It’s been almost a century and a half since Karl Marx’s death, and decades since the collapse of socialism in the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and elsewhere. In the still nominally…View Post
I would like to add another point. The author writes about "empirical evidence" which shows that it is wrong to say that the "rate of profit falls" and what do they do? They cite the same old graphs about how in the US and a selection of imperial markets the profit rate didn't fall as hard and that it does fluctuate around a bit. Nothing which disproves the rate of profits to fall.
That is a topic I am quite interested in and people then turn around and act as if (a) it is enough to look into your own back yard and claim that it doesn't happen and (b) that companies aren't explicitly trying to deal with that problem. That is one of the reasons Thiel, Musk, Bezos, and others try to get monopolies or quasi-monopolies in their markets and why companies (market failure in econ 400 and 300) try to create oligopoles and not go into price battles (gas stations and raffineries come to mind) rather often.
IP rights are also a way to enforce a longer time of reaping profits till others are allowed to use the advancements - even if they did come up with it on their own. In addition IP rights are market entry barriers which reduce the competitiveness in a market from a non-Marxist outlook, too.
I would like to add another point. The author writes about "empirical evidence" which shows that it is wrong to say that the "rate of profit falls" and what do they do? They cite the same old graphs about how in the US and a selection of imperial markets the profit rate didn't fall as hard and that it does fluctuate around a bit. Nothing which disproves the rate of profits to fall.
That is a topic I am quite interested in and people then turn around and act as if (a) it is enough to look into your own back yard and claim that it doesn't happen and (b) that companies aren't explicitly trying to deal with that problem. That is one of the reasons Thiel, Musk, Bezos, and others try to get monopolies or quasi-monopolies in their markets and why companies (market failure in econ 400 and 300) try to create oligopoles and not go into price battles (gas stations and raffineries come to mind) rather often.
IP rights are also a way to enforce a longer time of reaping profits till others are allowed to use the advancements - even if they did come up with it on their own. In addition IP rights are market entry barriers which reduce the competitiveness in a market from a non-Marxist outlook, too.