Monopoly Capitalism in Crisis

199 Pages·2004·0.673 MB·English

by  Bill Lucarelli (auth.)

Monopoly Capitalism in Crisis
Also by Bill Lucarelli
THE ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF THE SINGLE MARKET IN EUROPE
Monopoly Capitalism
in Crisis
Bill Lucarelli
University of Western Sydney,
Australia
© Bill Lucarelli 2004
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004 978-1-4039-3255-6
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First published 2004 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-51617-9 ISBN 978-0-230-51170-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230511705
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lucarelli,Bill.
Monopoly capitalism in crisis/Bill Lucarelli.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Capitalism.2.Monopolies.3.Business cycles.4.Marxian economics.
I.Title.
HB501.L896 2004
330.12(cid:2)2—dc22 2003058120
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
Contents
List of Tables viii
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
Part I A Theoretical Critique 11
1 Accumulation and Crisis: Marxian Controversies 13
Introduction 13
1 The law of value revisited 14
2 The tendency of the rate of profit to fall 15
3 Simple and expanded reproduction 22
4 The problem of effective demand 24
Conclusion 29
Appendix 1A Expanded reproduction 30
2 Circular and Cumulative Causation 32
Introduction 32
1 Neoclassical and the “new” endogenous growth theories 32
2 The law of increasing returns 37
3 Endogenous technical change 40
4 The role of effective demand and net exports 43
Conclusion 47
Appendix 2A The Solow/Swan model 48
3 Overaccumulation and Crisis 51
Introduction 51
1 The determination of national income: a Kaleckian model 52
2 Oligopoly and stagnation 56
3 The credit cycle and the onset of debt deflation 60
Conclusion 67
v
vi Contents
4 Long Cycles of Growth and Stagnation? 68
Introduction 68
1 “Creative destruction” 68
2 Oligopoly and technical progress 78
Conclusion 83
Appendix 4A Harrod’s theory of the trade cycle 84
Appendix 4B Classification of technical progress 86
Part II The Era of Stagnation and Crisis: 1975–2000 87
5 The Demise of Pax Americana 89
Introduction 89
1 The crisis of overaccumulation 90
2 The demise of the Breton Woods accords 95
3 The dollar and its rivals 101
4 Third World debt and delusion 104
5 A tripolar world system? 109
Conclusion 113
6 The Onset of “Eurosclerosis” 115
Introduction 115
1 European Monetary Union: the first experiment 116
2 The neoliberal ascendancy in Europe 119
3 The European Monetary System: 1979–87 122
4 The Maastricht blueprint for EMU 127
Conclusion 133
7 The US–Japanese Axis: Unity or Rivalry? 134
Introduction 134
1 The historical context 135
2 From virtuous circle to vicious circle 140
3 A trans-Pacific trade war? 148
Conclusion 156
Contents vii
Conclusion: the Coming Crisis 158
Introduction 158
1 The privileges of US financial hegemony 158
2 A hegemonic crisis? 162
Conclusion 167
Notes 168
Bibliography 171
Index 183
List of Tables
5.1 Profit shares, 1960–73 93
5.2 The growth slowdown, 1960–90 94
5.3 (1) Balance of trade and (2) current account for
the US, Germany and Japan, 1977–80 102
5.4 Indicators of external debt in the nonoil LDCs, 1975–82 106
6.1 Trade balance of the EMS countries, 1979–88 126
7.1 Exports of manufactures from selected East Asian
countries, by major destination, 1985 and 1994 145
viii
List of Figures
4.1 Forward and backward linkages within a
production system 74
5.1 United States: interest rates, 1975–85 103
6.1 Short-term interest rates in the EMS, 1975–98 124
6.2 Consumer price index (inflation rate) in selected
EMS countries 127
6.3 Real effective exchange rates in selected EMS countries 130
7.1 East Asia’s export slump 141
ix