ABSTRACT
In previous chapters we have developed the theory of biased (Q-increasing) technical change, and have examined some models of cyclical crisis on the capitalist growth path. It is now time to look to the longer run, and ask whether there exists in theory a long-term immanent adverse trend, manifesting itself in the form of cyclical crisis but going beyond the periodic framework to the existence of an immanent critical tendency that, in Marx's famous words, "puts the system on trial, each time more threateningly." In short, is it possible to theorize—beyond the realm of persuasive description and evocative semantics—the historical delimitation of the capitalist mode of production? Evidence from the postwar United States certainly suggests that cycles are increasing in amplitude and that recoveries are less and less effective over time in restoring conditions for sustained growth. Viewed in this light, the comparatively benign experience of the 1980s would presage considerable trouble to come. Also, from the same perspective, the depression of the 1930s would seem not to have been a horrendous aberration, but rather an indicator of the direction of development; its exceptional severity may have reflected political and economic resistance to the institutional transformations made necessary by the underlying economic tendency.
