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1 Smith, The Wealth of Nations (Ch. 9); J.S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy (Book 4, Ch. 4); Ricardo, Principles of
Political Economy and Taxation (Ch. 6). Adam Smiths TRPF theory, the falling tendency resulted from increased
competition which accompanied the growth of capital. Intensifying competition itself would drive down the
average profit rate. Criticizing Adam Smith, David Ricardo argued that competition could only level out
differences in profit rates on investments, but not lower the general profit rate (the grand-average profit rate)
as a whole. 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. Marx never
denied that profits could contingently fall for all kinds of reasons, but he thought there was also a structural
reason for the TRPF, regardless of market fluctuations. 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 gradually
decreasing value and surplus value, relative 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 (Marx, Capital Vol III, Ch. 2 and Ch. 13 and Vol. I, Ch. 25). Baran and Sweezy,
Monopoly Capital: An essay on the American economic and social order, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1966.
Aggiungi: Mandel, Hilferding, Luxembourg, Bauer, Itoh, Kozo Uno, Clarke, Harvey, Lenin, Bucharin,
2 Wolff, The rate of surplus value, the organic composition, and the general rate of profit in the U.S. economy, 194767,
American Economic, Cambridge Journal of Economic and Growth, Accumulation, and Unproductive Activity: An
Analysis of the Postwar US Economy, Cambridge University Press; Weisskopf, Marxian Crisis Theory and the Rate of
Profit in the Postwar U.S. Economy, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Vol. 3 Number 4; Shaikh, The Falling Rate of
Profit and the Economic Crisis in the U.S. in Cherry et al., The Imperiled Economy, Book I, New York: Union for Radical
Political Economics (URPE), 1987; Moseley, The Falling Rate of Profit in the Postwar United States Economy, London:
Palgrave Macmillan, 1991; Dumnil, Glick and Range, The Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall in the United
States, Contemporary Marxism, No. 9, 1984; Dumnil and Lvy, The Economics of the Profit Rate: Competition, Crises,
and Historical Tendencies in Capitalism, Aldershot, England: Edward Elgar, 1993; Shaikh & Tonak, Measuring the
Wealth of Nations: The Political Economy of National Accounts; Cambridge University Press, 1994; Robert
Brenner, The Economics of Global Turbulence. The Advanced Capitalist Economies from long Boom to long Downturn, 1945
2005. London: Verso, 2006, pp. 1721; Jan Toporowski, Kalecki and the Declining Rate of Profit, Review of Political
Economy, Volume 11, Issue 3, 1999; Foster, Marx, Kalecki, and Socialist Strategy, Monthly Review, Vol. 64, No.
causale (le molteplici tendenze e i molteplici cicli della produzione capitalistica)3. La scienza
economica borghese o, altrimenti detto, leconomia politica, resta scienza proprio fin quando
le proprie contraddizioni di sviluppo4 restano latenti. Per rimanere nelloscurit, queste
contraddizioni devono essere soggiogate, le forze produttive devono essere soffocate. Questo
lo scopo principale delleconomia politica che trascina con s una determinata politica economica.
Tutto ci a favore di una stabilit che non altro che sinonimo di stagnazione 5. Stabilit
che in contraddizione con linstabilit permanente ed intrinseca del modo di produzione
capitalistico. Proprio su queste linee il capitalismo traccia i propri confini, sempre pi angusti.
Tali limiti pianificati sono esattamente le controtendenze. Alcune di queste furono
considerate da Marx (Il Capitale, Vol. III), e sono:
Diverse controtendenze, invece, oltre Marx, sono state considerate da altri autori ma,
soprattutto, da Mandel:
7. Riduzioni in generale del tempo di rotazione del capitale industriale, soprattutto negli
investimenti di capitale fisso (Mandel, Late Capitalism).
8. Deprezzamento accelerato e velocit pi rapida di produzione (Mandel, Late Capitalism).
11, 2013; Cullenberg, The Falling rate of Profit, London: Pluto, 1994; Lapavitsas, Profiting without Producing, London:
Verso, 2013; Mandel, World Monetary Crisis, International (London), Volume 7, No. 6, 1982; Itoh &
Lapavitsas, Political economy of Money and Finance, Palgrave Macmillan, 1998; Toussaint, Your Money or your Life. The
Tyranny of the Global Finance, Chicago: Haymarket, 2005.
3 Mandel, Late Capitalism and The second slump: a Marxist analysis of recession in the Seventies.
4 Whittington, Profitability, Accounting Theory and Methodology, Abingdon: Routledge, 2007; Wolff, Growth,
Accumulation, and Unproductive Activity: An Analysis of the Postwar US Economy, Cambridge University Press, 1986;
Moseley, Marxs concepts of productive labor and unproductive labor: an application to the postwar U.S. economy; Eastern
Economics Journal, Volume IX, no. 3, 1983 and The Decline of the Rate of Profit in the Postwar U.S. Economy: An
Alternative Marxian Explanation, Review of Radical Political Economics, vol. 22, no. 2-3, 1990 and The rate of
profit and economic stagnation in the United States economy, Historical Materialism, Volume 1, Number 1, 1997;
Harman, The rate of profit and the world today, International Socialism (2nd series), No.115, Summer 2007;
Cullenberg, Unproductive Labor and the Contradictory Movement of the Rate of Profit: A Comment on Moseley, Review of
Radical Political Economics, 26:2, 1994; Weisskopf, The rate of surplus value in the postwar US economy: a response to
Moseleys critique, Cambridge Journal of Economics 1985, 9; Dumnil & Lvy, Unproductive Labor as Profit-Rate-
Maximizing Labor, Rethinking Marxism: A Journal of Economics, Culture & Society, Volume 23, Issue 2, 2011;
Ramsay Steele, From Marx to Mises: post-capitalist society and the challenge of economic calculation, La Salle, Illinois: Open
Court Publishing Company, 1992.
5 A tal proposito compare i dati della composizione organica del capitale a livello internazionale e,
6 Mandel, The Economics of Neocapitalism and Long waves of capitalist development: the Marxist interpretation; Hobsbawm,
Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 19141991; Perez, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The
Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages; Schumpeter, The theory of economic development: an inquiry into profits, capital, credit,
interest, and the business cycle; Clarke, Marxs theory of Crisis; Magdoff and Sweezy, Stagnation and the Financial
Explosion; Harris, Postwar Economic Problems (Ch. 4); RIETI, Lessons from Japans Secular Stagnation; Hoshi and
Kashyap, Japans Financial Crisis and Economic Stagnation, Journal of Economic Perspectives. 18, No. 1 (Winter):
326.
23. Peggioramento della qualit delle merci (Mandel, Trattato marxista di economia).
24. Lo Stato garante del profitto monopolistico: a. Prende a suo carico i settori produttivi non
redditizi, b. Riassetta aziende capitalistiche in difficolt, c. Cede ai cartelli propriet pubbliche
o di imprese costruite con il denaro pubblico, d. Elargisce sussidi diretti o indiretti alle aziende
private, e. Garantisce il profitto mediante forniture, lavori pubblici, regolamentazione dei
prezzi, ammortamento di capitale fisso e ammortamento di investimento di crediti (Mandel,
Trattato marxista di economia).
25. Esternalizzazione dei costi.
7 Varga, The Great Crisis and its Political Consequences; London: Modern Books Limited, 1935; C.
Bettelheim, Leconomie Allemande sous le nazisme. Un aspect de la dcadence du capitalisme, Paris: P.U.F., 1946; Steindl,
Maturity and stagnation in American Capitalism; New York: Monthly Review Press, 1952; Gillman, The Falling Rate
of Profit. London, Dennis Dobson, 1957.
8 Many critiques have been written. Ladislaus Von Bortkiewicz, Value and Price in the Marxian System; Jrgen
Habermas, Legitimation Crisis; Resnick & Wolff, Rethinking Marxism: essays for Harry Magdoff & Paul Sweez; Nobuo
Okishio, Technical Change and the Rate of Profit and Eugen von Bhm-Bawerk, Karl Marx and the Close of his System.
Obviously, here were talking about theory. Practically, the capitalist mode of production especially since the
influence of Keynesianism took over pragmatism has lead. The pragmatism, both in political economy and
economic policy, is that of the countertendencies instruments.
9 Grossman, The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System and Mattick, Marx and Keynes: The Limits
Works, Vol. 31 and Trockij, History of the Russian Revolution; T. N. Vance, 1951, The Permanent Arms Economy;
Mandel, Late Capitalism; Cliff, Perspectives for the permanent war economy in Marxist Theory after Trotsky. Selected Writings,
Vol. III, Bookmarks London 2003; Harman, Explaining the Crisis A Marxist Re-Appraisal, Bookmarks London
1999 and Harman, Analysing Imperialism, International Socialism, No. 99, 2003.