IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/elg/rokejn/v1y2013i4p447-464.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Degree of monopoly and class struggle: political aspects of Kalecki's pricing and distribution theory

Author

Listed:
  • Fernando M. Rugitsky

    (New School of Social Research)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the concept of class struggle in Michal Kalecki's writings. First, his inclusion of trade unions' strength as one of the determining elements of the degree of monopoly is examined, taking into consideration Abba Lerner's formulation of the latter and its development by Kalecki. Then, the limits of this understanding of class struggle are pointed out from the standpoint of Karl Marx's conceptual distinction between labor and labor-power. Finally, a reinterpretation of Kalecki's 'Political aspects of full employment' is provided, indicating the broader conception of class struggle implicit in this work and its usefulness to a better understanding of capital–labor conflicts in contemporary capitalism.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernando M. Rugitsky, 2013. "Degree of monopoly and class struggle: political aspects of Kalecki's pricing and distribution theory," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 1(4), pages 447—464-4, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:elg:rokejn:v:1:y:2013:i:4:p447-464
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.elgaronline.com/view/journals/roke/1-4/roke.2013.04.06.xml
    Download Restriction: Restricted access
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eckhard Hein & Artur Tarassow, 2010. "Distribution, aggregate demand and productivity growth: theory and empirical results for six OECD countries based on a post-Kaleckian model," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(4), pages 727-754.
    2. Jessop, Bob, 1977. "Recent Theories of the Capitalist State," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(4), pages 353-373, December.
    3. Mark Setterfield (ed.), 2002. "The Economics of Demand-Led Growth," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1864.
    4. Mario Cassetti, 2003. "Bargaining power, effective demand and technical progress: a Kaleckian model of growth," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 27(3), pages 449-464, May.
    5. Taylor, Lance, 1990. "Real and Money Wages, Output and Inflation in the Semi-industrialized World," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 57(227), pages 329-353, August.
    6. Shaikh, Anwar, 1980. "Marxian Competition versus Perfect Competition: Further Comments on the So-Called Choice of Technique," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 4(1), pages 75-83, March.
    7. Neri Salvadori (ed.), 2006. "Economic Growth and Distribution," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3798.
    8. Eckhard Hein & Lena Vogel, 2008. "Distribution and growth reconsidered: empirical results for six OECD countries," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 32(3), pages 479-511, May.
    9. Engelbert Stockhammer & Robert Stehrer, 2011. "Goodwin or Kalecki in Demand? Functional Income Distribution and Aggregate Demand in the Short Run," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 43(4), pages 506-522, December.
    10. Peter Kriesler, 1988. "Kalecki’s Pricing Theory Revisited," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 108-130, September.
    11. Nelson H. Barbosa‐Filho & Lance Taylor, 2006. "Distributive And Demand Cycles In The Us Economy—A Structuralist Goodwin Model," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 389-411, July.
    12. Michalis Nikiforos & Duncan K. Foley, 2012. "Distribution And Capacity Utilization: Conceptual Issues And Empirical Evidence," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 200-229, February.
    13. A. Asimakopulos, 1975. "A Kaleckian Theory of Income Distribution," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 8(3), pages 313-333, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. A Heise, 2020. "Wage-led and profit-led regime research – promising scientific research programme or scientific cul-de-sac?," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 25(2), pages 31-49, September.
    2. Fernando Rugitsky, 2017. "The rise and fall of the Brazilian economy (2004-2015): the economic antimiracle," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2017_29, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    3. Galanis, Giorgos & Veneziani, Roberto & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2016. "Growth, Exploitation and Class Inequalities," Discussion Paper Series 636, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    4. Dögüs, Ilhan, 2017. "Rising wage dispersion between white-collar and blue-collar workers and market concentration: The case of the USA, 1966-2011," ZÖSS-Discussion Papers 62, University of Hamburg, Centre for Economic and Sociological Studies (CESS/ZÖSS).
    5. Greg Hannsgen & Tai Young-Taft, 2015. "Inside Money in a Kaldor-Kalecki-Steindl Fiscal Policy Model: The Unit of Account, Inflation, Leverage, and Financial Fragility," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_839, Levy Economics Institute.
    6. Greg Hannsgen, 2014. "Fiscal Policy, Chartal Money, Mark-up Dynamics and Unemployment Insurance in a Model of Growth and Distribution," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(3), pages 487-523, July.
    7. Dögüs, Ilhan, 2019. "Consumption dispersion between white-collar and blue-collar workers and rising market concentration in the USA: 1984-2011," ZÖSS-Discussion Papers 72, University of Hamburg, Centre for Economic and Sociological Studies (CESS/ZÖSS).
    8. Guilherme Klein Martins & Fernando Rugitsky, 2021. "The Long Expansion and the Profit Squeeze: Output and Profit Cycles in Brazil (1996–2016)," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 53(3), pages 373-397, September.
    9. Guilherme Klein Martins & Fernando Rugitsky, 2018. "The commodities boom and the profit squeeze: output and profit cycles in Brazil (1996-2016)," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2018_09, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert A. Blecker, 2016. "Wage-led versus profit-led demand regimes: the long and the short of it," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 4(4), pages 373-390, October.
    2. Eckhard Hein, 2017. "Post-Keynesian macroeconomics since the mid 1990s: main developments," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 14(2), pages 131-172, September.
    3. Betül Mutlugün, 2022. "Endogenous income distribution and aggregate demand: Empirical evidence from heterogeneous panel structural vector autoregression," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 583-637, May.
    4. Cem Oyvat & Oğuz Öztunalı & Ceyhun Elgin, 2020. "Wage‐led versus profit‐led demand: A comprehensive empirical analysis," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(3), pages 458-486, July.
    5. Engelbert Stockhammer & Ozlem Onaran, 2013. "Wage-led growth: theory, evidence, policy," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 61-78, January.
    6. Eckhard Hein & Artur Tarassow, 2010. "Distribution, aggregate demand and productivity growth: theory and empirical results for six OECD countries based on a post-Kaleckian model," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 34(4), pages 727-754.
    7. Robert A Blecker & Michael Cauvel & Y K Kim, 2022. "Systems estimation of a structural model of distribution and demand in the US economy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 46(2), pages 391-420.
    8. Lavoie, M. & Stockhammer, Engelbert,, 2012. "Wage-led growth : concepts, theories and policies," ILO Working Papers 994709363402676, International Labour Organization.
    9. Michalis Nikiforos & Duncan Foley, 2011. "Distribution and Capacity: Conceptual Issues and Empirical Evidence September," Working Papers 1105, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    10. Jochen Hartwig, 2014. "Testing the Bhaduri-Marglin model with OECD panel data," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 419-435, July.
    11. Oyvat, Cem & Öztunalı, Oğuz & Elgin, Ceyhun, 2018. "Wage-led vs. profit-led growth: a comprehensive empirical analysis," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 20951, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    12. Eckhard Hein, 2012. "The Macroeconomics of Finance-Dominated Capitalism – and its Crisis," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14931.
    13. Hiroaki Sasaki & Ryunosuke Sonoda & Shinya Fujita, 2013. "International Competition and Distributive Class Conflict in an Open Economy Kaleckian Model," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 683-715, November.
    14. Ozan Ekin Kurt, 2020. "Functional income distribution, capacity utilization, capital accumulation and productivity growth in Turkey: A post‐Kaleckian analysis," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(4), pages 734-766, November.
    15. Hein, Eckhard, & Mundt, Matthias., 2012. "Financialisation and the requirements and potentials for wage-led recovery : a review focussing on the G20," ILO Working Papers 994709323402676, International Labour Organization.
    16. Hein, Eckhard, 2011. "Distribution, ‘Financialisation’ and the Financial and Economic Crisis – Implications for Post-crisis Economic Policies," MPRA Paper 31180, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Jochen Hartwig, 2013. "Ist Lohnzurückhaltung gut oder schlecht für das Schweizer Wirtschaftswachstum?," KOF Analysen, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, vol. 7(2), pages 33-45, June.
    18. Kemp-Benedict, Eric, 2014. "A Kaleckian Model with Intermediate Goods," MPRA Paper 57076, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Marques, André M. & Lima, Gilberto Tadeu, 2022. "Testing for Granger causality in quantiles between the wage share in income and productive capacity utilization," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 290-312.
    20. Alexandru Avram & Flavia Maria Barna & Miruna Lucia Năchescu & Costin Daniel Avram & Roxana Loredana Avram, 2020. "Responsible Governance and the Sustainability of Populist Public Policies. The Implications of Wage-Led Growth Strategy in Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-21, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    class struggle; degree of monopoly; mark-up pricing; income distribution; Kalecki; Marx;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B50 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - General
    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:elg:rokejn:v:1:y:2013:i:4:p447-464. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Phillip Thompson (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elgaronline.com/roke .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.