Capital accumulation and income distribution

The aim of this work is twofold. It seeks to provide a systematic inter pretation and critical assessment of the main, contemporary lines of approach to a theory of accumulation and income distribution in the capitalist economy. At the same time, an attempt is made to develop an analytic reconstruction of some of the substantive problems and issues that arise in such a theory. A basic reference point for the discussion is the system of ideas developed

by the English Classical economists and by Marx. This is a necessary point of departure, since it is in these ideas, and especially in the work of Marx, that some of the main conceptual foundations for theoretical analysis of accumulation and distribution in the capitalist economy were laid. From this vantage point it is possible to gain both a critical under standing of contemporary approaches to that analysis and a conceptual framework for developing a more adequate theory. To this end, the integrated structure of this system of ideas is reviewed in Part One. A sharp contrast is drawn with the later neoclassical system based on marginal productivity and subjective preference theory. Against this background the problematic character of modern growth theory is identified and discussed as it has taken shape in the work of contemporary writers beginning with Harrod and Domar.