>>> SAckerman at FAIR.org 04/03/01 04:50PM >>>
Doug Henwood wrote:
> U.S. corporate profitability peaked in late 96/early 97, and has been
> flat-to-down since. It makes you wonder where the alleged
> productivity boom is paying off.
.
Well it paid off in the NIPA statistics, didn't it? Output per worker
zoomed. So why didn't it show up in the profit rate? Accounting-wise,
wouldn't it have to be because the output/capital ratio (aka "capital
productivity) stagnated? Is that consistent with the data?
(((((((((
CB: In Marx's terms, the tendency of the rate of profit to fall is because the rate of profit is :
rate of profit = surplus value/ (constant capital + variable capital).
so
rate of profit = (s/v) /( 1 + c/v)
so if productivity goes up because of introduction of new technology raising the technical composition of capital, to the extent that rise in technical composition is reflected in a rising of the value composition ( i.e. the ratio of c to v ), the rate of profit will fall