Suchergebnisse

By integrating selected Kaleckian and Marxian insights, this paper analyzes the sources of profit realization and the profit rate in the US economy from 1964–2013. The most significant sources of profit realization in the United States are capitalists' consumption and workers' debt, which historically have been under appreciated both theoretically and empirically. The insights gleaned by analyzing the sources of profit realization aid in understanding the Great Recession and the future of the US economy. JEL Classifications: B51, E11

This paper employs a Kaleckian/Minskyan analysis of profit flows to explain Thailand's experiences of growth and crisis under different policy regimes. Specifically, the paper shows how profits were differently supported under the neoliberal policy regime of the day and a regime of less stable exchange rates and fiscal deficits. The analysis of the components of profit flows is helpful in explaining why capitalist economies oscillate between different types of monetary and fiscal interventions. JEL classification: F41, E60, E12

This paper investigates the relationship between labor, shareholders, and CEOs to reflect the simultaneous rise in share repurchases after 1980, the increasingly exploitative outcomes for labor, and the rise of CEO compensation. The paper finds that although institutional investors may have pressured firms to be more profitable, they were not powerful enough to appropriate all of the gains. Rather, capitalists (CEOs) have been able to partially co-opt the shareholder value movement at the expense of both labor and shareholders. Important components of this conclusion are the use of stock options and the benefits to capitalists for seemingly distributing funds to shareholders with share repurchases. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2008.]

This paper investigates the relationship between labor, shareholders, and CEOs to reflect the simultaneous rise in share repurchases after 1980, the increasingly exploitative outcomes for labor, and the rise of CEO compensation. The paper finds that although institutional investors may have pressured firms to be more profitable, they were not powerful enough to appropriate all of the gains. Rather, capitalists (CEOs) have been able to partially co-opt the shareholder value movement at the expense of both labor and shareholders. Important components of this conclusion are the use of stock options and the benefits to capitalists for seemingly distributing funds to shareholders with share repurchases.

As progressive pension reforms seek to increase the opportunities for stakeholder involvement, they confront an existing set of class relations that by design exclude workers, retirees, and the state from real economic participation. This article argues that pension reforms must explicitly recognize the class underpinnings that jeopardize their success; proposes a workable, class-sensitive orientation for pension reforms; and includes the legislative context for governance reforms.

A Marxian analysis of the Enron scandal moves beyond the focus on individuals to raise larger concerns. Although Enron's collapse & subsequent problems at Adelphia, Imclone, & WorldCom should have generated debates about free markets, corporate accountability, & worker welfare; the focus remained on specific individuals who were accused of corrupt practices. A class analysis of Enron's corporate structure, its various forms of participation in the energy market, & its sources of revenues, reveals a complex combination of the appropriation & distribution of surplus-value. It is contended that class processes within Enron's "collage of activities" had an impact on foreign & domestic populations as well as on the undermining of democracy; environmental degradation, market deregulation/manipulation, weak/fraudulent accounting procedures, & willingness to risk worker savings. Emphasis is placed on the importance of analyzing class dimensions underlying the movement to deregulate markets, the new generation of transportation firms, the economy of trading, & stated corporate profits. The indictment of individuals must not be allowed to obscure larger problems stemming from capitalist class processes/relations. 13 References. J. Lindroth