MOSELEY, “Marxian Crisis Theory and the Postwar US Economy”

1. Compare the performance of the US economy in the “golden age” and since the 1970s.

2. According to Marxian theory, what is the main cause of the “stagflation” of recent decades?

3. How have capitalist firms attempted to increase the rate of profit in recent decades?

4. Summarize the effects of technological change on the rate of profit, according to Marxian
theory. (This will be familiar to you! Although this presentation is without the algebra.)

5. Summarize Marx’s distinction between “productive labor” and “unproductive labor”.

What are the two main groups of unproductive labor?

What is the effect of an increase of unproductive labor on the rate of profit?

What happened to the ratio of unproductive labor to productive labor during the “golden age”?

6. According to Marxian theory, what adjustments are necessary in order to increase the rate of profit?

To what extent have these adjustments occurred since the 1970s?

7. What does Marxian theory imply about the likely course of events in the US (and world) economy
in the years ahead?