Piketty against Piketty: the tendency of the rate of profit to fall in United Kingdom and Germany since XIX century confirmed by Piketty´s data

Maito, Esteban Ezequiel (2014): Piketty against Piketty: the tendency of the rate of profit to fall in United Kingdom and Germany since XIX century confirmed by Piketty´s data.

Abstract

In Capital in 21st century, Thomas Piketty criticizes Marxian theory and the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall in the long term. His main argument, asserted by other authors since decades, is related to the capacity of increases in productivity to counterweight the tendency. The French author establishes a stable “rate of return” too, but this rate and his critics on Marx are founded on a neoclassical perspective. Thus Piketty denies the validity of the law but changing its determinations as a result of the labor theory of value and the valorization process. When a proper definition of the matter in Marxian terms is done, Piketty´s data itself confirm the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Piketty – Capital – Marx – Rate of profit – United Kingdom - Germany
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E21 - Consumption ; Saving ; Wealth; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E22 - Investment ; Capital ; Intangible Capital ; Capacity; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P16 - Political Economy; Y - Miscellaneous Categories > Y1 - Data: Tables and Charts

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