Tag Archives: profit rate

Income inequality has been rising so rapidly in the United States and around the world that it threatens to make economic growth less durable, according to research from the International Monetary Fund. "While strong economic growth is necessary for economic development, it is not always sufficient," four IMF economists write in a new blog. "Inequality has risen in several advanced economies and remains stubbornly high in many that are still developing," they added. "This worries...

Critique of David Harvey's reading of Das Kapital.Michael Roberts BlogCapital.150 part two: the economic reason for madnessMichael Roberts

Marx on capitalism and the profit rate. Michael Roberts BlogCapital.150 part one: measuring the past to gauge the futureMichael Roberts

The two standard explanations for why labor’s share of output has fallen by 10 percent over the past 30 years are globalization (American workers are losing out to their counterparts in places like China and India) and automation (American workers are losing out to robots). Last year, however, a highly-cited Stigler Center paper by Simcha Barkai offered another explanation: an increase in markups. The capital share of GDP, which includes what companies spend on equipment like robots, is...