Re: Marx and Keynes on Unemployment

[sardoni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Claudio Sardoni)]

Bill says:
>
>But in a capitalist economy where the goal of the capitalist is accumulation
>another source of unemployment is always possible (inevitable). this might be
>the technical unemployment where capitalists strive for higher K/L ratios to
>minimise the reliance on buying labour power. this sort of unemployment is not
>due to uncertainty about the future, or mistakes about expected outcomes, or
>the use of money as a safe haven. it is part of the internal dynamic of
>capitalism which exists separate in logic to the sources of periodic crises.
>
Yes, the goal of the capitalist is accumulation. Accumulation means
investment, ie to make decisions now about a relatively far uncertain
future. This in turn implies money. However you put things, it's not
possible to abstract from money and no piece of analysis can be carried out
without introducing money. Unemployment created by technical progress is not
another kind of unemployment, it is just the result of the particular ratio
K/L (but does K mean anything after the capital debate of the 1970s?) that
capitalists have decided when deciding their investment.
Claudio Sardoni
Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche
telephone +39-6-44284 231 fax +39-6-4404 572