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| Accumulation
and Stability Under Capitalism |
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| Author:
Prabhat Patnaik |
Publisher:
Clarendon Press Oxford |
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Click to Enlarge
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Prabhat Patnaik's
starting point is the fundamental question of
how we can explain the resilience and durability
of capitalist economies. After all, the writings
of most of the giants among economists have been
permeated by a sense of the transitoriness of
capitalism. One conventional explanation ofits
durability is that capitalism is an intrinsically
smoothly functioning system, conforming to individualistic
human nature. The alternative convention argues
that there are contradictions inherent in the
system, but that these have been overcome by judicious
state intervention to mitigate the unwelcome consequences
of untrammeled individualism. |
Prabhat Patnaik's starting point is the fundamental
question of how we can explain the resilience
and durability of capitalist economies. After
all, the writings of most of the giants among
economists have been permeated by a sense of the
transitoriness of capitalism. One conventional
explanation ofits durability is that capitalism
is an intrinsically smoothly functioning system,
conforming to individualistic human nature. The
alternative convention argues that there are contradictions
inherent in the system, but that these have been
overcome by judicious state intervention to mitigate
the unwelcome consequences of untrammeled individualism.
The purpose of this book is to provide an altogether
different view of the functioning and resilience
of the capitalist system. Its argument is that
the existence of a periphery of less developed
countries provides a buffer that allows relatively
crisis-free and non-inflationary growth in the
capitalist core. The analysis unifies two fields
that are normally separate: models of growth and
stabilization policy in advanced economies and
the economics of open, developing economies. Consequently,
Patnaik embraces both a thorough analysis of modern
fiscal, monetary, and inflation policy In advanced
capitalist economies and the constraints that
systematically hinder fj development in less developed
countries. His ~ model's great strength is that
the ;:', interconnections between these two spheres
are ;c.~ firmly established and are, indeed, shown
as I! fundamental to our understanding of either
'the North' or 'the South'.
Accumulation and Stability under Capitalism uses
macroeconomic principles to solve problems t currently
addressed with microeconomic tools, establishing
macroeconomics as a framework for analysing phenomena
as wide-ranging as migration, imperialist systems,
technological change, and labour markets. In the
tradition of Keynes, Harrod and Domar, Marx, Luxemburg,
and Kalecki, it offers an alternative path to
the choice-theoretic models that have appeared
to be the only modern analytical path.
Prabhat Patnaik is Professor of the Centre for
Economic Studies and Planning & Dean, School
of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
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| January 26, 2002. |
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