Maturity and Stagnation in American Capitalism
Contents: I. Prices, costs and profit margins: 1. The theory of imperfect competition. 2. The concept of excess capacity. 3. Price rigidity. 4. The importance of cost differentials. 5. The pattern of competition within an industry. 6. Selling cost and quality competition. 7. The competition of capital between industries. 8. A study of profit margins in U.S. manufacturing industry. II. The accumulation of capital: 9. The internal accumulation in the economy as a whole. 10. The consequences of undesired excess capacity. 11. The joint stock system and the modern capital market. 12. The accumulation of capital in the United States, 1869-1930. 13. Karl Marx and the accumulation of capital. List of tables. List of figures. Index.
This book is the 1976 revision of a work that was first published, according to the author, “at a time which could not have been less propitious for its success.” It was the early 1950s, when the mass prosperity of the postwar era was hailed as proof of the triumph of American capitalism. In the decades since, however, U.S. growth has steadily slowed. Each decade has been a lower rate of growth that the previous decade. Real wages reached a peak in the early 70s to which they have never returned. Events have confirmed Maturity and Stagnation in American Capitalism as an unparalleled work of economic analysis. Any serious attempt to understand the course of today’s global capitalism must take into account, and build upon, the thesis of Maturity and Stagnation in American Capitalism.
This book is the 1976 revision of a work that was first published, according to the author, “at a time which could not have been less propitious for its success.” It was the early 1950s, when the mass prosperity of the postwar era was hailed as proof of the triumph of American capitalism. In the decades since, however, U.S. growth has steadily slowed. Each decade has been a lower rate of growth that the previous decade. Real wages reached a peak in the early 70s to which they have never returned. Events have confirmed Maturity and Stagnation in American Capitalism as an unparalleled work of economic analysis. Any serious attempt to understand the course of today’s global capitalism must take into account, and build upon, the thesis of Maturity and Stagnation in American Capitalism.
