The Rate of Profit in Canadian Manufacturing, 1950-1981
- 1 March 1986
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Review of Radical Political Economics
- Vol. 18 (1-2) , 33-55
- https://doi.org/10.1177/048661348601800103
Abstract
This paper interprets and measures changes in the rate of profit in Canadian manufacturing over the period 1950-1981. The interpretation stresses endogenous forces that lead to a rising real wage and a rising technical composition of capital, two trends amply confirmed by the evidence. These forces act to reduce the rate of profit. The counteracting forces which are measured include the falling value of consumption commodities (so that, in net the value of labor power does not rise), the falling value of means of production (not sufficient, however, to prevent the value composition of capital from rising) and the increasing rate of turnover of capital. The net effect of these forces is a consistent decline in the rate of profit which translates after 1974 into rising unemployment, falling capacity utilization rates and stagnating output.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
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- The Falling-Rate-of Profit Theory of Crisis: A Rational Reconstruction by Way of ObituaryReview of Radical Political Economics, 1980
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