The twelve papers collected in this volume of Research in Political Economy mark a new phase in the study of capitalism, centred on the reproduction of total social capital. They address the widely felt need to reconnect political economy with real-world phenomena, including financial crises, long-term stagnation, poverty, inequality, and economic injustice.
Seeking to renew pluralist dialogue among all currents critical of the dominant neoclassical paradigm—particularly those aiming to move beyond the equilibrium framework that permeates it—the volume offers important new insights into Marx’s value theory. These constitute a significant addition to both the existing body of Marx studies and to a broader understanding of capitalist reproduction, accumulation, and the sources of their recurrent failures.
This shared engagement rests on the recognition that the study of the circuit of capital can shed fresh light on the fundamental concepts of money, price, value, and credit, and on their role in explaining capitalism’s ‘laws of motion’: accumulation, historical origins, and reproduction itself. The volume thus advances critical debates and paves the way for future research on the dynamics of capitalist reproduction.
