Value and Crisis: Essays on Labour, Money and Contemporary Capitalism

Alfredo Saad-Filho is Professor of Political Economy at SOAS University of London. He is co-author of Marx’s Capital and Brazil: Neoliberalism versus Democracy (Pluto Pres, 2017), and numerous works on Marxist political economy, political economy of development, neoliberalism, democracy, and alternative economic policies.

"Alfredo Saad-Filho has has done Marxism a great favour by providing us with some of the clearest theoretical work on neoliberalism to date. The book would be appropriate for a course on international political economy, as well as in Marxist study groups. Value and Crisis is one of the finest works of Marxist scholarship on neoliberalism, and should be studied by every student of Marxism." - Fabian Van Onzen, Lone Star College, in: Marx & Philosophy Review of Books (2019) [Full review]

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction1 Method2 The Theory of Value3 Systems of Accumulation4 Neoliberalism5 Outline of the BookPart 1: Essays on the Theory of Value1 Marxist Economics1 The Method and Approach of Marxist Political Economy2 The Labour Theory of Value3 Commodities, Labour and Value4 Capital and Capitalism5 From Value to Surplus Value6 Profit and (Increasing) Exploitation7 Marxist Political Economy, Laws of Development and Contemporary Capitalism8 Conclusion2 The Relevance of Marx’s Theory of Value1 Interpretations of Marx’s Theory of Value1.1 Traditional Marxism 1.2 Sraffian Analyses 1.3 Value Form Theories 1.4 The ‘New Interpretation’ 2 Value Theory and Class Analysis2.1 Principles 2.2 Implications 3 Conclusion3 Labour, Money and ‘Labour-Money’: A Review of Marx’s Critique of John Gray’s Monetary Analysis1 Labour, Money, Exploitation2 Marx on Labour and Money3 Money, Value, and Price4 The Other Functions of Money5 Labour-Money in Retrospect6 Conclusion4 Capital Accumulation and the Composition of Capital1 Capital and Exploitation2 Understanding the Composition of Capital3 Production and the Composition of Capital4 Capital Accumulation5 Conclusion5 The ‘Transformation Problem’1 The ‘Problem’2 Alternative Interpretations2.1 Neoclassical and Sraffian 2.2 Value-Form Theories 2.3 Dynamic Analysis 3 Marx’s Transformation: A Review4 The Transformation and its Method5 Conclusion6 Transforming the Transformation Problem: Why the ‘New Interpretation’ is a Wrong Turning1 The ‘New Interpretation’: A Simple Formal Presentation2 Value of Money3 Value of Labour Power4 Structure, Sequence and Dynamics5 Conclusion7 The Supply of Credit Money and Capital Accumulation: A Critical View of Post-Keynesian Analysis1 The Fundamental Process of Endogenous Money Creation2 Commodity and Credit Money Systems3 Money and Inflation4 Two Steps Forward – One Step Back4.1 The Origin and Role of Money in the Economy 4.2 Horizontal Money Supply 4.3 Inflation 5 Conclusion: What is Important for the Way Ahead?8 Inflation Theory: A Critical Literature Review and a New Research Agenda1 Conflict and Inflation1.1 Conflict Theories 1.2 Assessment 2 Monopolies, Underconsumption, and Inflation2.1 Inflation Theory 2.2 Assessment 3 Credit, Extra Money, and Inflation3.1 Money and Credit 3.2 Extra Money Inflation 3.3 Inconvertibility and Inflation 3.4 Assessment 4 ConclusionPart 2: Essays on Contemporary Capitalism9 Anti-capitalism: A Marxist Introduction1 Capitalism and Anti-Capitalism2 September 11 and Beyond3 Four Pressing Issues3.1 Neoliberalism 3.2 Globalisation 3.3 Corporate Power 3.4 Democracy 4 The Way Ahead5 Leaving Capitalism Behind10 Neoliberalism1 Neoliberal Ideas2 Policy Shifts and Institutional Changes3 Classes and Class Struggle4 Neoliberalism, Financialisation and Globalisation5 Contradictions and Limitations11Thirteen Things You Need to Know About Neoliberalism1 A New Stage2 An Ideology?3 A Reaction?4 Markets and States5 Financialisation6 Policy Changes7 The Balance of Power8 Scholarship, Policy and Practice9 Two Phases10 Variegated Neoliberalism11 Everyday life12 Growth, Volatility and Crises13 Alternatives12 Democracy Against Neoliberalism1 Capitalism and Democracy2 Democracy in the Age of Neoliberalism3 The Limitations of Neoliberal Democracy4 Economic and Political Imbalances5 Globalism and (Nation-)States6 New Authoritarianism7 Transcending Neoliberalism through Radical Democracy8 Conclusion13 Monetary Policy and Neoliberalism1 Monetary Policy for Mature Neoliberalism2 Inflation Targeting and Central Bank Independence3 The New Monetary Policy Consensus in Practice4 The Performance of Inflation-Targeting Regime and Central Bank Independence5 Costs of the New Monetary Policy Consensus5.1 The Cost of High Interest Rates 5.2 The Cost of Conflicts between Inflation Targeting and Balance of Payments Equilibrium 5.3 The Cost of Financial Instability 5.4 The Cost of Central Bank ‘Independence’ 6 The Impact of the Global Crisis7 Conclusion14 Neoliberal Development and Its Critics1 Neoliberalism and Its Critics2 Neoliberalism and Development3 Neoliberalism, Politics and Development4 Conclusion15 CrisisinNeoliberalism or CrisisofNeoliberalism?1 Neoliberalism and Financialisation2 Financialisation and Social Discipline3 Neoliberalism’s Contradictions4 Not Moving Forward5 Coming Out of Left FieldReferencesIndex