Profit for Marxists {56}

Working paper at SSRN

Abstract  Marxian economics and standard economics are widely different yet they share a central weakness: the respective profit theories are demonstrably false - each one in its own characteristic way. Roughly speaking, Marx tried to explain profit by objective factors while standard economics cites subjective factors. For different reasons, neither route led to satisfactory results. The conclusion is straightforward: one has to do better. The conceptual consequence is to first reconstruct the profit theory from a solid basis with no regard to either Marxian or standard premises. To succeed, objective-structural axioms have to be taken as a formal point of departure.

The truly General Theory of Employment: how Keynes could have succeeded {55}

Working paper at SSRN

Abstract  There is not much use to attack standard economics because deep in his heart the representative economist long knows that he is tied to a degenerating research program. The problem is, rather, that it seems to be exceedingly difficult to build up a convincing alternative. Keynes, for one, tried and was successful — albeit not fully. Unfortunately, he got some basics wrong. The conceptual consequence of the present paper is to discard the accustomed subjective-behavioral axioms and to take objective-structural axioms as the formal point of departure for the analysis of employment as the main practical issue of economics.