What is wrong with heterodox economics? Kalecki’s profit theory as an example

Kakarot-Handtke, Egmont (2011): What is wrong with heterodox economics? Kalecki’s profit theory as an example.

Abstract

Kalecki’s profit theory has always been popular among heterodox economist as an alternative approach to solve the paradox of monetary profits. In the present paper his formula ‘The workers spend what they get, the capitalists get what they spend’ is scrutinized for its logical and factual implications. The analysis shows that Kalecki’s alternative approach points in the right direction but unfortunately shares a crucial conceptual error with standard economics.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: National income accounting; Zero profit economy; Distributed profit; Income definition; Master equation
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E1 - General Aggregative Models > E12 - Keynes ; Keynesian ; Post-Keynesian; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E25 - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B22 - Macroeconomics; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B50 - General; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B4 - Economic Methodology > B41 - Economic Methodology

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