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Hi all, this forum is closing. With the rise of AI, there have been a torrent of bots who have been posting advertisements on this forum. I have tried to keep the forum clean of that, but it's been impossible! I will explore other options and notify everyone who has signed up for the website. There will be a way for us to keep in touch and discuss Real Economics - but this forum is unfortunately not that! Thank you for understanding, Nick

In Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises page 702, inflation (π) is a stated to be a function of new purchasing power (pp), net profitability (rr’), and the growth utilization rate (σ’), with inflation increasing as new purchasing power and the growth utilization rate increase, and decreasing as net profitability increases. This is summarized in Equation 15.9: π = f [pp (+), rr’ (-), σ’ (+)] and supported by the data in Appendix 15.2 (US Inflation Data tab). The presentation also claims that net profitability is positively correlated with the growth utilization rate: “insofar as net profit and the growth utilization rates are positively correlated, it would be possible to treat the latter as a proxy for the former…” page 703, “Since net profitability is positively correlated with the growth-utilization rate, it may be possible to proxy the former by the latter terms…” page 722. By treating the growth utilization rate as a proxy for net profitability, Equation 15.9 simplifies to Equation 15.11 π = f [pp (+), σ’ (+/-)]. Looking at Figure 5.10 and 15.11 (page 711), it appears as though net profitability and the growth utilization rate are negatively correlated. Using the data in Appendix 15.2 (US Inflation Data tab), the relation between net profitability and the growth utilization rate is shown below. Overall, the correlation is negative. In the trended data, there is positive correlation only for the period from the mid-50s to the mid-60s (in the heyday of Keynesian stimulus) and briefly in the early 2000s. Net profitability and the growth utilization rate seem to be negatively correlated for the reasons underlying the tendency for the rate of profit to fall. For the rate of profit to fall, it is typical for profit to grow slower than investment (as investment augments the stock of capital, and capital must grow faster than profit for the rate of profit to fall); the growth utilization rate is the ratio of investment to profit and so the growth utilization rate would tend to increase as the rate of profit falls. Though net profitability and the growth utilization rate are typically negatively related, their effect on inflation is positively correlated. Case 1: as net profitability falls the growth utilization rate rises. As net profitability falls, inflation increases and as the growth utilization rate rises, inflation increases. Case 2: as net profitability rises, the growth utilization rate falls. As net profitability rises, inflation decreases and as the growth utilization rate falls, inflation decreases.

It would be useful to create an index of authors (other than Shaikh, whose work is already available on this site) who are working within the framework of Real Economics and list their relevant publications. If people reply to this post with authors and publications, I can compile an index in the first post for convenience. • Boundi-Chraki, Fahd & Perrotini-Hernández, Ignacio -Absolute cost advantage and sectoral competitiveness: Empirical evidence from NAFTA and the European Union [2021] • Codina, Oriol -Classical-Evolutionary Dynamics of Price Formation [2019] -Economic Life: An Evolutionary Approach to Classical Competition [2021] • Das, Dipankar -t-Conorms to analyze aggregate demand and the leader-follower model of real competition [2022] -Understanding the choice of human resource and the artificial intelligence: “strategic behavior” and the existence of industry equilibrium [2023] • Farahani, Ilia -Capital switching, economic crisis, and land rent: Examining discontinuation of Swedish municipal site leasehold in the 1980s [2025] -Land rent, capital, rate of profit: A critique of Harvey’s model of urban land rent [2021] • Ferrer, Jacobo; Martínez-González, Adrián; & Torres-González, Luis Daniel -On the Role of Profits-Wages Ratios in the Determination of the Long-Run Behavior of International Relative Prices [2024] • Gibson, Deon -Causes of the Decline of the US Wage Share 1960-2015 [2020] • Johnson, Nathan -Empirical Evaluation of Monopolization [2023] -The Economic Basis of Social Polarization [2025] • Kemp-Benedict, Eric -A test of "turbulent arbitrage" [2023] -Cost share-induced technological change: An analytical classical-evolutionary model [2024] • Khan, Haider -Development Orders and Disorders: Real Competition in Complex Global Capitalist System, China’s Ambiguous Case, and the Need for Democratic Socialism in the 21st Century [2024] • Kyyrönen, Otto -Debating the causes of the 2007–09 financial crisis : monopoly capital versus the tendency of the rate of profit to fall [2021] • Lafalla, Victor -Real Competition and Profit Rate Equalisation: Theory and Evidence from the Norwegian Economy [2024] • Lidén, Axel -Reinterpreting Persistent Unemployment: A Classical Economics Perspective on France 1950-2020 [2024] • Mejorado, Ascension & Roman, Manuel -Declining Profitability and the Evolution of the US Economy: A Classical Perspective [2024] -Profitability and Secular Stagnation: The Missing Link [2017] • Meloni, Walter & Stirati, Antonella -Unemployment and Income Distribution: Some Extensions of Shaikh’s Analysis [2020] -Unemployment and the wage share: a long-run exploration for major mature economies [2021] • Mokre, Patrick -The Quantile Impacts of Real Competition on Industrial Wage Inequality in the United States, 1998-2018 [2023] -Wage Inequalities under Real Competition [2023] • Mokre, Patrick & Rehm, Miriam -Inter-Industry Wage Inequality: Persistent differences and turbulent equalization [2020] • Moody, Kim -Labour and the contradictory logic of logistics [2019] • Nunes, Bernat -Paths of Robotization [2019] • Ozden, Oktay & Bolkol, Hakki - Shaikh’s Theory of Inflation: Empirical Evidence from European Countries (2001–20) [2023] • Papafragkos, Tasos -Elastic wages versus inelastic prices in Greece and Portugal: The absolute advantage theory and the non-tradable sectors [2023] • Puaschunder, Julia -COVID-19 crisis economics [2020] -Heterodox Economic Cycles Theory during the COVID-19 Economic Crisis: Social Volatility, Affect and the Finance Market-Real Economy Gap [2021] • Ruiz-Nápoles, Pablo -Exchange Rates, Unit Labor Costs and Free Trade: The Mexican Experience [2023] • Stravelakis, Nikos -The Greek Crisis in Retrospect: The Rate of Profit Approach [2022] • Torres-González, Luis Daniel; Ferrer-Hernández, Jacobo; & Martínez, Adrián -On the Long-Run Neutrality of Profits-Wages Ratios in the Determination of International Relative Prices Under Absolute Advantages [2022] • Tsoulfidis, Lefteris & Tsaliki, Persefoni -Real Competition and Empirical Evidence [2019] • Zarembka, Paul -Anwar Shaikh’s Revised Capital Stock Measurement and Marx’s Composition of Capital [2019]