The Self-Expansion of Capital on a World Scale

This Marxian critique of the multinational corporation (MNC) is one of the first articles by this well-known European economist to appear in English. It argues that the emergence of the MNC merely expresses more funda mental changes: the international spread of capital, the new international mode of accumulation and the heightened nature of class struggle. Palloix examines these changes by using the circuits of capital set forth by Marx. He finds that in recent years the circuits of money capital and productive capital have become much more internationalized, particularly since the late 1960's when there was a shift of international investment in productive facilities to less developed nations. This went hand-in-hand with the more extensive penetration of some developed nations, like France, by foreign capital. Palloix concludes that this new international mode of accumulation linked most nations more closely to the international division of labor, making it more difficult for them to follow inde pendent economic policies. Thus, the nation-state's role in assuring that certain critical industries can adjust to international conditions becomes even more important for capital. But the resulting situation also involves heightened contra dictions in capitalism and greater class struggle. In a methodological appendix, Palloix utilizes Marx's circuits of the self-expansion of individual and social capital to analyze the internationalization of capital.