Respecifying Marx’s Value Categories: A Theoretical and Empirical Reconsideration of the “Law of the Falling Rate of Profit”

Despite the much-touted prosperity (read, positive annual growth rates) of the US and Canadian economies between 1983 and 1989, the argument can be made that North American capitalism has experienced a long-term malaise over the past twenty years, a malaise which shows little sign of lifting any time soon. Slow growth rates, high unemployment levels, three severe recessions, burgeoning debt and the decline of the traditional rust-belt industries have been prominent features of what has been described as a structural crisis of North American capitalism.