State And Economy In Contemporary Capitalism

This volume covers the theoretical method, macroeconomics, microeconomics, international trade and finance, development, and policy of economic theory. It incorporates various alternative approaches as well as a broad spectrum of policy issues.

The debate about so-called economic globalization has reached a new phase. The hegemony of neo-liberal thinking has ended, in the face of both the increased and increasingly effective resistance to the social consequences of neo-liberal market-making - rising inequality and insecurity throughout the world - and the visibly dysfunctional effects of lack of regulation - currency and stock market crashes, among others. Thus, the story about 'the rise and fall of market society', which was first told in these terms by Karl Polanyi sixty years ago, is about to receive a new chapter. In this light, this volume offers a novel perspective on the interaction between states and markets. In contrast to much of current theoretical wisdom, we hold, with Polanyi, that markets cannot even be consistently thought of as self-regulating. Markets are always constituted by framework conditions that cannot be set by the markets themselves. The range and scope of market rules requires some agreement, or at least acceptance, for economic exchange to be working at all; in democratic societies, these rules are at least theoretically always subject to political debate and decision. To put the issue in theoretical terms: even the most pure version of economic liberalism always entails at the same time a political philosophy. This volume, thus, proposes to understand contemporary capitalism by regarding the economy as a polity, as an arrangement that is always constituted by some collective agreements about its mode of operation. Such theoretical position on its own, though, is insufficient to explain the workings of capitalism once and for all. Historical experiences with capitalism have led to transformations that require new angles of analysis. It is in the nature of the struggles over the embedding of markets that their outcomes are subject to historical contingency and cannot be completely known beforehand. Beyond a review of the theoretical tools at hand, therefore, the analysis of the contemporary constellation of capitalism, also requires an understanding of its recent transformations. This is the second task to which this volume is devoted - through analyses of the current state of regulation of labour and money and through investigations of the historical development and novel forms of the mode of embedding markets. While focusing on the renewal of the analysis of contemporary capitalism, the volume also points to fruitful directions of institutional or policy change and provides perspectives for a much-needed political renewal, with a particular focus on the European Union as a novel polity embedding the European economy.

This volume analyses contemporary capitalism and its crises based on a theory of capitalist evolution known as the social structure of accumulation (SSA) theory. It applies this theory to explain the severe financial and economic crisis that broke out in 2008 and the kind of changes required to resolve it. The editors and contributors make available new work within this school of thought on such issues as the rise and persistence of the "neoliberal," or "free-market," form of capitalism since 1980 and the growing globalization and financialization of the world economy. The collection includes analyses of the U.S. economy as well as that of several parts of the developing world.

This imaginative and ambitious book rethinks the nature of capitalism. Lippit, a leading heterodox economist in the USA, here delivers a comparative study of different forms of capitalism. He first critically examines the three main capitalist prototypes: * the Anglo-American, market-driven version * the welfare-state capitalism of continental Europe * the state-led capitalism of East Asia. After investigating their various intricacies, he then goes on to analyze the common weaknesses of each different strand. A provocative and stimulating read, this book will be welcomed by postgraduates and professionals in the fields of economics and political economy.

The health emergency that broke out in 2020 is a landmark event in the development of capitalism, confirming the underlying change signalled by the Great Crisis of 2007-9. The Pandemic Crisis has catapulted the state to the centre of economic activity. However, a historic impasse is steadily becoming apparent at the core of the world economy Productive accumulation is flaccid, as both profitability and labour productivity are weak. Financialisation has entered a new phase, as "shadow banking" grew relative to other banks but is entirely dependent on the state. The power of the state derives from command over fiat money and can certainly deliver enormous boosts to aggregate demand, but that is not enough to tackle the weakness of the productive sector. The rise in inflation for the first time in forty years indicates the impasse. There is a transparent need for intervention on the supply side, directly challenging capitalist property rights. There is no evidence, however, that the ruling blocs in core countries would engage in such policies. The Pandemic Crisis also brought to the fore fresh divisions of core and periphery across the world economy. Imperialism has assumed new forms, spurred by globally active financial capital and internationalised productive capital. A renewed contest for hegemony has emerged as US power declined. The economic challenge of China will unfold steadily in the years ahead, intensifying political tensions and military rivalries. This book is the work of a research collective comprising authors from several parts of the world. It analyses these vital issues from the perspective of Marxist political economy and puts forth alternative anticapitalist proposals.

Despite the influence corporations wield over all aspects of everyday life, there has been a remarkable absence of critical inquiry into the social constitution of this power. In analysing the complex relationship between corporate power and the widespread phenomenon of share ownership, this book seeks to map and define the nature of resistance and domination in contemporary capitalism. Drawing on a Marxist-informed framework, this book reconnects the social constitution of corporate power and changing forms of shareholder activism. In contrast to other texts that deal with corporate governance, this study examines a diverse and comprehensive set of themes, from socially responsible investing to labour-led shareholder activism and its limitations. Through this ambitious and critical study, author Susanne Soederberg demonstrates how the corporate governance doctrine represents an inherent feature of neoliberal rule, effectively disembedding and depoliticising relations of domination and resistance from the wider power and paradoxes of capitalism. Examining corporate governance and shareholder activism in a number of different contexts that include the United States and the global South, this important book will be of interest to students and scholars of international political economy, international relations and development studies. It will also be of relevance to a wider range of disciplines including finance, economics, and business and management studies. Winner of the Davidson/Studies in Political Economy Award.

In The unity of the capitalist economy and state, Geert Reuten offers a systematic exposition of the capitalist system, showing that the capitalist economy and the capitalist state constitute a unity. In its critique of contemporary economics, the book argues that in order to comprehend the capitalist system, one requires a full synthetic exposition of the economic and state institutions and processes necessary for its continued existence. A synthetic approach also reveals a range of components that are often obscured by partial analyses. In its systematic character, Reuten’s work takes inspiration from Marx’s provisional outline of the capitalist system in Capital, while also addressing fields that Marx left unfinished – such as the capitalist state.