Discussion Papers 2017

CIRJE-J-286	『景気循環における相の二要因』 "The Two Factors of the Phases of Business Cycle"
Author Name	江原慶 (Kei Ehara)
Date	April 2017
Full Paper	PDF file (only Japanese version available)
Remarks

Abstract (in Japanese)	Abstract (in English)
	We study business cycle from the theoretical perspective of Marxian economics in this paper. Marxian economists long have been investigating the cause of the crisis without paying sufficient attention to the whole dynamics of capitalism, i.e. business cycles. This paper tries to construct theoretical apparatus to capture the image of the business cycle of the capitalist economy. In section 1, we examine the texts in Capital in relation to the business cycle in order to confirm Marx's viewpoint on the issue. Section 2 aims at constructing the theory of business cycle as phase transitions, especially focusing on Michiaki Obata's recent attempt (M. Obata, Critical Studies on the Marxian Theory of Crisis, University of Tokyo Press, 2014) on the basis of Japanese Marxian traditions. Here we take the rate of profit (r) and the rate of accumulation (s) as two factors that determines the phases of the business cycle. In section 3, we analyse the outside of phases. We distinguish phase transition and unstable state, the combination of which would amount to crisis phenomena. In addition, the phase transition is to be classified into two: r transition and s transition. The former is led by the dynamics of the real economy and the latter is mainly caused by that of asset market.

Abstract (in Japanese)

Abstract (in English)

We study business cycle from the theoretical perspective of Marxian economics in this paper. Marxian economists long have been investigating the cause of the crisis without paying sufficient attention to the whole dynamics of capitalism, i.e. business cycles. This paper tries to construct theoretical apparatus to capture the image of the business cycle of the capitalist economy. In section 1, we examine the texts in Capital in relation to the business cycle in order to confirm Marx's viewpoint on the issue. Section 2 aims at constructing the theory of business cycle as phase transitions, especially focusing on Michiaki Obata's recent attempt (M. Obata, Critical Studies on the Marxian Theory of Crisis, University of Tokyo Press, 2014) on the basis of Japanese Marxian traditions. Here we take the rate of profit (r) and the rate of accumulation (s) as two factors that determines the phases of the business cycle. In section 3, we analyse the outside of phases. We distinguish phase transition and unstable state, the combination of which would amount to crisis phenomena. In addition, the phase transition is to be classified into two: r transition and s transition. The former is led by the dynamics of the real economy and the latter is mainly caused by that of asset market.