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Elements for a Study of the Profit Rate

Author

Listed:
  • Rémy Herrera
  • Zhiming Long

    (THU - Tsinghua University [Beijing])

  • Weinan Ding

    (THU - Tsinghua University [Beijing])

Abstract

Considering that the rate of profit constitutes a key indicator for the analysis of the evolution of capitalist economies, this chapter proposes to study the case of France from 1896 to 2019, that is, over 124 years in total. From a series of stock of productive capital reconstructed for the occasion, a rate of profit is calculated at the macroeconomic level within a conceptual framework faithful to Marx. Over this period of more than a century, three successive long waves are identified, as parts of a secular trend towards the fall in the French rate of profit. The latter, however, recovered several times during these three sub-periods, but finally reoriented downwards, with fluctuations of an amplitude tending to decrease more and more and a deployment in a decreasing spiral of French capitalism. This long-term downward trend is mainly due to the rise in the organic composition of capital.

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  • Rémy Herrera & Zhiming Long & Weinan Ding, 2023. "Elements for a Study of the Profit Rate," Post-Print hal-04367756, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04367756
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04367756
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Weisskopf, Thomas E, 1979. "Marxian Crisis Theory and the Rate of Profit in the Postwar U.S. Economy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 3(4), pages 341-378, December.
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    Keywords

    Rate of profit; long waves; productive capital; organic composition of capital; decomposition of the profit rate; France; Rate of profit long waves productive capital organic composition of capital decomposition of the profit rate France;
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