Monopoly Capitalism in Crisis

by Lucarelli, Bill

• ISBN13: 9781403932556
• ISBN10: 1403932557
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-12
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The world economy is on the brink of a profound crisis. The threat of global deflation and the emergence of chronic excess global capacity characterizes the contemporary phase of crisis and stagnation. Lucarelli argues that these pathological features of globalization acquire a remorseless logic during the "mature" stages of monopoly capitalism. He explores the historical origins and theoretical tendencies of this protracted crisis from a Keynes/Kakecki perspective.

Author Biography

Bill Lucarelli is at the University of Western Sydney, Australia.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	viii
List of Figures	ix
Acknowledgements	x
Introduction	1	(10)
Part I A Theoretical Critique	11	(76)
1 Accumulation and Crisis: Marxian Controversies	13	(19)
Introduction	13	(1)
1 The law of value revisited	14	(1)
2 The tendency of the rate of profit to fall	15	(7)
3 Simple and expanded reproduction	22	(2)
4 The problem of effective demand	24	(5)
Conclusion	29	(1)
Appendix 1A Expanded reproduction	30	(2)
2 Circular and Cumulative Causation	32	(19)
Introduction	32	(1)
1 Neoclassical and the "new" endogenous growth theories	32	(5)
2 The law of increasing returns	37	(3)
3 Endogenous technical change	40	(3)
4 The role of effective demand and net exports	43	(4)
Conclusion	47	(1)
Appendix 2A The Solow/Swan model	48	(3)
3 Overaccumulation and Crisis	51	(17)
Introduction	51	(1)
1 The determination of national income: a Kaleckian model	52	(4)
2 Oligopoly and stagnation	56	(4)
3 The credit cycle and the onset of debt deflation	60	(7)
Conclusion	67	(1)
4 Long Cycles of Growth and Stagnation?	68	(19)
Introduction	68	(1)
1 "Creative destruction"	68	(10)
2 Oligopoly and technical progress	78	(5)
Conclusion	83	(1)
Appendix 4A Harrod's theory of the trade cycle	84	(2)
Appendix 4B Classification of technical progress	86	(1)
Part II The Era of Stagnation and Crisis: 1975-2000	87	(71)
5 The Demise of Pax Americana	89	(26)
Introduction	89	(1)
1 The crisis of overaccumulation	90	(5)
2 The demise of the Breton Woods accords	95	(6)
3 The dollar and its rivals	101	(3)
4 Third World debt and delusion	104	(5)
5 A tripolar world system?	109	(4)
Conclusion	113	(2)
6 The Onset of "Eurosclerosis"	115	(19)
Introduction	115	(1)
1 European Monetary Union: the first experiment	116	(3)
2 The neoliberal ascendancy in Europe	119	(3)
3 The European Monetary System: 1979-87	122	(5)
4 The Maastricht blueprint for EMU	127	(6)
Conclusion	133	(1)
7 The US Japanese Axis: Unity or Rivalry?	134	(24)
Introduction	134	(1)
1 The historical context	135	(5)
2 From virtuous circle to vicious circle	140	(8)
3 A trans-Pacific trade war?	148	(8)
Conclusion	156	(2)
Conclusion: the Coming Crisis	158	(10)
Introduction	158	(1)
1 The privileges of US financial hegemony	158	(4)
2 A hegemonic crisis?	162	(5)
Conclusion	167	(1)
Notes	168	(3)
Bibliography	171	(12)
Index	183