1st Edition
Unequal Development and Capitalism Catching Up and Falling Behind in the Global Economy
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.
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
Biography
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.
