Unpaid family labor and self-employment: Two multi-sector models of capitalist reproduction and endogenous cycles

Cajas Guijarro, John (2022): Unpaid family labor and self-employment: Two multi-sector models of capitalist reproduction and endogenous cycles.

Abstract

This paper presents two sectoral models of endogenous cycles that illustrate the relevance of unpaid family labor and self-employment for capitalist extended reproduction. In Model A, Sector 1 produces capital goods, Sector 2 produces consumption goods, and Sector 3 includes unpaid family labor producing consumption goods to improve working-class subsistence. In addition, Model B includes Sector 4 of self-employed who produce consumption goods and accumulate capital. The paper analytically proves that unpaid labor contributes to the stability of capitalist cycles, and it illustrates how self-employment may improve working-class living standards during the upper stage of these cycles.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: unpaid family labor; self-employment; sectoral models of extended reproduction; endogenous cycles
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B51 - Socialist ; Marxian ; Sraffian; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C6 - Mathematical Methods ; Programming Models ; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling > C63 - Computational Techniques ; Simulation Modeling; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O41 - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

References

Bennholdt-Thomsen (1982), V. (1982). “Subsistence production and extended reproduction. A contribution to the discussion about modes of production.” The Journal of Peasant Studies, 9(4): 241-254. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066158208438180

Blecker, R. and Braunstein, E. (2022). “Feminist Perspectives on Care and Macroeconomic Modeling: Introduction to the Special Issue.” Feminist Economics, 28(3): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2022.2085880

Cajas Guijarro, J. (2022). “Revisiting capitalist reproduction: equilibrium, networks, and intersectoral competition.” Problemas del Desarrollo, 53(208): 151-183. https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S0301-70362022000100151&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en

Cajas Guijarro, J. and Vera, L. (2022). “The Macrodynamics of an Endogenous Business Cycle Model of Marxist Inspiration.” Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 62: 566-585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strueco.2022.08.002

Cámara Izquierdo, S. (2022). “The General Law of Capitalist Accumulation and a Theory of Labour-Shortage Business Cycles” in The General Law of Capitalist Accumulation in Latin America and Beyond: Actuality and Pertinence. Lexington Books (pp. 55-75).

Dávila-Fernández, M.J. and Sordi, S. (2019). “Distributive cycles and endogenous technical change in a BoPC growth model.” Economic Modelling, 77: 216-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2018.09.002

Duque García, C. (2021). “Unpaid housework and super-exploitation of labor: a suggested model and empirical evidence from Mexico and Colombia.” Review of Social Economy. https://doi.org/10.1080/00346764.2021.1950820

Dutt, A. K. (1988). “Convergence and Equilibrium in Two Sector Models of Growth, Distribution and Prices.” Journal of Economics, 48(2): 135-158. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41793901

Dutt. A. K. (1989). “Trade, Debt, and Uneven Development in a North-South Model.” Metroeconomica, 40(3): 211-233. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-999X.1989.tb00451.x

Dutt, A. K. (1990). Growth, distribution and uneven delopment. Cambridge University Press.

Eagly, R. (1972). “A Macro Model of the Endogenous Business Cycle in Marxist Analysis.” Journal of Political Economy, 80(3-1): 523-539. https://doi.org/10.1086/259903

Flaschel, P. (2010). Topics in Classical Micro-And Macroeconomics: Elements of a Critique of Neoricardian Theory. Springer.

Gandolfo. G. (2009). Economic Dynamics. Springer.

Goodwin, R. (1967). “A Growth Cycle,” in Socialism, Capitalism and Economic Growth: Essays Presented to Maurice Dobb. Cambridge University Press (pp. 54-58).

Grasselli, M. and Maheshwari, A. (2018). “Testing a Goodwin model with general capital accumulation rate.” Metroeconomica, 69(3): 619-643. https://doi.org/10.1111/meca.12204

Gronau, R. (1973). “The Intrafamily Allocation of Time: The Value of the Housewives’ Time.” The American Economic Review, 64(4): 634-651. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1808854

Harris, D. (1972). “On Marx’s Scheme of Reproduction and Accumulation.” Journal of Political Economy, 80(3): 505-522. https://doi.org/10.1086/259902

Jaramillo, S. (2018). Producción no mercantil en la economía capitaista. Universidad de los Andes-CEDE. https://repositorio.uniandes.edu.co/handle/1992/41056

Mariolis, T., Rodousakis, N., and Soklis, G. (2021). “Marxian Distributive–Effective Demand Dynamics and the “Law” of Rising Profit Rate,” in Spectral Theory of Value and Actual Economies. Springer (pp. 443-489).

Marx, K. (2010 [1867]). Capital Volume 1, in Marx & Engells Collected Works, vol.35. Lawrence & Wishart.

Marx, K. (2010 [1885]). Capital Volume 2, in Marx & Engells Collected Works, vol.36. Lawrence & Wishart.

Naidu, S. (2022). “Circuits of Social Reproduction: Nature, Labor, and Capitalism.” Review of Radical Political Economics. https://doi.org/10.1177/04866134221099316

Onaran et al. (2022). “Gendering Macroeconomic Analysis and Development Policy: A Theoretical Model.” Feminist Economics, 28(3): 23-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2022.2033294

Roemer, J. (1978). “Marxian models of reproduction and accumulation.” Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2(1): 37-53. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23596685

Strogatz, S. (2015). Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos. CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429492563

Vasudevan, R. and Raghavendra, S. (2022). “Women’s Self-Employment as a Developmental Strategy: The Dual Constraints of Care Work and Aggregate Demand.” Feminist Economics, 28(3): 56-83. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2022.2044497