The Crisis of Capitalism: Keynes Versus Marx
Published: 2010
Author(s) Name: Robert Skidelsky
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Abstract
Marx believed that the Ricardian
class struggle for shares of the
national product would be settled
decisively in favour of labour:
capitalism would be abolished, and
with it the profits of capitalists and
rents of landlords. But Marx missed
the growth of a social balance between
the ‘countervailing powers’
of business, labour, and government,
which put the revolution off
the agenda. Since the business
class lost its ability to enforce the
real wage reductions necessary to
its continued profitability, mass
unemployment became endemic in
the developed world. This was the
setting in which Keynes’ analysis
in terms of ‘under-employment
equilibrium’ could gain traction. It
promised to break the social stasis
by invoking the economic power of
the state, argues the author.
Keywords : Capitalism, Social balance, Economic power
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