Capitalism - Past Times Anwar Shaikh

Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises is a comprehensive overview of economic science published yesteryear the noted heterodox economist Anwar Shaikh. This article is technically non a review, rather a "what I am reading now" article. I conduct maintain read plenty of it to depict the audience for the book, but I cannot promise to summarise the contents of the work, which is merely over 1000 pages.

The volume was released inwards Feb 2016, published yesteryear the Oxford University Press. The writer is currently at the New School For Social Research, together with has been publishing for to a greater extent than than xxx years. I volition straight readers to his website --anwarshaikhecon.org -- for biographical details.

Paper Versus Ebook

I conduct maintain the electronic version of the book, but this is a illustration where it may last highly worthwhile to consider the hardback version.

Some sections of the volume comprise a fair amount of equations together with mathematical symbols, which are non supported yesteryear ebook readers. As a result, they are implemented yesteryear graphic images. Oxford University Press did the best chore that I conduct maintain seen inwards terms of formatting, but the lineament is yet less than newspaper typesetting. (I was trained to last picky close the formatting of mathematics; other readers may detect this less of a distraction.)

The other difficulty revolves approximately the length of the book. The text is broken upward into many different levels (parts, chapters, sections, subsections), but you lot lose the subtle visual clues that delineate the construction of the volume which would last provided yesteryear the text formatting. Other readers may non conduct maintain this problem, but I constitute that I sometimes lost rails of the overall flow of the argument, peradventure due to the generic department formatting.

Audience

This volume would extremely valuable for those who are interested inwards economics, together with who are non familiar alongside before schools of idea inwards economic science (which describes myself; I am familiar alongside modern economical theory, but non pre-Keynesian theory). The text is academic inwards tone, but extremely readable. Some sections conduct maintain a certainly amount of mathematics, but it is non oppressive (unlike the modern "neoclassical"  or mainstream literature). Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 reader should likely conduct maintain some familiarity alongside the dependent plain before tackling the book, but it could last used equally an introduction to a slap-up number of areas of economics.

I dubiety that most readers would desire to effort to read the volume cover-cover; at that topographic point is a proficient overview chapter, together with other chapters are linked but tin last read on a stand-alone basis. That was my reading strategy; I am non hugely interested inwards microeconomic theory, together with merely the initial summary was proficient plenty for my start pass.

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 reader who is only interested inwards policy recommendations powerfulness detect the volume less useful. Shaikh does conduct maintain some give-and-take of policy issues, but it is a pocket-size portion of the text.

I am unsure how this volume would last received yesteryear an academic reader who is already familiar alongside these theoretical topics. As I depict below, Anwar Shaikh does conduct maintain an interesting together with distinctive pick out on economical theory, but the mass of the volume is effectively a literature survey.

What Is It About?

The start chapter summarises the contents of the book, together with is itself close the length of a study that I consider acceptable for an ebook. I await that I volition render to his arguments inwards after articles, together with non effort to summarise them here.

Instead, I volition position what I come across equally the 3 major areas of interest.

1. He discusses some of his enquiry programme which shows that nosotros tin larn similar aggregate economical behavioural patterns from different microeconomic foundations. These results telephone telephone into enquiry the "microfoundations" of neoclassical economics. From my perspective, this aspect of the volume lone justified my purchase.
2. He outlines the evolution of micro together with macro economical theory from at to the lowest degree 3 perspectives -- classical, neoclassical, together with post-Keynesian. On some topics, he fifty-fifty brings inwards other schools of thought, such equally the Austrians together with Soros' "reflexivity" theory. Effectively, it is an extremely readable literature survey.
3. He has a theoretical agenda showing the superiority of classical economic science over modern variants. As I hash out below, I am less enthusiastic close this aspect of the book, but I withdraw to reverberate farther on his arguments.

Return Of Classical Economics

Although I scream upward this is a pregnant work, I would non last surprised if it non greatly embraced inside academia. This is because most of the theory that is beingness praised was developed yesteryear people who are long dead. As a cynical ex-academic, this is non a slap-up strategy for edifice a clique of peers for a publication network, fifty-fifty if it is intellectually honest.

Although Shaikh would likely last considered a heterodox economist inwards the modern context (but non 1 hundred years ago), he has some rigid critiques of post-Keynesian economics. It seems rubber to say that he is non a fan of Modern Monetary Theory; my feeling is that some of his characterisations of it are unfair.

He correctly focusses on the importance of profits inwards mortal sector behaviour, together with his characterisation of "real competition" equally compared to the nonsensical notion of "perfect competition" seems reasonable.

However, I conduct maintain my doubts that close the usefulness of the cost theory he discusses inwards modern developed economies. It is based on the concepts developed yesteryear Marx together with Sraffa, together with are implicitly manufacturing-oriented ("production of commodities yesteryear agency of commodities"). How costs are related to production capacity is critical inwards this theory. In the developed world, almost all such manufacturing processes conduct maintain been outsourced to poorer countries, together with what remains are services together with speciality manufacturing. Pricing is a marketing decision, together with the notion of a need crease is debatable -- you lot laid prices based on your build strategy.

If nosotros aspect at the uncomplicated Stock-Flow Consistent model I discussed inwards before articles, 1 could rattling reasonably inquire how the organization determines the value of output inside a given accounting period. (As I hash out inwards "Equilibrium And Steady State In SFC Models.") One could reasonably rip holes inwards whatever theory that attempts to explicate the in-period solution. My feeling is that nosotros withdraw to last "apathetic agnostics" alongside regards to questions similar this (I don't know, together with I don't care). We withdraw some approximation for behavioural laws to pivot downward the one-period solution for the model; these laws tin only promise to last approximations.

Real globe capitalism is also complex for tractable behavioural laws. Even if nosotros ignore services (as discussed above), manufacturing does non arrange to sensible notions of profit-driven businesses. Asian manufacturing firms, especially Chinese, conduct maintain ramped upward their productive capacity to insane levels. The strategy only makes sense inwards the context of a single-minded pursuit of market share, without the enquiry of profitability e'er beingness raised. Most North American firms (outside of applied scientific discipline bubble firms) exercise non operate inwards this fashion. That said, those Asian firms are their contest (at to the lowest degree inwards wide production categories), together with and then nosotros cannot ignore them. As a result, nosotros are non going to easily come upward up alongside a police trace that covers all these varieties of behaviour.

Concluding Remarks

This volume is going to last extremely worthwhile for many readers. I scream upward his analysis is solid, but my feeling is that whatever uncomplicated model -- whether it is classical, neoclassical, or post-Keynesian inwards inspiration -- is going to conduct maintain a hard to represent existent globe experience. This is non alone satisfactory if you lot are an academic pedagogy economics, but it is the reality faced yesteryear the residuum of us.

In time to come articles, I promise to hash out specific topics inside the book, especially his give-and-take of how macro patterns tin last somewhat independent of the exact shape of micro behaviour, a phenomenon sometimes referred to equally "emergent behaviour."

(c) Brian Romanchuk 2015