Unequal Development and Capitalism

This book is a major resource for readers interested in economic growth and development, heterodox macroeconomics, development economics and related areas.

Unequal development has been a defining characteristic of capitalism. Throughout history, countries and regions have exhibited differences in labor productivity growth - a key determinant in poverty reduction and development - and although some nations may catch up with the productivity levels or well-being of developed economies at times, others fall behind. This book explores these processes of catching up and falling behind of developing countries from Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and Africa in relation to the US economy from 1970 to 2019.The research presented in this book integrates a historical interpretation of post-World War II capitalism with economic theory and empirical analysis. By exploring the historical experiences of these countries, the book provides an overview of their economic transformations. The interplay between technical change, profit rate and capital accumulation, on one hand, and institutional change, on the other, are combined to explain the dynamics of catching up or falling behind in labor and capital productivities. Furthermore, the book provides, from the perspective of developing countries, fundamental lessons for the implementation of successful strategies for catching up and development.This book is a major resource for readers interested in economic growth and development, heterodox macroeconomics, development economics, and related areas.

Autorentext

Adalmir Antonio Marquetti is Professor of Economics at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Alessandro Miebach is Associate Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Henrique Morrone is Associate Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Inhalt

Introduction: capitalist transformations and unequal development

Economic thinking

Capitalist transformation

Profit rate and capital accumulation

Environment crisis, population, and personal income distribution

The book's structure and how to navigate it

Chapter 1

Measuring technical change, catching up, and falling behind globally

Measuring growth and distribution

Representing technical change

The dataset

Distribution, growth, and technical change worldwide: a first look

Stylized facts

Chapter 2

A growth model in the classical-Marxian tradition

The standard classical-Marxian model

The classical-Marxian model of catching up and falling behind

Summary and extensions of the model

Chapter 3

The US economy from the demise of the Golden Age to the crisis of neoliberalism

From the Golden Age to the crisis of neoliberalism

Technical change and distribution

Capital accumulation, profits, neoliberalism and growth

Hegemony, neoliberalism and capital accumulation

Chapter 4

Running fast: catching up in Asia

A brief historical perspective of modern Asia

Economic growth in Modern Asia

Technical change and profit rate: industrialization, institutional change, oil rent, and conflicts

The links between profitability, capital accumulation and catch up
Dilemmas of catching up, profitability, neoliberalism and environmental sustainability

Chapter 5

From hope to frustration: falling behind in Latin America

Neoliberalism in Latin America: a brief account
Technical change, profit rate and premature deindustrialization

Profit rate, capital accumulation and neoliberalism

Whither Latin America: leaving neoliberalism?

Chapter 6

Restarting capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe

From breakdown to peripheral capitalism

Technical change and profit rate before and after the fall

Capital accumulation in the Central and Eastern European countries

Restarting capitalism and unequal development: winners and losers

Chapter 7

The forgotten continent: falling behind in Africa

A brief history of African countries after independence

Technical regress and the profit rate in African countries

Natural resources, profit rate, and accumulation

The new frontier in the making

Conclusion: worldwide lessons for catching-up

The necessary conditions for catching up

Is (re)industrialization synonymous with catching up and reducing backwardness?

Neoliberal capitalism and uneven development

A new world ahead