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Selected Essays on the Dynamics of the Capitalist Economy 1933–1970
El amplio espectro de análisis de este libro incluye temas axiales como las contribuciones de Kalecki al examen de la demanda efectiva, decisiones sobre ganancias, crecimiento, ciclos económicos, distribución del producto nacional y varios de los aspectos políticos de cada uno de esos renglones.
- GenresEconomics
206 pages, Hardcover
First published July 30, 1971
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 12, 2021
Like Keynes, Kalecki was concerned with guaranteeing full employment under capitalism. But, being a marxist, unlike Keynes, he saw this as a political problem, not a technical one. In this compilation, Kalecki gives a succinct overview of his takes on investment, savings, the business cycle and wages. Essays tend to be situated somewhere between two extremes; either very math-y formulas governing economic tendency X or Y, or very concrete political discussions. Part I (business cycle, exports an capital taxation) and III (Full employment and fascism, effective demand and class struggle) belong more to category 2, part II (costs, prices, income, profits,...) more to 1.
I'm gonna need to let this one percolate some more -- whenever he busts out the wolfram alpha stuff he loses me. But there were a few very concrete developments (that seemingly built straight on the theorems from Capital Vol 2, speaking of timing):
- In Capital Vol 1, surplus value and wages seem absolutely exclusive -- if one grows, the other diminishes. When taking a static view of capital, this is self-evidently true: for a given volume of social production, C, V and S must necessarily step on each others toes. But surplus value is not the same as profit, and there is no guarantee for the entirety of S to be re-invested. Kalecki refutes the idea that increasing wages must decrease profits: it will grow working-class consumption and hence boost production and profits in those sectors, but it will not necessarily shrink capitalist consumption and investment -- these are relatively inflexible with regards to profits. Hence higher wages will (in developed national economies) not necessarily cause investment problems nor capital flight.
- Kalecki tackles Tugan-Baranowsky (effective demand will never be a problem for capitalist growth, for every bit of value invested will suffice to absorb the product -- Say's law) and Rosa Luxemburg (effective demand is an absolute problem for capitalist growth, and in fact capitalism requires exogenous absorption to grow; in a fully capitalist world economy, capital can only shrivel up). In 15 or so pages he gives both due credit (T-B has a point that capital will valorise anything profitable, no matter how "useless" from a rational political perspective, Lux has a point that exogenous markets are necessary but neglected to consider that the national growth of wages and the state itself can provide these).
- More to come later. I've got Theory of Economic Dynamics lined up but I'll try and get Polanyi out of the way first.
I'm gonna need to let this one percolate some more -- whenever he busts out the wolfram alpha stuff he loses me. But there were a few very concrete developments (that seemingly built straight on the theorems from Capital Vol 2, speaking of timing):
- In Capital Vol 1, surplus value and wages seem absolutely exclusive -- if one grows, the other diminishes. When taking a static view of capital, this is self-evidently true: for a given volume of social production, C, V and S must necessarily step on each others toes. But surplus value is not the same as profit, and there is no guarantee for the entirety of S to be re-invested. Kalecki refutes the idea that increasing wages must decrease profits: it will grow working-class consumption and hence boost production and profits in those sectors, but it will not necessarily shrink capitalist consumption and investment -- these are relatively inflexible with regards to profits. Hence higher wages will (in developed national economies) not necessarily cause investment problems nor capital flight.
- Kalecki tackles Tugan-Baranowsky (effective demand will never be a problem for capitalist growth, for every bit of value invested will suffice to absorb the product -- Say's law) and Rosa Luxemburg (effective demand is an absolute problem for capitalist growth, and in fact capitalism requires exogenous absorption to grow; in a fully capitalist world economy, capital can only shrivel up). In 15 or so pages he gives both due credit (T-B has a point that capital will valorise anything profitable, no matter how "useless" from a rational political perspective, Lux has a point that exogenous markets are necessary but neglected to consider that the national growth of wages and the state itself can provide these).
- More to come later. I've got Theory of Economic Dynamics lined up but I'll try and get Polanyi out of the way first.
April 17, 2018
Very straightforward and concise economic writing, summarizes in only 40 pages main tenets of investment, effective demand, and interest that Keynes took hundreds of pages to discuss. A good taste of Kalecki's progressing thoughts on the business cycle.
December 30, 2023
swietna ksiazka. powinna byc obowiazkowa lektura na kierunkach ekonomicznych
March 24, 2025
Excelentes. Vale la pena una relectura del aspecto matemático y estadístico del modelo. Particularmente sobre el de decisiones de inversión y el ciclo económico.
Volví a leerlo y no deja de ser fascinante. Este libro da paso a un Kalecki más político respecto a sus planteamientos. Sus ensayos sobre el aumento o disminución del salario, así como de de las exportaciones externas o internas son esenciales para entender los efectos globales del sistema y su supervivencia.
Volví a leerlo y no deja de ser fascinante. Este libro da paso a un Kalecki más político respecto a sus planteamientos. Sus ensayos sobre el aumento o disminución del salario, así como de de las exportaciones externas o internas son esenciales para entender los efectos globales del sistema y su supervivencia.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews