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A network model for the complex behavior of the rate of profit: Exploring a simulation model with overlapping technological revolutions

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Costa Ribeiro, L 
de Deus, LG 
Loureiro, PM 
da Motta e Albuquerque, E 

Abstract

This article proposes a network model to replicate the behaviour of the profit rate in the long run. Specifically, it accounts for the results of an empirical investigation of the profit rate in the US, which show that it has fractal properties and its complexity changes over time. The starting point of the model is Marx’s insights on the interplay between the tendency of the rate to fall and its countertendencies. It combines these insights with the persistent generation of new commodities – inventions – and a specific set of new branches of production that triggers technological revolutions. A simulation running this network model successfully replicates historical features of the system.

Description

Keywords

Rate of profit, Complex systems, Metamorphoses of capitalism, Simulation models

Journal Title

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0954-349X
1873-6017

Volume Title

43

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Brazil), grant (BEX 0840/14-9)