Wang Shengsheng：The Law of the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall from the Perspective of Political Economy Paradigm
Release time: 2024-06-14
Abstract: The debate surrounding Okishio Theorem is an important element in the study of the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall in Marxist political economy. Starting from the micro foundation of the rational behavior of capital, Okishio Theorem argues for the conclusion that cost-saving technological progress triggers an increase in the general rate of profit. Different from Marx’s analysis, Okishio Theorem omits the antagonistic contradiction between capital accumulation and social consumption, and the movement of total social capital is statically tailored to an instantaneous general equilibrium, with the key factors such as the direction of technological progress and the dilemma of realizing the value of the total social product being excluded from the analytical framework. Against the simplified logic of Okishio Theorem, Marx’s law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall shows the contradictory movement between the progress of the productive forces and the capitalist relations of production, which is an epitome of theoretical modeling in the masterwork of Das kapital, and plays the function of a “paradigm” in the study of Marxist political economy.
From：STUDIES ON MARXISM， No. 7， July 2023
Editor：Jian
ACADEMY OF MARXISM CHINESE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES