Peter Kennedy

Abstract

This paper addresses the limits encountered by bourgeois economics in understanding the significance of the term “secular stagnation,” using the concept of “total factor productivity” to make this case. It then criticises Marxist political economy for creating models of capital, which prevent one moving much beyond an abstract theory of crisis to grasp what underlies capitalist elite concerns about secular stagnation. The paper then offers some reflections on why the meaning of secular stagnation is more likely to be found between the real movement of capitalism, socialism and communism, rather than economic models of capital.

Keywords

Secular stagnation, economics, Marxist political economy, prevention of communism

From: Critique 2018 46 (4)

Editor: Wang Yi