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Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Cooled Down or Stimulated the Countertendencies of Capital? A Critical Review

Author

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  • Leonardo Carnut

    (Centro de Desenvolvimento do Ensino Superior em Saúde, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo 04039-032, Brazil)

  • Lucas Uback

    (Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Municipal de São Caetano do Sul, São Caetano 09521-160, Brazil)

  • Áquilas Mendes

    (Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 01246-904, Brazil
    Programa Pós-Graduados em Economia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, São Paulo 05014-901, Brazil)

Abstract

This is a critical review of what the Marxist scientific literature presents on the forms of countertendency to falling profit rates carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 33 articles included in this review were studied using a Marxist approach. The following elements of the articles were synthesized and criticized: the analysis matrices, the methodological aspects of the articles, the elements contrary to the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, and the cases studied and their contexts of analysis. The articles reviewed allow us to state that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was intensification in the forms of an increased degree of labour exploitation, cheapening of the elements of constant capital, and increased relative overpopulation and shareholder capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Leonardo Carnut & Lucas Uback & Áquilas Mendes, 2023. "Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Cooled Down or Stimulated the Countertendencies of Capital? A Critical Review," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:11:y:2023:i:5:p:148-:d:1148362
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Steven M. Fazzari, Ella Needler, 2021. "US employment inequality in the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 18(2), pages 223–239-2, September.
    2. Benanav, Aaron, 2021. "Service Work in the Pandemic Economy," International Labor and Working-Class History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 99, pages 66-74, April.
    3. Paweł Żuk & Piotr Żuk, 2022. "The precariat pandemic: Exploitation overshadowed by COVID-19 and workers’ strategies in Poland," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 33(1), pages 200-223, March.
    4. Joseph Baines & Sandy Brian Hager, 2021. "The Great Debt Divergence and its Implications for the Covid-19 Crisis: Mapping Corporate Leverage as Power," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5), pages 885-901, September.
    5. Fiona Jenkins & Julie Smith, 2021. "Work-from-home during COVID-19: Accounting for the care economy to build back better," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 32(1), pages 22-38, March.
    6. Mark Dean & Al Rainnie & Jim Stanford & Dan Nahum, 2021. "Industrial policy-making after COVID-19: Manufacturing, innovation and sustainability," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 32(2), pages 283-303, June.
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