The 14 Contradictions of Capitalism

[alanjjohnstone]

A long essay on Marxist economics V capitalism’s apoplogists, mostly citing David Harvey

Multiple Economic Fractures in Mordor: David Harvey and the Contradictions of Capitalism

[ALB]

I am not sure that Harvey qualifies as a Marxian economist. Not only does he not stand for socialism but he comes across as a more of a leftwing Keynesian.

So far only read the introduction quoting Michael Roberts’s guide to other radical economists. I want to quote this but want to check first that the newly-introduced facility here to use red works.

It does

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by ALB. Reason: To confirm colour works

[ALB]

I thought this was an interesting and useful guide to some modern radical economists. I have answered how I think we would answer the questions in red

Here are the questions:

“In his book The Long Depression Michael Roberts asks four key questions from which he derives eight possible answers about the nature of economic turmoil or even whether there is a crisis at all.
1) Is capitalism subject to economic crisis? Yes
Within the camp which says no, a second question is answered.
     1b) Do periodic fluctuations need fixing?
If the answer is “yes” you are a Keynesian like Paul Krugman. If the answer is “no” you are a libertarian like Milton Friedman. For the libertarians capitalism only goes through “business cycles”.
Within the camp that says “yes”, that capitalism is subject to crisis, a second question is asked:
Is the kernel of the crisis found in production? Yes
If the answer is “no” you are an underconsumptionist like Marxists David Harvey or Rosa Luxemburg.
If the answer is “yes” about the kernel of the crisis found in production, there is another question:
 2b) Are crises more than struggle over wages and profit shares? Yes
If no, you are a profit-squeeze supporter. Economics associated with this are Baron and Sweezy and Richard Wolff.
If the answer to the kernel of the crisis is found in production is “yes”, a further question should be:
3a) Are crises integral to the accumulation crisis? Yes
If the answer is “yes” you follow Marx’s argument about the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. This is advocated by Michael Roberts, Anwar Shaikh and Robert Brenner.
If the answer to the question is crisis integral to the accumulation process is “no” then a further question is asked.
4a) Does extra-consumption come from outside the system? No
If the answer is “yes” you are a follower of Rosa Luxemburg or David Harvey and claim that capitalism has limited resources and needs imperialism to survive.
If the answer is “no” to the question then there is second question.
4b) Does extra consumption come from state intervention? No
If the answer is “yes” you are a post Keynesian such as Steve Keen.
If the answer is “no” you are a Malthusian.”

A couple of points. I don’t see why answering Yes to question 3a commits you to thinking that crises are caused by a long term tendency for the rate of profit to fall. I assume that answering No to question 4b makes you a “Malthusian” in the sense that you are saying that total consumption can only increase through an increase in population.

[Anonymous]

He is worst than Richard Wolff

[Author]

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