ABSTRACT
Kalecki’s theory of income determination is notable for having been built, unlike Keynes’, on imperfectly competitive foundations. This constitutes a clear advantage both under the profile of realism as well as of interpretative power. An imperfectly competitive framework most naturally leads to the issue of the incomplete exploitation of productive capacity, since an imperfect competitor is typically constrained in what he perceives to be able to trade. At the price he sets he would obviously like to trade more and, if he is a producer, only partially exploits his productive capacity. In the real world an imperfect competitor feels his sales, and his opportunities for profit, to be intrinsically constrained by insufficient demand, and tends naturally to believe that a policy increasing demand should improve the results of his business. This can contribute to form social support for expansionary policies.2
