Marx&apos;s Law of the Profit Rate and the Reproduction of Capitalism: Neither Determinism Nor Overdetermination

Juan Pablo Mateo Tomé, null

doi:10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.9.1.0041

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World Review of Political Economy

Volume 9, Issue 1

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Marx's Law of the Profit Rate and the Reproduction of Capitalism: Neither Determinism Nor Overdetermination

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research-article

Author(s): Juan Pablo Mateo Tomé

Publication date (Print): Spring 2018

Journal: World Review of Political Economy

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: methodology, economic law, profit rate, Marxist economics

Abstract

This article supports a holistic interpretation of Marxian thought to argue the existence of socio-historical, objectives and tendential laws of motion governing the reproduction of the system. In particular, it highlights the place of the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall in the analysis of the reproduction of capitalism, and therefore the theory of crisis, as crises arise from the inner logic of capital. While holistic and emphasizing the objective aspects, this approach is not deterministic, nor does it fall into the indeterminacy of the overdetermination approach.

Content

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): worlrevipoliecon

Title: World Review of Political Economy

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 2042891X

ISSN (Electronic): 20428928

Publication date (Print): Spring 2018

Volume: 9

Issue: 1

Pages: 41-60

Article

Publisher ID: worlrevipoliecon.9.1.0041

DOI: 10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.9.1.0041

SO-VID: e2278b26-4d64-4ce7-9b7d-e5a155b23d16

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

References

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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Althusser, L. (1965) 2005. For Marx . London: Verso.

[2] Althusser, L., and E. Balibar. (1965) 2009. Reading Capital . London: Verso.

[3] Anievas, A., and K. Nisancioglu. 2015. How the West Came to Rule. The Geopolitical Origins of Capitalism . London: Pluto Press.

[4] Astarita, R. 2014. “Lógica del capital y crítica marxista” [Logic of Capital and Marxist Critic]. https://rolandoastarita.wordpress.com/.

[5] Banaji, J. 2011. Theory as History: Essays on Modes of Production and Exploitation . London: Haymarket.

[6] Bunge, M. 1978. Causalidad. El principio de causalidad en la ciencia moderna [Causality: The Principle of Causality in Modern Science]. Buenos Aires: Eudeba.

[7] Burkett, J. 2000. “Marx's Concept of an Economic Law of Motion.” History of Political Economy 32 (2): 381–394.

[8] Carchedi, G. 2011. Behind the Crisis: Marx's Dialectics of Value and Knowledge . Boston: Brill.

[9] Clarke, S. 1994. Marx's Theory of Crisis . London: Palgrave.

[10] Cullenberg, S. 1994. The Falling Rate of Profit: Recasting the Marxian Debate . London: Pluto Press.

[11] Cullenberg, S. 1999. “Overdetermination, Totality, and Institutions: A Genealogy of a Marxist Institutionalist Economics.” Journal of Economic Issues 33 (4): 801–815.

[12] Duménil, G., and D. Lévy. 2003. “Technology and Distribution: Historical Trajectories à la Marx.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 52 (2): 201–233.

[13] Engels, F. 1894. “Engels to W. Borgius, 25 January.” in Marx & Engels Collected Works , vol. 50, 264–267. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[14] Fleetwood, S. 2012. “Laws and Tendencies in Marxist Political Economy.” Capital & Class 36 (2): 235–262.

[15] Freeman, A. 2010. “Crisis and ‘Law of Motion’ in Economics: A Critique of Positivist Marxism.” Research of Political Economy , no. 26: 211–250.

[16] Freeman, A. 2016. “Booms, Depressions and the Rate of Profit: A Pluralist, Inductive Guide.” in The Great Financial Meltdown: Systemic, Conjunctural or Policy Created? edited by T. Subasat, 73–96. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.

[17] Guerrero, D. 2008. Un resumen completo de El Capital de Marx [A Complete Summary of Marx's Capital]. Madrid: Maia.

[18] Harvey, D. 2016. “Crisis Theory and the Falling Rate of Profit.” in The Great Financial Meltdown: Systemic, Conjunctural or Policy Created? edited by T. Subasat, 37–54. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.

[19] Heinrich, M. 2013. “Crisis Theory, the Law of the Tendency of the Profit Rate to Fall, and Marx's Studies in the 1870s.” Monthly Review 64 (11): 15–31.

[20] Jay, M. 1984. Marxism and Totality: The Adventures of a Concept from Lukács to Habermas . Cambridge: Cambridge Polity Press.

[21] Kliman, A. 2007. Reclaiming Marx's Capital: A Refutation of the Myth of Inconsistency . Lanham: Lexington Books.

[22] Mandel, E. 1975 (1999). Late Capitalism . London: Verso.

[23] Marx, K. 1845. “Theses on Feuerbach.” in Marx & Engels Collected Works , vol. 5, 1–14. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[24] Marx, K. 1857–1858a. “Economic Manuscripts of 1857–58. Introduction.” in Marx & Engels Collected Works , vol. 28, 17–48. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[25] Marx, K. 1857–1858b. “Outlines of the Critique of Political Economy (Rough Draft of 1857–58) [First Installment].” in Marx & Engels Collected Works , vol. 28, 49–537. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[26] Marx, K. 1857–1858c. “Outlines of the Critique of Political Economy (Rough Draft of 1857–58) [Second Installment].” in Marx & Engels Collected Works , vol. 29, 5–256. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[27] Marx, K. 1857–1861. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy . In Marx & Engels Collected Works , vol. 29, 257–417. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[28] Marx, K. 1861–1863a. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy . In Marx & Engels Collected Works , Vol. 32. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[29] Marx, K. 1861–1863b. “Results of the Direct Production Process.” in Marx & Engels Collected Works , vol. 34, 355–506. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[30] Marx, K. 1865. “Value, Price and Profit.” in Marx & Engels Collected Works , vol. 20, 101–149. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[31] Marx, K. 1867. Capital , vol. I. In Marx & Engels Collected Works , Vol. 35. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[32] Marx, K. 1894. Capital , vol. III. In Marx & Engels Collected Works , Vol. 37. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[33] Marx, K., and F. Engels. 1848. “Manifesto of the Communist Party.” in Marx & Engels Collected Works , vol. 6, 477–519. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[34] Mateo, J. P. 2008. “Una aproximación alternativa a las dimensiones de la composición del capital” [An Alternative Approach to the Dimensions of Capital Composition]. Ensayos de Economía 18 (33): 81–108.

[35] Mateo, J. P. 2013. “La crisis económica mundial y la acumulación de capital, las finanzas y la distribución del ingreso. Debates en la economía marxista” [The World Economic Crisis and Accumulation of Capital, Finance and Income Distribution. Debates in Marxist Economics]. Revista de Economía Crítica 15: 31–60.

[36] Mateo, J. P. 2017. “Heterodox Controversies of the Great Recession: (Neo)Marxists, Post-Keynesians and Radicals.” Unpublished document, The New School.

[37] Milios, J., D. Dimoulis, and G. Economakis. 2002. Karl Marx and the Classics. An Essay on Value, Crises and the Capitalist Mode of Production . Hampshire: Ashgate.

[38] Ollman, B. 1971. Alienation: Marx's Conception of Man in Capitalist Society . New York: Cambridge University Press.

[39] Ollman, B. 2003. Dance of the Dialectic: Steps in Marx's Method . Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

[40] Osorio, J. 2001. Fundamentos del análisis social. La realidad social y su conocimiento [Foundations of Social Analysis: Social Reality and Its Knowledge]. Mexico City: UAM-FCE.

[41] Park, H. W. 2013. “Overdetermination: Althusser versus Resnick and Wolff.” Rethinking Marxism 25 (3): 325–340.

[42] Post, C. 2013. “Capitalism, Laws of Motion and Social Relations of Production.” Historical Materialism 21 (4): 71–91.

[43] Roberts, M. 2016. “Monocausality and Crisis Theory: A Reply to David Harvey.” in The Great Financial Meltdown. Systemic, Conjunctural or Policy Created? edited by T. Subasat, 55–72. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.

[44] Shaikh, A. 1990. Valor, acumulación y crisis: ensayos de economía política [Value, Accumulation and Crisis: Essays of Political Economy]. Bogota: Tercer Mundo Editores.

[45] Shaikh, A. 2016. Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises . New York: Oxford University Press.

[46] Silverman, M. 2013. “Overdetermined or Indeterminate? Remarks on Knowledge and Class.” Rethinking Marxism 25 (3): 311–324.

[47] Westphal, K. R. 2003. Hegel's Epistemology: A Philosophical Introduction to Phenomenology of Spirit . Indianapolis, IN and Cambridge: Hackett.

[48] Wolff, R., and S. Resnick. 2006. New Departures in Marxian Theory . New York: Routledge.

[49] Wolff, R., and S. Resnick. 2012. Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian, and Marxian . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

[50] Wood, E. M. 2012. The Ellen Meiksins Wood Reader . Boston: Brill.