Analytical foundations of Marxian economic theory

Fülszöveg

Professor Roemer's goal in this book is to give a rigorous view of Marxian economic theory by presenting spécifié analytic models. The aspects of the theory that he discusses are classical ones. The theory is not extended to deal with new problems, but it is deepened: Marxian theory is given microfounda-tions and upon those foundations the author begins to rebuild a tightly-con-structed Marxian économies.
The book begins, after a methodological introduction, with an examination of the Marxian notion of equilibrium and the theory of exploitation. A définition of equilibrium is proposed that includes not only the usual concept of compétition of capital and profit maximization, but also formalizes the Marxian notion of the reproducibility of the economic system. The model is exam-ined in a général equilibrium framework and deals with convex as well as lin-ear production sets. The model is extended to include a crédit market.
The second group of chapters deals with the theory of... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Professor Roemer's goal in this book is to give a rigorous view of Marxian economic theory by presenting spécifié analytic models. The aspects of the theory that he discusses are classical ones. The theory is not extended to deal with new problems, but it is deepened: Marxian theory is given microfounda-tions and upon those foundations the author begins to rebuild a tightly-con-structed Marxian économies.
The book begins, after a methodological introduction, with an examination of the Marxian notion of equilibrium and the theory of exploitation. A définition of equilibrium is proposed that includes not only the usual concept of compétition of capital and profit maximization, but also formalizes the Marxian notion of the reproducibility of the economic system. The model is exam-ined in a général equilibrium framework and deals with convex as well as lin-ear production sets. The model is extended to include a crédit market.
The second group of chapters deals with the theory of the falling rate of profit. The author présents a careful investigation of the relationship of techni-cal innovation and the equilibrium rate of profit. He considers critically var-ious recent attempts to resurrect falling-rate-of-profit theory.
The next section explores one of the points made in the first section of the book, that the Marxian theory of exploitation can be constructed completely independently of the labor theory of value as a theory of exchange. Technical study of this problem allows comment on various issues, such as the relative importance of "marginal utilities" and "class struggle" in determining relative prices.
The final section examines models of various Marxian concepts, the first of these arising from classical Marxian theories of crisis. Second, modeling of the divide-and-conquer theory of discrimination provides microfoundations for the Marxian theory that racism is a useful strategy for capital ism.
John E. Roemer is Associate Professor of Economies, University of Califor-nia, Davis. Vissza