|
The tendency of the rate of profit to fall (TRPF) is a hypothesis in economics and political economy, most famously expounded by Karl Marx in chapter 13 of ''Das Kapital'', Volume 3. Although no longer accepted in mainstream economics, the existence of such a tendency was more widely accepted in the 19th century.〔"Profit", p. 595 in: ''The standard library cyclopedia of political, constitutional, statistical and forensic knowledge''. Vol. 4. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1860.〕 In his 1857 ''Grundrisse'' manuscript, Karl Marx called the tendency of the rate of profit to fall "the most important law of political economy" and sought to give a causal explanation for it, in terms of his theory of capital accumulation.〔''Marx Engels Collected Works'', Volume 33, p. 104. ''Grundrisse'', Penguin edition 1973, p. 748.〕 The tendency is already foreshadowed in chapter 25 of ''Capital, Volume I'' (on the "general law of capital accumulation"), but in Part 3 of the draft manuscript of Marx's ''Capital, Volume III'', edited posthumously for publication by Friedrich Engels, an extensive analysis is provided of the tendency.〔Karl Marx, ''Capital, Volume III'', Penguin ed. 1976, pp. 317–375.〕 Marx regarded the TRPF as proof that capitalist production could not be an everlasting form of production, since, in the end, the profit principle itself would suffer a breakdown.〔Karl Marx, ''Capital, Volume III'', Penguin ed. 1981, p. 350 and 368.〕 However, because Marx never published any finished manuscript on the TRPF himself, because the tendency is hard to prove or disprove theoretically, and because it is hard to test and measure the rate of profit, Marx's TRPF theory has been a topic of controversy for more than a century. ==Karl Marx on the TRPF== In ''Das Kapital'', Karl Marx criticized Ricardo's idea. Marx argued that, instead, the tendency of the rate of profit to fall is "an expression peculiar to the capitalist mode of production of the progressive development of the social productivity of labor".〔(Karl Marx, ''Capital'', vol. 3, chapter 13) )〕 Marx never denied that profits could contingently fall for all kinds of reasons, but he thought there was also a ''structural'' reason for the TPRF, regardless of market fluctuations. Simply put, Marx argued that technological innovation enabled more efficient means of production. Physical productivity would increase as a result, i.e. a greater output (of use values, i.e., physical output) would be produced, per unit of capital invested. Simultaneously, however, technological innovations replaced people with machinery, and the organic composition of capital increased. Assuming only labor can produce new additional value, this greater physical output would embody a smaller value and surplus value, compared to the value of production capital invested. In response, the average rate of industrial profit would therefore tend to decline in the longer term. It declined in the long run, Marx argued, paradoxically not because productivity reduced, but instead because it increased, with the aid of a bigger investment in equipment.〔Karl Marx, ''Capital'', vol. 3, edited by Friedrich Engels. New York: International Publishers, 1967 (orig. ed. 1894). Chapter 2, "The Rate of Profit", and chapter 13, "The Law as Such". John Weeks, ''Capital and exploitation'', chapter 8. Princeton University Press, 1980).〕 The central idea that Marx had, was that overall technological progress has a long-term "labor saving bias", and that the overall long-term effect of saving labor time in producing commodities with the aid of more and more machinery had to be a falling rate of profit on production capital, quite regardless of market fluctuations or financial constructions.〔Ernest Mandel, "Economics", in: David McLellan (ed.), ''Marx – the First 100 Years''. Fontana, 1983.〕 So Marx regarded this as a general tendency in the development of the capitalist mode of production. But it was only a ''tendency'', because there are also "counteracting factors" operating which had to be studied also. The counteracting factors were factors that would normally raise the rate of profit. In his draft manuscript edited by Friedrich Engels (Marx did not publish it himself), Marx cited six of them:〔Karl Marx, ''Capital, Volume III'', Penguin ed. 1981, p. 339f.〕 *more intense exploitation of labor (raising the rate of exploitation of workers); *reduction of wages below the value of labor power (inaccurately referred to as the "immiseration thesis");〔Thomas Sowell, "Marx's 'increasing misery' doctrine", ''American Economic Review'', L, No. 1, March 1960, pp. 111–120.Thomas Sowell, ''Marxism: philosophy and economics''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1985, chapter 10.〕 *cheapening the elements of constant capital by various means; *the growth of a relative surplus population (the reserve army of labor) which remained unemployed; *foreign trade reducing the cost of industrial inputs and consumer goods; and *the increase in the use of share capital by joint-stock companies, which devolves part of the costs of using capital in production on others. Nevertheless, Marx thought the countervailing tendencies ultimately could not prevent the average rate of profit in industries from falling; the tendency was intrinsic to the capitalist mode of production.〔Karl Marx, ''Capital, Volume III'', Penguin ed. 1981, p. 356.〕 In the end, ''none'' of the conceivable counteracting factors could stem the tendency toward falling profits from production. The capitalist system would age like any other system, and would be able only to ''compensate'' for its age, before it left the stage of history for good. There could obviously also be several other factors involved in profitability which Marx did not discuss in detail,〔Ernest Mandel, ''Late Capitalism''. London: NLB, 1975.〕 including: *reductions in the turnover time of industrial capital generally (and especially fixed capital investment)〔Ernest Mandel, ''Late Capitalism''. London: NLB, 1975, chapter 7.〕 *accelerated depreciation and faster throughput;〔Ernest Mandel, ´´Late Capitalism´´. London: NLB, 1975, chapter 7.〕 *the level of price inflation for different types of goods and services;〔Ernest Mandel, ''Late Capitalism''. London: NLB, 1975, chapter 13.〕 *capital investment into previously non-capitalist production, where a lower organic composition of capital prevailed;〔Marx, ''Capital, VolumeIII'', Penguin 1981, p. 320. Fritz Sternberg, ''Der imperialismus''. Berlin: Malik-Verlag, 1926; Ernest Mandel, "Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution", in: A.R. Desai (ed.), ''Essays on Modernization of Underdeveloped Societies'', Vol. 1, 1971 (Bombay: Thacker & Co.). Reprint as: "Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution", ''International Socialist Review'', vol. 34, No. 2 (February 1973), 6–13.〕 *military wars or military spending causing capital assets to be inoperative or destroyed, or spurring war production (see permanent arms economy);〔Ernest Mandel, ''Late Capitalism''. London: NLB, 1975, chapter 9.〕 *demographic factors〔() Allin Cottrell and Paul Cockshott, "Demography and the falling rate of profit". Wake Forest University & Department of Computing Science, University of Glasgow, February 2007.()〕 *advances in technology and technological revolutions which rapidly reduce input costs.〔Ernest Mandel, ''Late Capitalism''. London: NLB, 1975, chapter 6.〕 *substituted natural resource inputs, or marginal increased cost of non-substituted natural resource inputs.〔Ernest Mandel, ''Late Capitalism''. London: NLB, 1975, p. 542, 577.〕 *consolidation of mature industries into an oligarchy of survivors.〔Josef Steindl, ''Maturity and Stagnation in American Capitalism''. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1952.〕 Mature industries do not attract new capital because of low returns.〔 〕 Also, mature companies with large amounts of capital invested and brand recognition create ''barriers to entry'' against new competitors.〔 〕 See also secular stagnation theory. *the use of credit instruments to reduce capital costs for new production. David Harvey mentions that in the ''Grundrisse'', "Marx lists a variety of other factors that can stabilize the rate of profit 'other than by crises'."〔David Harvey, "Crisis theory and the falling rate of profit". In: Turan Subasat & John Weeks (ed.), ''The Great Meltdown of 2008: Systemic, Conjunctural or Policy-created?''. London: Edward Elgar, 2015. (draft ms. p. 7)(); Marx, ''Grundrisse'', Penguin ed. p. 751f.〕 The scholarly controversy about the TRPF among Marxists and non-Marxists has continued for a hundred years.〔Ernest Mandel, "Economics", in: David McLellan (ed.), ''Marx – the First 100 Years''. Fontana, 1983; M.C. Howard and J.E. King, ''A history of Marxian economics'' (2 vols). Princeton University Press, 1989.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tendency of the rate of profit to fall」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|