In an article in The Guardian on 17 July presaging the publication of his book about the topic, UK television reporter Paul Mason outlined a theory of postcapitalism that suggested that the existing world order is collapsing.
Mason’s analysis is based on two ideas:
- Automation which reduces the amount of labour needed to produce commodities will drive their price to zero. This is in line with a fundamentalist interpretation of Marx’s labour theory of value and his forecast that the rising “organic” composition of capital must lead to lower profits and capitalist crisis.
- The intangible commodity – information – is now the principal product in advanced economies. The marginal cost of sharing information is almost zero and this is intensifying the stress in the system.
The first idea is contentious even among Marxist economists though there is empirical evidence that the rate of profit is declining everywhere
The second is in line with the argument presented by Economics2030. The theoretical critique of conventional economics on this site is, however, more extensive.
The main missing element from Mason’s analysis is a more complete analysis of the role of intangible capital in advanced economies. This can be found here.