Theories of regulation

Abstract. Nco-Schumpctcrian, world system, and regulation approaches to the analysis of structural change in advanced capitalist societies arc distinguished and the development of theories of regulation and their connection with Marx's conception of capitalism are outlined, A synthetic account of the structure of theories of regulation is presented and is used to discuss the development and the crisis of Fordism. The maeroeconomic character of these theories and the macroeconomic evidence that supports them is emphasised as are the difficulties encountered in analysing the internationalisation of advanced capitalist economics. Introduction*, an economic and theoretical crisis The 1970s and 1980s appear in retrospect as a turning point in the development of advanced capitalist societies: in the 1950s and 1960s economic growth accelerated relative to earlier trends in 20th century economic development, but in the 1970s growth slowed down, while the rate of inflation and unemployment increased