Long Waves in Economic Life: an Image Without a Method

Tom Kitwood
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Tom Kitwood: School of Science and Society, University of Bradford, England

Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, 1986, vol. 1, issue 2, 107-125

Abstract: The potential of long wave theory is examined, as a possible basis for theoretising the history of industrial capitalist development. A brief review of the various forms of the long-wave account is given; recent versions are dealt with in 3categories—Neo-Schumpeterian, Marxist and Financial. It is concluded that no long-wave scheme meets the minimal requirements of a genuine theory. The most successful attempts are those which develop the idea of a ‘social structure of accumulation’. A theory of capitalist development must be one of social action, in the context of the relative persistence of certain structural features. But such a theory would not require the image of the wave.

Date: 1986
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jinter:v:1:y:1986:i:2:p:107-125

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