Genesis of the Monopoly Capital Interpretation of U.S. Economy Dynamics

摘要

This review article focuses on only one aspect of the Correspondence between Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy- the genesis of the "monopoly capital stagnation thesis" as elaborated in their jointly authored Monopoly Capital. In early 1956, Baran and Sweezy determined to work together on elaborating on what both had independently arrived at in earlier work - a belief that the long run tendency for capitalism in the 20th century was towards stagnation due to the fact that the system was generating a rising economic surplus and was faced with increasing difficulties in "absorbing" the surplus. Baran had defined economic surplus in his earlier work, The Political Economy of Growth while Sweezy had predicted a tendency towards stagnation (he called it "underconsumption") in his earlier work The Theory of Capitalist Development. When they determined to work together on what they subtitled An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order, their correspondence shows that they were dissatisfied with their earlier efforts. They determined to demonstrate that when the structure of the American economy moved from a system of small competitive firms acting as 'price takers" to a few giants dominating most industries acting as "price makers" the dynamics of American capitalism created the tendency towards stagnation evidenced in the Great Depression. They spent most of the book (and the correspondence reflects this) analyzing the various counter-acting tendencies that (temporarily) kept the stagnation wolf from the door. Today when the mainstream has discovered stagnation again, their analysis could not be more timely. The Age of Monopoly Capital: The Selected Correspondence of Paul A. Baran and Paul M. Sweezy, 1949-1964. Edited and Annotated by Nicholas Baran and John Bellamy Foster. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2017. Hardcover, 544 pages. 559.00.