Profit data comes from the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic
Analysis. If you want a quick overview (but only up to 2003) you can check
the 2005 Economic Report of the President and the table at:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/17feb20051700/www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/
2005/B91.xls
-----Original Message-----
From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Patrick Bond
Sent: April 11, 2005 1:40 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [PEN-L] data question
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Perelman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Business week reports: "Finance supplies 30% of all U.S. company
> profits, as of last Sept.
> 30, up from 21% a decade ago, according to federal government data."
> This figure includes the financial operations of manufacturing
> companies. How did they get this breakdown?
Don't know but would be interested. Some data I usually show students sound
like this (I can send the powerpoints if anyone wants):
Manufacturing revenues were responsible for roughly half of total
(before-tax) corporate profits during the quarter-century post-war 'Golden
Age', but fell to below 20% by the early 2000s.[1] In contrast, profits were
soon much stronger in the financial sector (rising from the 10-20% range
during the 1950s-60s, to above 30% by 2000) and in corporations' global
operations (rising from 4-8% to above 20% by 2000) [ppt12]. We also know
that since the Volcker shock changed the interest/profit calculus, there
have been far more revenues accruing to capital based in finance than in the
non-financial sector [ppt13], to the extent that financiers doubled their
asset base in relation to non-financial peers during the 1980s-90s [ppt14].
Moreover, as Gerald Epstein and Dorothy Power show, rentier income doubled
as a share of GDP from around 15% during the 1960s to above 30% for most of
the 1980s-90s [ppt15].[2]
[1] Dum�nil, G. and D. L�vy (2003), 'Costs and Benefits of Neoliberalism: A
Class Analysis,' Unpublished paper, Cepremap, Paris.
[2] Epstein, G. and D.Power (2002), 'The Return of Finance and Finance's
Returns: Recent Trends in Rentier Incomes in OECD Countries, 1960-2000,'
University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Instiute Research
Brief 2002-2, Amherst, November.
