Showing papers on "Economic stagnation published in 1981"

Is Monopoly Capitalism An Illusion

Abstract: The theory of capitalism's monopoly stage has had such a long and distinguished history that one could be excused for thinking of it as an established and non-controversial component of Marxian political economy. Indeed, the "neo-Marxian" theory of secular stagnation which developed out of the analysis of monopoly capital—notably, in the work of Michal Kalecki, Josef Steindl, and Baran and Sweezy—seems to have its direct confirmation in the current crisis of American and world capitalism. Quite recently, some of the "free-thinkers" among liberal economists, such as Lester Thurow, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Robert Heilbroner, have somewhat reluctantly added their voices to the diagnosis that capitalism is facing the possibility of long-term economic stagnation (which is also seen as posing a major theoretical crisis for establishment economics). Yet, at a time when nearly all of the conclusions of monopoly capital theory are finding dramatic support in the winds of historical change, the very notion of monopoly capitalism, and the entire Marxian heritage associated with it, is increasingly being "struck down from the rear" by radical theorists who claim to be more orthodox than Engels or Lenin.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Unemployment and Inflation: Institutionalist and Structuralist Views, A Review Article

Abstract: The last decade or so has seen a flurry of activity and an abundance of writings by economists in the areas of inflation and unemployment theory. This is to be expected, given the economic conditions of the times. For more than ten years, developed market capitalism has been plagued with inflation that has often reached double-digit proportions and, far from showing signs of abatement, gives every indication of becoming more serious during the 1980s.' As if these matters were not bad enough, for the last six or seven years, market capitalism has also suffered from economic stagnation. In virtually every developed capitalist economy, growth in per capita incomes, GNP, and the various economic amenities of life has slowed, and unemployment rates have risen compared to each country's record in the 1950s and 1960s. Until the advent of stagflation, that is, the simultaneous occurrence of inflation and stagnation, the conventional wisdom maintained that high rates of inflation would only occur if unemployment rates were exceptionally low; while the recent high rates of unemployment would suggest that inflation is proceeding, at worst, at a slow creep. But the conventional downward-sloping Phillips curve seems to be no more, suggesting that