Markets, Money and Ideology

Marx's critique of Hegel is used to derive a demarcation criterion that sharply separates scientific knowledge from ideology, and interprets Hegelian methodology as fundamentally ideological. Economic theory is considered according to this demarcation criterion, and the paper argues that economic science too easily becomes economic ideology. One reason for this tendency towards slippage is the dominance of money relations in contemporary society. For the labour theory of value in Marx has a theory of money whose structure is identical to Hegelian logic, and an antipathy to a scientific approach is thereby grounded in everyday life.Ideology, Marx, Money

Goodwin cycles and the U.S. economy, 1948-2004

This paper provides empirical support for an interpretation of the Goodwin growth cycle as isolating the main forces underlying distributive conflict, but in a fragile symbiotic mechanism because of endogenous forces that modify the balance of class power. Goodwin cycles are the shorter run cycles that appear around a long run motion that is the product of structural change. The paper describes long run trends in the Goodwin variables in the US corporate economy from 1948 to 2004, which exhibit both a sharp break at the beginning of the 80s, and no long run cycles. Short run detrended Goodwin cycles are identified, which broadly coincide in period and timing with the NBER dating of (the troughs of) business cycles. The paper then divides the employed nonfarm private industry labour force into supervisory and nonsupervisory workers, and focuses on the latter. The same two conclusions apply.Goodwin growth cycle, wage share, US economy

The temporal single-system interpretation: underdetermination and inconsistency

This paper critically evaluates a recent contribution by Kliman and Freeman (2009). It is argued that none of their arguments dispel previous criticisms of the temporal single system interpretation�(TSSI). Indeed the paper confirms the suggestions of many critics that, as the missing parts of the TSSI theoretical constructs are provided, in particular the Monetary Expression of Labour Time, the TSSI rests on inconsistency and arbitrary assumptions.Value; exploitation; TSSI.

The incoherence of the TSSI

We examine the substantive arguments proposed by Kliman and Freeman (2006) in their reply to Mohun (2003). We find the temporal single-system interpretation (TSSI) seriously deficient.Marxian economics; temporal single-system interpretation; value theory.

Social Democracy and Distributive Conflict in the UK, 1950- 2010

In the last three decades, two questions have been central for the Left. Is there a future for electoral socialism and social democracy? And, is it any longer possible to promote a significant redistribution of income in favour of labour? Political and economic events seem to suggest negative answers. In his influential work, Adam Przeworski suggests that this is an irreversible trend that makes it impossible in the long-run to promote genuinely socialist objectives in capitalist democracies. In particular, the structural dependence of labour on capital severely constrains feasible income distributions. In this paper, a detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the post-war UK economy is provided which casts doubts on the structural dependence thesis. A short run pro.t-squeeze mechanism seems to exist, but income shares are more variable than the structural dependence argument suggests, and the power resources available to the two main classes in the economy are among the key determinants of distributive outcomes, different political-economic equilibria corresponding to different configurations of the balance of power between the two classes

The limitations of the structural dependence thesis: class, power, and distributive conflict in the UK since 1892

Can political parties, social movements, and governments shape the functioning of a capitalist economy? Is it possible for social democratic parties to promote a significant redistribution of income in favour of labour? According to proponents of the structural dependence thesis, the answer is negative, because the structural dependence of labour upon capital severely constrains feasible income distributions. Carlo V. Fiorio, Simon Mohun, and Roberto Veneziani cast doubts on this thesis. Their historical analysis of the UK finds some evidence of a short-run profit-squeeze mechanism, but also that income shares are much more variable than the structural dependence argument suggests, and the power resources available to social classes are among the key determinants of distributive outcomes

Reorienting economics?

Reorienting economics analyses many important issues in the social sciences. This paper focuses on Lawson’s key methodological and epistemological claims concerning the role of mathematics in social theory. Lawson provides several forceful criticisms of the search of mathematical rigour for the mere sake of formalism. Yet his stronger claims on the extremely limited, if nonexistent, scope for formal analysis in the social sciences are less convincing. In general, his purely methodological approach does not provide robust foundations for reorienting economics

Goodwin cycles and the U.S. economy, 1948-2004

This paper provides empirical support for an interpretation of the Goodwin growth cycle as isolating the main forces underlying distributive conflict, but in a fragile symbiotic mechanism because of endogenous forces that modify the balance of class power. Goodwin cycles are the shorter run cycles that appear around a long run motion that is the product of structural change. The paper describes long run trends in the Goodwin variables in the US corporate economy from 1948 to 2004, which exhibit both a sharp break at the beginning of the 80s, and no long run cycles. Short run detrended Goodwin cycles are identified, which broadly coincide in period and timing with the NBER dating of (the troughs of) business cycles. The paper then divides the employed nonfarm private industry labour force into supervisory and nonsupervisory workers, and focuses on the latter. The same two conclusions apply

Reorienting economics?

Reorienting economics analyses many important issues in the social sciences. This paper focuses on Lawson’s key methodological and epistemological claims concerning the role of mathematics in social theory. Lawson provides several forceful criticisms of the search of mathematical rigour for the mere sake of formalism. Yet his stronger claims on the extremely limited, if nonexistent, scope for formal analysis in the social sciences are less convincing. In general, his purely methodological approach does not provide robust foundations for reorienting economics

The temporal single-system interpretation: underdetermination and inconsistency

This paper critically evaluates a recent contribution by Kliman and Freeman (2009). It is argued that none of their arguments dispel previous criticisms of the temporal single system interpretation�(TSSI). Indeed the paper confirms the suggestions of many critics that, as the missing parts of the TSSI theoretical constructs are provided, in particular the Monetary Expression of Labour Time, the TSSI rests on inconsistency and arbitrary assumptions