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Demand, Production, and the Determinants of Distribution: A Caveat on “Wage-Led Growth”

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  • Paulo dos Santos

Abstract

The incomes of workers and capitalists pertain to different moments of accumulation. Wages are shares of capital outlays sustaining production; profits are shares of commodity sales. If aggregate demand and the scale of productive undertakings are shaped with a measure of mutual autonomy, the class distribution of income and the measure of economic activity are jointly determined by the same processes. In those settings “wage-led growth” has neither analytical nor policy purchase as associations between wage shares and levels of output (or growth) are confounded consequences of distinct effects on each measure of broader developments in the economy. A more appropriate dichotomy is that between “investment-led” and “consumption-led” growth, with the former resulting in comparatively higher wage shares. After advancing and illustrating these points, this paper motivates its approach to class income flows and the role of demand--which draw on the Circuit of Capital--in relation to the equivalent Kaleckian approaches sustaining arguments for “wage-led growth.”

Suggested Citation

  • Paulo dos Santos, 2013. "Demand, Production, and the Determinants of Distribution: A Caveat on “Wage-Led Growth”," Working Papers wp323, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    • Handle: RePEc:uma:periwp:wp323
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Foley, Duncan K., 1982. "Realization and accumulation in a Marxian model of the circuit of capital," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 300-319, December.
    2. Paulo L dos Santos, 2013. "A Note on Credit Allocation, Income Distribution, and the Circuit of Capital," Working Papers 181, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK.
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    7. Engelbert Stockhammer & Ozlem Onaran, 2013. "Wage-led growth: theory, evidence, policy," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 61-78, January.
    8. Marc Lavoie, 1992. "Foundations of Post-Keynesian Economic Analysis," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 275.
    9. Dutt, Amitava Krishna, 1984. "Stagnation, Income Distribution and Monopoly Power," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(1), pages 25-40, March.
    10. repec:ilo:ilowps:478623 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Michalis Nikiforos & Duncan K. Foley, 2012. "Distribution And Capacity Utilization: Conceptual Issues And Empirical Evidence," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 200-229, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jo Michell, 2014. "A Steindlian account of the distribution of corporate profits and leverage: A stock-flow consistent macroeconomic model with agent-based microfoundations," Working Papers PKWP1412, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    2. Paulo L. Santos, 2014. "A Note on Credit Allocation, Income Distribution and the Circuit of Capital," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 212-236, May.
    3. Jo Michell, 2014. "Factors generating and transmitting the financial crisis; Functional distribution of income," Working papers wpaper41, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.

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    Keywords

    Income Distribution; Circuit of Capital ; Marxian Analyses;
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