Aspectos Distributivos do Crescimento Econômico: Uma Breve Síntese Teórica

This paper seeks to explore and present, through a synthesis of economic theory, some of the major approaches to the study of income distribution in the context of macroeconomic growth. The starting point is a survey of the classical economic school of thought, classified between the Ricardian and Marxian schools, which predicts a causality from income distribution towards economic growth. The role of a profit squeezing trend upon long term stagnation theorized by the classics is highlighted. Next, the characteristics of the Harrod-Domar model are studied, as well as its main concern, the problem of Harrodian instability. This problem refers to a discrepancy between the equilibrium rate of growth and the rates effectively determined by the factors of production. The importance of this topic lies in the fact that it is approached differently by subsequent authors discussed. Following, some of the elements of neoclassical income distribution and economic growth are discussed, in light of the Harrodian problem. In this sense, distribution is related to the neoclassical pricing system, meanwhile growth is explained by the accumulation of factors of production, according to a production function defined by full factor substitutability. This encumbers the use of the neoclassical structure to support any hypothesis of a relationship between distribution and growth, since these variables are determined in different models and are, therefore, exogenous to one another. On the other hand, post-Keynesian approaches are emphasized, once they predict a relationship between distribution and growth by endogeneizing the equilibrium rate of growth originally introduced by the Harrod-Domar model. These schools of economic thought, cathegorized as Kaldorian-Robinsonian and Kaleckian-Steindlian, being this last one also sorted among the Rowthorn-Dutt and Bhaduri-Marglin models, are finally presented.