Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
14th Annual Conference in Political Economy The Changing World Economy, and Today’s Imperialism, İstanbul, Türkiye, 4 - 07 Eylül 2024
This paper analyzes the relationship between
the rate of profit and the real mass of profit based on data for the aggregate
capitalist sectors in Turkey over the period 1998-2023. The data clearly shows
a downward trend in the rate of profit, which became apparent after 2005, and
stagnation in the real mass of profit beginning in the second half of the
2010s, leading to a stagnant mass of real investment. These symptoms indicate
an absolute overaccumulation leading to an economic collapse or a prolonged stagnation.
Economic policies may conceal these signs of
stagnation and serve as counter mechanisms. It seems that in the case of
Turkey, low interest rates, credit expansion, the lowering of wages below the
value of labor in small firms, and a dramatic increase in the rate of surplus
value, especially in export-oriented industries, have been successful in
preventing a large-scale collapse of the economy. However it should be noted
that these mechanisms do not necessarily imply a full restoration of profitability.
Our study therefore raises the question of how far these counter-mechanisms can
succeed in postponing the accumulation crisis, and our findings suggest that
they have not.
Key words: Overaccumulation
crisis, Rate of profit, Real mass of profit, Rate of surplus value
JEL Codes: B51, E11, E22, E24, E25