Power and Profits: The Social Structure of Accumulation and the Profitability of the Postwar U.S. Economy

Abstract

This paper seeks to explain trends in United States corporate profitability since World War II through an analysis of the rise and subsequent demise of a postwar social structure of accumulation (SSA). Building from a formal model of the determinants of profitability, we provide econometric support for the hypothesis that variations in profitability can be explained to a large extent by variations in quantitative indicators of capitalist power in the postwar SSA.