For scholars attempting to construct a theory of crisis based on the methodology of Marx, Chapter 15 of Book 3 of Das Kapital represents an area of highest interest as it contains numerous subjects of critical importance to the discussion. In fact, the contents of Chapter 15 have been the subject of numerous and repeated discussions and arguments.
The key issue in these discussions has been Marx's "overproduction of capital" ("absolute overproduction of capital" and "actual overproduction of capital") which appear in Part 3 of Chapter 15. In the past, I have undertaken a detailed analysis of Marx's concept of the "overproduction of capital" on two separate occasions (once using the hand-copied notes by Professor Kinzaburo Sato from the "main manuscript" of Das Kapital Book(in posession of Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis), and a second time using the manuscript published in Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels Gesamtausgabe, Abt. II, Bd. 4, Teil 2) for the purpose of re-examining the problems in various existing interpretations of the concept of overproduction of capital.
In the above-mentioned studies, I examined two central questions: How does Marx differentiate between the two concepts of overproduction of capital ("absolute overproduction of capital" and "actual overproduction of capital") in the manuscript of Book 3 of Das Kapital? And, how does he relate these two concepts of overproduction of capital to the "law of falling profit rates?" In her recent paper ("'Law of Falling Profit Rates' and 'Absolute Overproduction of Capital' -- An Issue in Crisis Studies," Rikkyo Keizaigaku Kenkyu(St. Paul's Economic Review), Vol. 55, No. 1, July 2001), Professor Noriko Maehata has undertaken a thorough study of these issues and has made my above-mentioned studies the subject of her criticism. Upon examining the various criticisms directed against my work by Professor Maehata, I have discovered several serious problems that cannot be overlooked.
Professor Maehata's position is as follows. "Actual overproduction of capital" and "absolute overproduction of capital" are both the results of the following causal nexus: absorption of relative overpopulation --> rising wages and falling rate of exploitation --> reduction in profits --> falling rate of profit. Any difference between the two is strictly a question of a difference in the degree of the "falling rates of exploitation." The Fall in the general rate of profit resulting from the development of the organic composition of capital is not generated by the fall in the rate of exploitation. The fall in the rate of profit resulting from the development of the organic composition of capital does not lead to the creation of relative overpopulation. The law of falling profit rates is not equivalent to the unilateral creation of relative overpopulation without the absorption of relative overpopulation.
My purpose in the present paper is to identify the faults in these interpretations and to rebut the criticisms that have been directed toward me.
|