As someone who had to "unlearn" neo-classical Economics AND what Joan Robinson called "bastard Keynesianism" (by which she meant the American version of Keynesianism that permeated the Samuelson style Principles textbooks from 1949 to the 1970s) I was very interested to see Louis' post.
Louis, you may be interested to know that the quote from Marx that the advanced Capitalist countries show to the rest of the world "their future" was explained by Sweezy (somewhere, don't remember exactly where) as being specifically directed at the Germans to let them know that from Marx's point of view, the dynamics of Capitalism he had "discovered" in Britain was going to be the dynamics of capitalism in Germany, France, etc. But Marx was of TWO MINDS about India --- he did of course describe with great anger the plunder of India and other colonial subjugations --- in fact that was the point of the story of "primitive" accumulation --- the damage done to the rest of the world in order to set up capitalist dynamics with the ORIGINAL accumulated capital. BUT, he also argued that the British were bringing capitalism to India --- with the implications that it might become capitalist sometime in the future --- By the way, for a critique of Keynesian economic policy at a very early stage in the post WW II period, Paul Baran's contribution NATIONAL ECONOMIC PLANNING which was originally published in SURVEY OF CONTEMPORARY ECONOMICS edited by B,F. Haley ---- and later reprinted in PAUL A. BARAN, A COLLECTIVE PORTRAIT which was put out by Monthly Review Press after Baran died --- is one of the best detailed critiques of the limits of Keynesian economics and even the European attempts at "capitalist" planning --- (Baran remained a strong supporter of Soviet style central planning --- he didn't live to see its failures on the economic front though he hated the political repression --- one of his quotes was the only way to revive his faith in socialism was to get away from so-called socialist countries and end up bac- k in the capitalist world!) What I finally came to believe is that the most crucial thing about "Marxist" economics is the dynamics that pushes the economy to grow by fits and starts (until Schumpeter the ONLY endogenous theory of capitalist instability was Marx) -- Keynesian economics believes that the macro-economy CAN be fixed while the micro-economy doesn't NEED to be fixed --- This is not even half right --- the MICRO economy cannot be fixed --- although for a period of time, the kind of "class standoff" of European social democracy might appear to be "holding" ---- while the MACRO economy can only temporarily be "fixed" (though that fix can last a pretty long time --- I see the period from 1945 to about 1980 as one where the US version of Social Democracy worked pretty well ...) The final point about capitalist dynamics is that capitalism has to grow --- it cannot "settle at a stationary state" as John S. Mill predicted -- and that spells environmental catastrophe --- I'm not sure John Foster's reading of modern environmental economics into Marx works but the fact that capitalism will grow until it destroys the earth is now almost obvious ... I also think that both the Monthly Review stagnation analysis and the alternative Social Structure of Accumulation analysis (or in Europe the French Regulation school) are head and shoulders above even British style Keynesianism --- both build on basic Marxian dynamics -- As for the LTV (nice pun, Louis!) I do think it's a lousy PRICE theory but identifying the rate of exploitation as the key dynamic of a capitalist society is essential ... I also think that the "value of labour power" is an interesting way to identify the "lower bound" of real wages but because Marx said it had an "historical and moral element" its precision disappears and it only emerges as the result of the class struggle -- AND, let's remember, the realization problem ---wages too low, aggregate demand too low !!! On Sat, Jan 23, 2021 at 3:01 PM Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#5785): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/5785 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/80067657/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
