Revitalizing Marxist Theory for Today's Capitalism (Research in Political Economy, 27)

Amidst a capitalist crisis that has upturned mainstream orthodoxies, this volume underscores the importance of historical and materialist understandings of capitalist economies. Thus, fundamentally, it exposes the limitations of neoclassical economics' endogenous growth theory and how it, in fact, gropes for understandings well established within Marxism. It goes on to examine the relationship between the 'real' economy and 'finance', and also examines how mainstream accounts of stagnation and financialization suffer from an inability to distinguish between productive and unproductive labour. A related study of the financialization of the Turkish economy dovetails this analysis. The volume also questions the current understanding of the information economy and the value of knowledge on a Marxist basis. Finally, an historical re-examination of the Great Depression in light of the current Great Recession, throws new light on modern capitalisms crisis tendencies. The volume concludes with a critique of Lenin's economics, serving also to remind the reader that he is the only world leader who had deeply studied his own country's economy before eventually becoming its leader As a few alert mainstream and corporate economists rediscover the certain elements of Marx's analysis of capitalism, the essays in the first part of this volume demonstrate that they have far to go. To their discredit, mainstream understandings whether of capitalism's growth or of Western capitalism's interrelated long-term stagnation and financialization are derailed precisely by political aversion to, or ignorance of, Marxist categories and analyses. The chapters in the second part extend Marxist insights into assessing the value of the so-called information, or knowledge-based, commodities, and offer a Marxist critique of Lenin, the only world leader who earlier had deeply studied his own country's economy. The part also presents two important works in translation. The first, read in Russian by Marx himself, raises serious questions about the relevance of Hegel in the understanding of Capital and offers its own insightful analysis. The other, by a Marxist collective in the 1970s demonstrates the centrality of politics and the class struggle in the simplistically conceived economic devalorization of constant capital. The final part contains a debate on the merits of positivist Marxism sparked by an article in Volume 26 of this research series. A critique of mainstream growth theory : ways out of the neoclassical science (-fiction) and toward Marxism / Rémy Herrera -- From growth stagnation to financial crisis : unproductive labor as a missing link in mainstream theory / Robert Chernomas, Fletcher Baragar -- Crisis theory and the great recession : a personal journey, from Marx to Minsky / Riccardo Bellofiore -- 'Financial' vs. 'real' : an overview of the contradictory role of finance / Özgür Orhangazi -- Nikolai Sieber : an introduction to a political economist approved by Marx / James D. White -- Marx's economic theory / Nikolai Ivanovich Sieber -- The value and price of information commodities : an assessment of the South Korean controversy / Heesang Jeon -- Lenin's economics : a Marxian critique / Seongjin Jeong -- Class struggle in production and devalorization of capital / A.D. Magaline -- Marxism, crisis, and economic laws : a comment / Gary Mongiovi -- Crisis, Marxism, and economic laws : a response to Gary Mongiovi / Alan Freeman pt. 1. Growth and finance : mainstream limitations and Marxist insights. A critique of the mainstream growth theory / Rémy Herrera From growth stagnation to financial crisis / Robert Chernomas and Fletcher Baragar Crisis theory and the Great Recession / Riccardo Bellofiore "Financial" vs. "real" / Özgür Orhangazi -- pt. 2. Discovering and renewing Marxist theory. Nikolai Sieber: an introduction to a political economist approved by Marx / James D. White Marx's economic theory / Nikolai Ivanovich Sieber, translated by James D. White The value and price of information commodities / Heesang Jeon Lenin's economics / Seongjin Jeong Class struggle in production and devalorization of capital / A.D. Magaline, translated by Paul Zarembka -- pt. 3. Debating positivist Marxism. Marxism, crisis, and economic laws / Gary Mongiovi Crisis, Marxism, and economic laws: a response / Alan Freeman. Amidst a capitalist crisis that has upturned mainstream orthodoxies, this title underscores the importance of historical and materialist understandings of capitalist economies. It exposes the limitations of neoclassical economics' endogenous growth theory and how it, in fact, gropes for understandings well established within Marxism.