The Calculation And Application Of The Organic Composition Of China

The theory of organic composition of capital is one of the fundamental theories in Marx’s political economy and has an important influence on Marx’s subsequent theories about the declining rate of profit and capital accumulation.Although the theory was proposed by Marx to study the mode of production in capitalist countries,the objective economic laws described in it are not limited to capitalist countries,but also have guiding significance for socialist countries like China.The measurement of the organic composition of capital in China is a prerequisite for applying the theory to the analysis of the current state of the contemporary Chinese economy,and a bridge between many Marxian political economy theories,including the organic composition of capital,and real economic analysis.The main problem addressed in this paper is to introduce a method of measuring the organic composition of capital based on the turnover of variable capital stock into China and to solve the data problems faced in applying this method to the measurement of the organic composition of capital in China.Based on these works,we measure variable capital stock,variable capital turnover and organic composition of capital in China,and analyze the trends of these indicators.Finally,China’s profit rate is studied by applying China’s organic composition of capital,and in the process,China’s profit rate and surplus value rate are measured,and the relationship between the changes in the organic composition of capital,the surplus value rate and the profit rate is analyzed.This paper measures the variable capital stock,the organic composition of capital,and the profit rate in China during 2001-2020.The results and main conclusions are as follows:1.In the time frame studied in this paper,the organic composition of capital in China shows an obvious upward trend,which verifies Marx’s judgment that the organic composition of capital has a long-term upward trend and proves that Marx’s theory of the organic composition of capital is still relevant to contemporary China.2.The variable capital turnover rate in China is rising and the corresponding variable capital stock is falling,which indicates that the turnover rate has a significant impact on the The general rate of surplus value in China as a whole is on a downward trend,because the relative scarcity of labor and capital changes under the socialist system differently from capitalism.4.The annual rate of profit in China is on an overall downward trend,which is also in line with Marx’s judgment that the rate of profit is bound to decline in the long run,but the rate of decline is slow,because the pressure of the falling rate of profit brought about by the rising organic composition of capital has been offset by the pressure of the rising organic composition of capital.The downward pressure on the rate of profit is offset by the rise in the variable capital turnover rate.