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Rethinking long cycles: are the 1990s the onset of a new phase of capital accumulation?

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  • Tsoulfidis, Lefteris

Abstract

This paper deals with the long cycles that characterize the evolution of capitalist economies. It begins with a discussion of epochs of expansion and contraction in the level of economic activity and makes an effort to move towards a meaningful periodization of economic history. The claim that this paper raises is that profitability regulates the phases of these long cycles. The theoretical discussion on the mechanics of the long–term movement in profitability and the phases of long cycles is supported with data on the profit rate from various OECD economies. The empirical evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the 1990s mark the onset of a new phase of accumulation. The salient feature of this new phase is the dominance of information technologies and the associated notions of the “new economy” and globalization. However, unlike, the popular view that regards the “new economy” as depression-free, this paper claims that the “vices” of the old economy continue to exist.

Suggested Citation

  • Tsoulfidis, Lefteris, 2001. "Rethinking long cycles: are the 1990s the onset of a new phase of capital accumulation?," MPRA Paper 39739, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2012.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:39739
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/39739/1/MPRA_paper_39739.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Glyn, Andrew & Hughes, Alan & Lipietz, Alan & Sigh, Ajit, "undated". "The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age," WIDER Working Papers 295573, United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Victor Zarnowitz, 2000. "The Old and the New in U.S. Economic Expansion of the 1990s," NBER Working Papers 7721, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Tsoulfidis, Lefteris, 2013. "The ‘new golden age of accumulation’, the new depression and the greek economy," MPRA Paper 60577, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Tsoulfidis, Lefter, 2014. "Κρίση, Σύγχρονος Καπιταλισμός Και Ταξικές Ανακατατάξεις [Economic Crisis, Modern Capitalism and Class Realliances]," MPRA Paper 62692, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Long waves; Kondratieff; Phase change; Capital accumulation; Profit rate;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • B14 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist
    • B16 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Quantitative and Mathematical
    • B15 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary

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