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The Rise and Fall of Unproductive Activities in the US Economy 1964-2015: Facts, Theory and Empirical Evidence

Author

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  • Tsoulfidis, Lefteris
  • Tsimis, Achilleas
  • Paitaridis, Dimitris

Abstract

The general idea about unproductive labour and the associated with it activities is that they tend to expand and by expanding reduce the investible product and the growth potential of the economy, however little is known about the determinants of their movement. In this study, we take a closer look at the US unproductive labour and activities in general during the long enough 1964-2015 period. As possible determinants of the movement of unproductive activities we consider the economy-wide average rate of profit, the real interest rate and the degree of capacity utilization. The Toda Yamamoto causality tests, as well as the ARDL econometric model, lend support to the view that the unproductive expenditures and activities are determined rather than determine the above variables. Furthermore, the error correction term indicates that a long-run equilibrium relationship exists and it is attainable after the passage of not too long time.

Suggested Citation

  • Tsoulfidis, Lefteris & Tsimis, Achilleas & Paitaridis, Dimitris, 2018. "The Rise and Fall of Unproductive Activities in the US Economy 1964-2015: Facts, Theory and Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 84035, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:84035
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lefteris Tsoulfidis & Persefoni Tsaliki, 2014. "Unproductive labour, capital accumulation and profitability crisis in the Greek economy," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(5), pages 562-585, September.
    2. Kwiatkowski, Denis & Phillips, Peter C. B. & Schmidt, Peter & Shin, Yongcheol, 1992. "Testing the null hypothesis of stationarity against the alternative of a unit root : How sure are we that economic time series have a unit root?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1-3), pages 159-178.
    3. Shaikh, Anwar, 2016. "Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199390632.
    4. Lefteris Tsoulfidis & Dimitris Paitaridis, 2019. "Capital intensity, unproductive activities and the Great Recession in the US economy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 43(3), pages 623-647.
    5. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    6. Toda, Hiro Y. & Yamamoto, Taku, 1995. "Statistical inference in vector autoregressions with possibly integrated processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1-2), pages 225-250.
    7. Dimitris Paitaridis & Lefteris Tsoulfidis, 2012. "The Growth of Unproductive Activities, the Rate of Profit, and the Phase-Change of the U.S. Economy," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 44(2), pages 213-233, June.
    8. Pierre Perron, 1994. "Trend, Unit Root and Structural Change in Macroeconomic Time Series," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: B. Bhaskara Rao (ed.), Cointegration, chapter 4, pages 113-146, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. Perron, Pierre, 1997. "Further evidence on breaking trend functions in macroeconomic variables," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 355-385, October.
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    11. Simon Mohun, 2014. "Unproductive Labor in the U.S. Economy 1964-20101," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 46(3), pages 355-379, September.
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    1. HM Athens: Greeks bearing gifts
      by michael roberts in Michael Roberts Blog on 2019-05-06 13:19:32

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    Cited by:

    1. Tsoulfidis, Lefteris & Tsaliki, Persefoni, 2021. "The Long Recession and Economic Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic," MPRA Paper 107737, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unproductive expenditures; rate of profit; Great recession; ARDL;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)
    • B13 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)
    • B14 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist
    • B19 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Other
    • B2 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925
    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics
    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • E11 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Marxian; Sraffian; Kaleckian
    • N12 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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