The Economics of Imperialism

Fülszöveg

In The Economics of Imperialism Michael Barratt Brown examines the Marxist concept of the connection between capitalism and imperialism. The concept is criticized from the standpoints of neo-classical and Keyneslan theory, as well as from within the Marxist tradition, where the author himself stands. He takes his thesis from Rosa Luxemburg - that imperialism is a process of assimilation and transformation of economies into the sphere of competitive capital accumulation, a process which has established an artificial division of labour amounting to a dual economy.
After his first two chapters, in which he expounds Classical, Keynesian and Marxist theories of imperialism, the author examines specific historical and current problems of political economy from these three standpoints. Chapters 3 to 5 discuss the accumulation of treasure, the use of slaves, the establishment of a world division of labour and the extension of the field of capital. The next six chapters examine the export... Tovább

Fülszöveg

In The Economics of Imperialism Michael Barratt Brown examines the Marxist concept of the connection between capitalism and imperialism. The concept is criticized from the standpoints of neo-classical and Keyneslan theory, as well as from within the Marxist tradition, where the author himself stands. He takes his thesis from Rosa Luxemburg - that imperialism is a process of assimilation and transformation of economies into the sphere of competitive capital accumulation, a process which has established an artificial division of labour amounting to a dual economy.
After his first two chapters, in which he expounds Classical, Keynesian and Marxist theories of imperialism, the author examines specific historical and current problems of political economy from these three standpoints. Chapters 3 to 5 discuss the accumulation of treasure, the use of slaves, the establishment of a world division of labour and the extension of the field of capital. The next six chapters examine the export of capital, the concept of the large firm operating transnationally as the accumulator of capital, the nature of neo-colonialism, interimperialist rivalry and the prospects of a new international economic order. The final chapter is a discussion of how it might be possible to escape from the enforced artificial world division of labour.
Michael Barratt Brown is Senior Lecturer in Industrial Studies in the Department of Extra-Mural Studies at the University of Sheffield. Vissza