Technology and distribution: historical trajectories à la Marx

In Capital, Marx introduces a system of historical tendencies accounting for the trends of the major technological and distributional variables (notably the profit rate), quite distinct from the usual steady states. Marx’s main insight is that of a difficulty to innovate. It is difficult to find new...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of economic behavior & organization 2003-10, Vol.52 (2), p.201-233
Main Authors: Levy, Dominique, Dumenil, Gerard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Economic history
Economic models
Economic theory
Economics
Historical tendencies
History
Labor market
Labour productivity
Marx
Marxism
Organization theory
Productivity
Profit
Profit rate
Studies
Technical change
Technological change
Technology
Wage rates
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Summary:In Capital, Marx introduces a system of historical tendencies accounting for the trends of the major technological and distributional variables (notably the profit rate), quite distinct from the usual steady states. Marx’s main insight is that of a difficulty to innovate. It is difficult to find new processes allowing for the growth of labor productivity while not considerably reducing the productivity of capital. The growth of the wage rate is stimulated by the rise of employment, but the stabilization of the share of wages forbids a direct imputation of the decline of the profit rate to the excessive growth of the wage rate.
ISSN:0167-2681
1879-1751
DOI:10.1016/S0167-2681(03)00022-2