The industrial-capital circuit and the dynamics of profit rate

Abstract

This essay aims to discuss the centrality of the industrial-capital circuit for investigations on the dynamics of crisis, especially the fall in the rate of profit, as developed by Marx. It presents three constitutive processes of this circuit, which, when developed, establish contradictions with the logic of valorization. The first one is the opposition between capital and labor and the resulting replacement of live labor by dead labor. The second is the concrete form of existence of industrial-capital while many capitals compete with each other. The third is the autonomy of certain functions performed by industrial-capital, which are expressed in their own circuits, but subordinate to the first one. All these factors trigger a dynamics that oppose the logic of valuation, contributing to a decline in the rate of profit and the emergence of crises.