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Showing posts from July, 2022

Commons, Futurity and profit margins

  Commons spends much of his Futurity chapter in IE explaining profit margin versus profit share theories.  His  main point is that capitalist society exists on very thin margins of profit.  The profit margin is what matters for business expansion or contraction in his mind.  He then goes on to show the very thumb profit margins that exist in the American industry with statistics. He also points to the expectations of changes in profit margins as opposed to actual profit margins as the key to business investment or divestment.  Commons lays out two policy implications for his profit margin concerns: Profit margins means that a government policy that imposes a higher one or tow percent cost may have create major inducements for change due to thin profit margins - his example here is unemployment or accident insurance Thin profit margins means a stable purchasing power policy - aka monetary policy is crucial for maintaining a stable employment policy in Commo...