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Masters Thesis

A comparative political economy of capitalist profit theory

Three U.S. profit performance accounts covering World War II to the 1990s are examined to ascertain how each narrative -- Brenner's 2003 The Boom and the Bubble, Glyn's 2007 Capitalism Unleashed, and Harvey's 2005 New Imperialism with the 2007 A Brief History of Neoliberalism -- agrees with one of two paradigmatic theories of capital accumulation and falling profits, the first originating in Smith and ending with neoclassical microeconomics, and the second, originating in Ricardo, then Marx, having led to different mid to late 20th century contributions towards modern reformulations of classical political economy. With many qualifications, comparison finds Brenner having significant similarity with neoclassical microeconomics, and Glyn and Harvey hewing toward strands within classical political economy. During the present crisis of economics, these conclusions further suggest investigation into clarifying multi-directional connections between paradigmatic theories and empirics in the pursuit of scientifically establishing consistency between each regarding capitalist profits.

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