Political Economy Quarterly

 

Latest Issue

  • Technological Revolution, Phased Endogenous Growth, and Market Failure

    LIU Taoxiong;LIU Zhuohao;LI Bangxi;School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University;

    We establish a basic framework for incorporating technological revolution into the endogenous growth model. With two types of technological progress, incremental progress and technological revolution, the equilibrium shows a Cyclic Growth Path(CGP) with both long-term endogenous growth and cyclical fluctuations. The market equilibrium leads to over-consumption, insufficient investment, and lack of “rush-effect” in comparison to the optimal growth path, which results in the latter occurrence of technological revolution. These findings have important policy implications, meaning that to promote technological revolutions, relying solely on the market is insufficient and that this problem needs to be corrected through appropriate policies.

    2025 04 v.4;No.13 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1534K]

  • Research on the Theoretical Logic and Realization Path of the Value of a Healthy Labor Force

    WANG Lin;WANG Yi;School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics;

    People's health is an important indicator of a nation's prosperity and a country's strength. Marxist economics, especially its theory of labor power value, can provide a more essential research perspective for analyzing the healthy development of workers. Therefore, this article introduces health factors into the classic Marxist theory of labor power value and proposes the theoretical category of healthy labor power value, which is determined by the necessary labor time for reproducing healthy labor power and is manifested as the value of the necessary means of subsistence, education and training, and health restoration products and services for maintaining healthy labor power. On this basis, it distinguishes between the “should be” healthy labor power value and the “actual” healthy labor power value, and based on the quantitative relationship between the two, depicts two different “health-economy” interaction models, namely, the vicious cycle logic of workers' health deterioration and economic unsustainable development, and the virtuous cycle logic of workers' health promotion and high-quality economic development. It clarifies that the leap from a health-deteriorating society to a health-promoting society requires the full play of the coordinated role of “government-enterprise-society”. Finally, starting from three aspects: constraining the formation of health damage, ensuring full compensation for already occurred health damage, and increasing preventive health expenditures, it puts forward countermeasures and suggestions for promoting China to accelerate the realization of a health-promoting society.

    2025 04 v.4;No.13 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1208K]

  • The Description and Political Economy Interpretation of the Evolution and Development of Platform Economy: Analysis Perspective Based on Marx's Consumption Theory

    SHEN Zhansheng;School of Marxism, Fujian Normal University;

    As an important part of the digital economy, the evolution of platform economy has a profound impact on the traditional business model and consumer behavior. The platform economy plays a significant role in promoting the personalization of consumer demand, the digital transformation of goods and services, the diversified participation of value generation mechanism, and the diversification of consumption patterns. By examining the changes in consumption trends in the operation of the platform economy, we can see that the evolution of the platform economy presents five characteristics: First, the rise of personalization: the trend of differentiation and customization of consumer demand driven by the platform economy; second, digital transformation: the innovation and challenges of goods and services in the platform economy; third, collaborative co-creation: the multi-participation mechanism of value generation under the platform economy model; fourth, model innovation: diversification of consumption patterns under the guidance of sharing economy and subscription services; fifth, competition and monopoly: the complex evolution of market competition pattern in platform economy. Based on the perspective of political economy, this paper interprets the significance of the evolution and development of platform economy. At the theoretical level, this paper examines how the platform economy enriches and expands Marx's consumption theory; at the practical level, it explores the high-quality development path of platform economy under the guidance of Marx's consumption theory. Correspondingly, it is necessary to innovate the consumption concept and fully demonstrate the social responsibility and value orientation of the platform economy.

    2025 04 v.4;No.13 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1162K]

  • The Most Recent Development of the Labor Theory of Value Abroad Since 1980s

    XIE Fusheng;DENG Kewei;GUO Ziang;National Research Centre for Political Eeonomy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, Renmin University of China;School of Economics, Renmin University of China;

    Since the 1980s, discussions on the labor theory of value have continued to deepen within Marxist scholarship abroad, gradually forming two mainstream approaches: physicalist approach and value-form approach. Based on a systematic examination of Marx's texts, this article argues that the labor theory of value should contain three levels of essential determinations: first, at the level of the general commodity economy, it emphasizes the unity of the three categories of value substance, value quantity, and value form; second, at the level of the results of capitalist production, it emphasizes that individual commodities are the “aliquot part” of the total social product; and finally, at the level of the capitalist competitive process, it adheres to the principle that value is determined by the conditions of reproduction and the two aggregate equations of value transformation. However, the physicalist approach attempts to analyze capitalist production within the logic of general commodity economy, while the value-form approach separates the unity of value substance, value quantity, and value form. Neither approach has yet to offer an interpretation of the labor theory that fully aligns with Marx's original intention. The key to this theoretical breakthrough lies in two complementary paths. The introduction of Rubin's abstract labor interpretation into English-language scholarship in the 1970s provided a good starting point for effectively interpreting the first determination. The macro-monetary interpretation(MMI) formed in the 1990s successfully integrated the three determinations. While maintaining Marx's transformation method and aggregate equations, it pointed out a possible path for the development of contemporary labor value theory.

    2025 04 v.4;No.13 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1331K]

  • The Second Brenner Debate

    LU Baolin;CHEN Hongchi;College of Economics, Fujian Normal University;School of Marxism, Renmin University of China;

    Brenner believes that the decline in profitability that began in the mid-1960s was rooted in overcapacity and overproduction caused by intensified international competition in the manufacturing sector. The reason why the decline in profit rate caused by excessive competition has been delayed in recovery is mainly due to insufficient exit and excessive entry into the production sector with oversupply. Brenner criticized the supply-side explanation for only focusing on the “vertical” relationship between capital and labor, underestimating the “horizontal” relationship between capital and the resulting economic contradictions. Critics argue that the linear explanation of attributing the decline in profit rate to international competition is seriously flawed and cannot place labor relations at the center of capitalist historical narratives a priori. This article systematically reviews the debate surrounding Brenner's “Theory of Excessive International Competition” and summarizes it as “The Second Brenner Debate”.

    2025 04 v.4;No.13 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1217K]

  • Rent and Economic Growth from a Marxist Perspective: An Examination of the History of Thought

    YU Chao;School of Marxism, Wuhan University;Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Marxist Theory and China's Practice, Wuhan University;

    This article systematically examines the history of economic thought on how rent affects economic growth from the perspective of Marxist economics. When Marx constructed the reproduction model, there were two theoretical “gaps” due to the lack of consideration for the international transfer of imperialist rent and the role of productive investment in domestic rent in economic growth. The theories of imperialism and underdevelopment analyze the heterogeneous effects of imperialist rent on economic growth in developed and underdeveloped countries, thus achieving a “replenishment” in the first dimension. Socialist political economy analyzes the productive investment of rent to achieve the strategic catch-up of the socialist economy, while urban political economy interprets the financialization of real estate leads to the decline of the capitalist economy, thus achieving a “replenishment” in the second dimension. The above theoretical viewpoints have deepened the connection between the theory of reproduction and the theory of rent, not only connecting the second and third volumes of Capital, but also filling in some parts of Marx's six-volume plan to a certain extent, thus further improving and developing the theoretical system of Marxist economics.

    2025 04 v.4;No.13 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1272K]

  • Efficiency Wages, Labor Intensity, and Equilibrium Unemployment: The Origin and Contemporary Development of the Labor Discipline Model

    WANG Kun;HAO Yubiao;School of Economics, Capital University of Economics and Business;

    In recent years, the global economy has faced increasingly severe risks of recession, with sluggish economic growth and persistently high unemployment rates. Unemployment has become a major issue of concern for governments and scholars worldwide. At the same time, the intensity of labor for those employed has continued to increase, and despite the lack of significant wage growth, many positions remain highly competitive. In the context of overlapping types of unemployment, the efficiency wage theory, which focuses on wage rigidity, struggles to provide a comprehensive explanation for the persistent unemployment problem. In contrast, the labor discipline model, based on the perspective of the labor process, offers a more complete analytical framework. This paper systematically integrates the labor discipline model for the first time, traces its intellectual origins, and summarizes a labor extraction function that can characterize general employment relationships. It also presents the basic logic of model construction from the perspectives of neoclassical, radical, and Kaleckian schools. The Kaleckian labor discipline model provides a reasonable explanation for the coexistence of different types of unemployment and offers a unified theoretical framework for studying the complex unemployment issues of today. It holds the potential to lead the way for innovative development in labor discipline models.

    2025 04 v.4;No.13 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1348K]

  • History of Inequality and Its Transcendence: Analysis and Commentary on Thomas Piketty's Capital and Ideology

    LYU Jiayi;WANG Yubin;School of Marxism, Nanjing University of Science and Technology;School of Marxism, Nankai University;

    The French left-wing economist Thomas Piketty's new book Capital and Ideology is a monumental work which integrates history, economics and socialist theories. It analyzes in detail various inequality systems such as the slave society, the “three-class society”, the traditional capitalist society, social democracy, “super capitalism”, and puts forward an ideal society scheme based on the core value of equality: 21st-Century “Participatory Socialism”. This book is very critical for the inequality of human society and especially for “super Capitalism”, which sounds the alarm for the Capitalist world with explicit materials, clear data and his international influences, and reminds the world people again that Socialism should be the alternative and tendency of Capitalism. However, Piketty's method is not historical materialism and he has not transcended the reformism of social democracy. Piketty starts from the idea of an ideal society rather than the realistic contradictions of Capitalism, so his Socialist scheme is a fantasy to a large extent. We must adhere to the Marxist method and Scientific Socialist theories, inherit the experience and results of the development of Socialism, find out the solution to transcend Capitalism worldwide on the base of the practice of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era, so that we can not only dialectically learn from Piketty but also transcend Piketty.

    2025 04 v.4;No.13 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1059K]