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Crisis, Marxism, and Economic Laws: A Response to Gary Mongiovi

In: Revitalizing Marxist Theory for Today's Capitalism

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  • Alan Freeman

Abstract

Gary Mongiovi accurately cites my thesis, presented inFreeman (2010a)(henceforth referred to asPositivist Marxismand abbreviated toPM), that “capitalism's inner laws express themselves in … different ways during booms and during crises” and that “When the business cycle is in an upswing … the tensions and contradictions that will eventually interrupt the process of capital accumulation are camouflaged by the commodity form, and so appear as natural laws of motion.” He also expresses general agreement with this thesis, but complains that the way I present it is “marred by a gratuitous methodological argument” which is “misleading and therefore stand[s] in the way of productive discussion.” The methodological argument in question is that no theory based on the method of static equilibrium can provide an explanation of endogenous capitalist crisis; this is the main issue I address in this response.PMapplies this argument in order to examine a theoretical current that dominates Western, academic, Marxism. This current interprets Marx's theory as a variant of general equilibrium. In this response I refer to it as simultaneist Marxism (SM).

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  • Alan Freeman, 2011. "Crisis, Marxism, and Economic Laws: A Response to Gary Mongiovi," Research in Political Economy, in: Revitalizing Marxist Theory for Today's Capitalism, pages 285-296, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:rpeczz:s0161-7230(2011)0000027013
    DOI: 10.1108/S0161-7230(2011)0000027013
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    1. Freeman, Alan, 2010. "Trends in Value Theory since 1881," MPRA Paper 48646, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Jan 2011.
    2. Freeman, Alan, 2009. "How much is enough?," MPRA Paper 13262, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Freeman, Alan, 2009. "Marxism without Marx: a note towards a critique," MPRA Paper 48618, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 17 Nov 2009.
    4. Freeman, Alan, 1999. "The limits of Ricardian value: law, contingency and motion in economics," MPRA Paper 2574, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Freeman, Alan, 2006. "An Invasive Metaphor: the Concept of Centre of Gravity in Economics," MPRA Paper 6812, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Freeman, Alan, 2002. "Marx After Marx After Sraffa," MPRA Paper 2619, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Alan Freeman, 2009. "The Economists of Tomorrow: the Case for a Pluralist Subject Benchmark Statement for Economics," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 8(2), pages 23-40.
    8. Freeman, Alan, 2009. "Investing In Civilization," MPRA Paper 26807, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Feb 2009.
    9. Freeman, Alan, 2003. "When Things Go Wrong: the Political Economy of Market Breakdown," MPRA Paper 5586, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Radhika Desai, 2010. "Consumption demand in Marx and in the current crisis," Research in Political Economy, in: The National Question and the Question of Crisis, pages 101-143, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    11. Wells, Julian, 2006. "The dogs that didn’t bark: Marx and Engels and statistical fatalism," MPRA Paper 65215, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    JEL classification:

    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925
    • B14 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist
    • B3 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals
    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches

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