Marx’s Theory of the Declining Rate of Profit and the Collapse of Capitalism

Marx believed that the technical advances which offered workers so little would in the end prove equally disappointing to the capitalists. Production would become increasingly concentrated into a handful of giant companies, so that the beneficiaries of capitalism would not be numerous. Moreover, the technological trends that he extrapolated from his own century indicated that growing capital intensification would force down the rate of profit that even these companies could earn until they failed to be financially viable. Alternatively, capitalism might collapse because an impoverished working class could provide no market for their vast potential output. It is remarkable that Marx could predict a dismal economic future for both workers and capitalists in the face of rapid and continuous technical advance.