Title: The role of long and short-term dynamics of the US rate of profit in the current crisis

Authors: Sergio Cámara Izquierdo

Addresses: Departamento de Economía, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Azcapotzalco, Av. San Pablo No. 180, Col. Reynosa Tamaulipas, 02200, Delegación Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, Mexico

Abstract: The paper analyses the long and short-term dynamics of the US rate of profit in the context of the current crisis. In the long-term, the tendency in the rate of profit to fall is ruled out as the main cause of the crisis. Nonetheless, it is characterised from the structural tendencies of profitability and accumulation; basically, the low levels of profitability and the neoliberal inhibition of productive investment constitute the structural context of the crisis. In the short-term, the bursting of the housing bubble was the precipitating factor of the crisis in the US economy, while the subsequent cyclical downfall of the rate of profit prior to the recession accelerated its outbreak.

Keywords: USA; United States; long-term trends; short-term dynamics; rate of profit; financial crisis; accumulation; neoliberalism; business cycle; fiscal policy; monetary policy; housing bubble; profitability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCP.2014.059048

International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2014 Vol.8 No.1, pp.1 - 22

Published online: 06 Jun 2014 *

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