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Veiled Repression: Mainstream Economics, Capital Theory, and the Distributions of Income and Wealth

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Abstract

The Cambridge UK vs USA capital theory debates of the 1960s showed that the workhorse mainstream growth model relies on unsustainable assumptions. Its standard interpretation is not consistent with the last four decades of data. Part of an estimated increase in the ratio of personal wealth to income in recent years is due to higher asset prices. The other side of the accounts reveals that financialization and growing business debt partially offset the greater net worth of households. Attempts to interpret growth in wealth principally as a consequence of capitalization of rents are misleading. An alternative growth model based on Cambridge ideas can help correct these misinterpretations.

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  • Lance Taylor, 2015. "Veiled Repression: Mainstream Economics, Capital Theory, and the Distributions of Income and Wealth," SCEPA working paper series. 2015-08, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    • Handle: RePEc:epa:cepawp:2015-08
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income distribution; wealth distribution; Cambridge controversies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • E1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models

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