit Rates

David Harvey apresenta uma crítica à importância dada à lei da queda tendencial da taxa de lucro, sugerindo que Marx derivou a “lei” de pressupostos “draconianos” e que Engels foi bem mais entusiasta dela do que Marx, que nunca voltou adiante à teoria apesar de sua evidente incompletude. Portanto, ele argumenta, não deveríamos levar suas conclusões teóricas muito longe. Em sua visão, Marx concebeu as crises como erupções momentâneas e violentas que resolviam as contradições existentes, que podem ser consideradas oportunidades para a reconstrução capitalista ao invés de um sinal do fim eminente do capitalismo. Harvey defende que a taxa de lucro pode ser estabilizada por uma variedade de fatores como uma desvalorização do capital constante devido à mudança tecnológica, a monopolização ou a aceleração do tempo de rotação tanto na produção como na circulação. Ele argumenta, ainda, que um aumento da produtividade que não seja associado a perdas de emprego não reduziria a produção de mais-valia. Ademais, uma queda nas taxas de lucro pode resultar de muitos outros motivos além do aumento da composição orgânica do capital. ABSTRACTDavid Harvey’s article argues against the importance given to the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall (TRPF), suggesting that Marx derived the “law” under “draconian” assumptions and that Engels was far more enthusiastic about it than Marx, who never went back to the theory later in his life despite its evident incompleteness. Therefore, he argues, we should not take his theoretical conclusions too far. In his view, Marx perceived crises as momentary and violent eruptions that resolve the existing contradictions which can be considered as opportunities of capitalist reconstruction rather than a sign of the imminent end of capitalism. Harvey argues that the rate of profit can be stabilized by a variety of factors such as a devaluation of the existing constant capital due to technical change, monopolization, or accelerating turnover times in both production and circulation. He argues, moreover, that a productivity increase that is not associated with job losses would not reduce surplus value production. Moreover, a fall in profit rates could result from a number of reasons rather than an increase in the organic composition of capital. Tradução: Cássio Arruda Boechat ([email protected])

Reproduction and Crisis in Capitalist Economies

2018 ◽  
pp. 278-298
Author(s):  
Deepankar Basu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Aggregate Demand ◽  
Financial Fragility ◽  
Surplus Value ◽  
Organic Composition ◽  
Circuit Of Capital ◽  
Marxist Tradition ◽  
Composition Of Capital

An economic crisis in capitalism is a deep and prolonged interruption of the economy-wide circuit of capital. Crises emerge from within the logic of capitalism’s operation, and are manifestations of the inherently contradictory process of capital accumulation. The Marxist tradition conceptualizes two types of crisis tendencies in capitalism: a crisis of deficient surplus value and a crisis of excess surplus value. Two mechanisms that become important in crises of deficient surplus value are the rising organic composition of capital and the profit squeeze: two mechanisms that are salient in crises of excess surplus value are problems of insufficient aggregate demand and increased financial fragility. This chapter offers a synthetic and synoptic account of the Marxist literature on capitalist crisis.

“THE MERCHANTS OF CADIZ AND LISBON”: PARSIMONY, THE RATE OF PROFIT, AND ACCUMULATION IN WEALTH OF NATIONS

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M.C. WATERMAN
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Causal Relation ◽  
High Income ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Wealth Of Nations ◽  
Rate Of Profit ◽  
Negative Growth

In Wealth of Nations, a high rate of profit is associated with sluggish or even negative growth, and vice versa. This is because capital accumulation (and therefore population growth) is driven by parsimony of the masters; and the incentive to self-denial is eroded by a high income too easily obtained. The causal relation between parsimony, the rate of profit, and accumulation is explicated in this article; Adam Smith’s observations concerning “the merchants of Cadiz and Lisbon” examined critically; and some conjectures offered as to why Smith’s successors should have rejected parsimony as a useful concept.

The transformation from value determination to value realization: the logical dilemma of the Okishio theorem

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengsheng Wang ◽  
Bangxi Li ◽  
Shan Gu
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Exchange Process ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Surplus Value ◽  
The Real ◽  
Dialectical Relationship ◽  
Value Determination ◽  
Value Realization ◽  
Rate Of Profit

PurposeDifferent from Marx's analysis of the dialectical relationship between the production and realization of surplus value, the Okishio theorem only shows one aspect of the contradictory movement of the total social capital, that is, the reverse effect of the realization of surplus value on the production of surplus value.Design/methodology/approachThe production of surplus value and the realization of surplus value are simplified into one process. This simplification eliminates the contradiction between the production and realization of surplus value, and the antagonistic contradiction between accumulation and consumption and the antagonistic production-distribution relationship in capitalist society are naturally covered up.FindingsTherefore, it cannot explain the actual expansion way of the falling general rate of profit as the historical development law of capitalism. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the Okishio theorem places the analysis of the general rate of profit back into the social reproduction model with department equilibrium, which points out the significance of wage income to the realization of surplus value and outlines the macro mechanism of the realization of surplus value reacting to the production of surplus value. It also strongly promotes the research progress of the law that the profit rate tends to decline.Originality/valueThe mistake of the Okishio theorem is that the exchange process in the labor market forms the real wage rate. It determines the production price of wage goods, which thereby determines that the production price of capital goods and general rate of profit, the production of surplus value and realization of surplus value are simplified into the same process, and only the value that can be realized is the real value.

Chapter 15 Exposition of the Internal Contradictions of the Law

Capital ◽  
2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Marx
Keyword(s):  
Surplus Value ◽  
The Law ◽  
Rate Of Profit

I. General We have seen in the first part of this book that the rate of profit expresses the rate of surplus-value always lower than it actually is. We have just seen that even a rising rate of surplus-value has a tendency to express itself...

Chapter 9 Formation of a General Rate of Profit (Average Rate of Profit) and Transformation of The Values of Commodities into Prices of Production

Capital ◽  
2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Marx
Keyword(s):  
Average Rate ◽  
Organic Composition ◽  
Rate Of Profit ◽  
Labour Power ◽  
Means Of Production ◽  
Composition Of Capital

The organic composition of capital depends at any given time on two circumstances: first, on the technical relation of labour-power employed to the mass of the means of production employed; secondly, on the price of these means of production. This composition, as we have...

Value is Still Labour: Exploitation and the Production of Environmental Rent and Commodities for Nature Tourists in Rural Senegal

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocío Hiraldo Lopez-Alonso
Keyword(s):  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Monetary Incentives ◽  
Surplus Value ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Commodity Production ◽  
Project Costs ◽  
Commodification Of Nature ◽  
Working Day ◽  
Climate Rent

Monetary incentives such as nature-based tourism and payment for ecosystem service (PES) mechanisms have become increasingly promoted as a means for protecting the environment. Critical scholars are interpreting these developments as forms of accumulation based upon the commodification of nature, prosumption and institutional power that make labour progressively irrelevant in the production of value. Drawing on the case of two Senegalese villages and on Marx's concepts of commodity and value, this paper suggests that such perspectives are inaccurate and that they serve to silence workers’ experiences of exploitation in these contexts. The paper proposes to go beyond generalising conceptualisations of the green economy such as “accumulation by conservation” and to be specific about the ways in which production and therefore working conditions relate to capital accumulation. It distinguishes between nature-based tourism and PES mechanisms: the former a profit-driven commodity production process, the latter a means for depoliticising environmental problems associated to capitalist commodity production through the payment of an environmental or climate rent that does not generate any value. Through this perspective it shows how in rural Senegal villagers’ working day needs to be long, intense and poorly rewarded to reduce PES project costs and facilitate the extraction of surplus value by owners of nature-based tourism businesses as well as how labour hierarchies go hand in hand with relations of exploitation between workers. Capitalists, donors and local intermediaries’ ability to take advantage of workers’ labour is facilitated by the agrarian crises that capital has generated in these Senegalese villages, but it is also contested as workers rise up against exploitation. Capital's ability to survive to its own ecological contradictions therefore rests upon workers’ shoulders and not exclusively on the formation of class hegemonies.

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