Rethinking long cycles: are the 1990s the onset of a new phase of capital accumulation?

Tsoulfidis, Lefteris (2001): Rethinking long cycles: are the 1990s the onset of a new phase of capital accumulation? Published in: , Vol. Atheni, (2002): pp. 89-96.

Abstract

This paper deals with the long cycles that characterize the evolution of capitalist economies. It begins with a discussion of epochs of expansion and contraction in the level of economic activity and makes an effort to move towards a meaningful periodization of economic history. The claim that this paper raises is that profitability regulates the phases of these long cycles. The theoretical discussion on the mechanics of the long–term movement in profitability and the phases of long cycles is supported with data on the profit rate from various OECD economies. The empirical evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the 1990s mark the onset of a new phase of accumulation. The salient feature of this new phase is the dominance of information technologies and the associated notions of the “new economy” and globalization. However, unlike, the popular view that regards the “new economy” as depression-free, this paper claims that the “vices” of the old economy continue to exist.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Long waves, Kondratieff, Phase change, Capital accumulation, Profit rate
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E32 - Business Fluctuations ; Cycles; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E31 - Price Level ; Inflation ; Deflation; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B1 - History of Economic Thought through 1925 > B14 - Socialist ; Marxist; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B1 - History of Economic Thought through 1925 > B16 - Quantitative and Mathematical; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B1 - History of Economic Thought through 1925 > B15 - Historical ; Institutional ; Evolutionary

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