Economic Modeling and Social Conflict: 1 — The Fiscal Multiplier

Massimo Angelis
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Massimo Angelis: University of East London

Chapter 9 in Keynesianism, Social Conflict and Political Economy, 2000, pp 112-134 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract If there is a correspondence between class relations and economic theory, are we able to see it? Can economic models reveal their class nature to the critical eye? Can economic modeling reveal its nature as a set of conceptual devices that represent class relations in a mystified way, and therefore help strategies for the enforcement of capitalist accumulation vis-à-vis various social patterns of resistance?1 The difficulty resides in the fact that by its very nature economic modeling presents itself as a technical discourse. A “technical discourse” is one that is apparently free of value judgments about the object of investigation. The fetish-like character of technicism lies in the way it abstracts from the social nature of its object of inquiry, from the fact that capitalist society is pervaded with clashing oppositions. It is only through this abstraction, it is only by “forgetting” the character of the social roots of our condition, that one can claim to be able to embrace objectivity and impartiality in an economic discourse.

Keywords: Labor Productivity; Wage Rate; Aggregate Demand; Class Relation; Labor Power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-333-97749-1_9

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DOI: 10.1057/9780333977491_9

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