The Dynamics of Exploitation and Class in Accumulation Economies∗

This paper analyses the equilibrium dynamics of exploitation and class in general accumulation economies with population growth, tech-nical change, and bargaining by adopting a novel computational ap-proach. First, the determinants of the emergence and persistence of exploitation and class are investigated, and the role of labour-saving technical change and, even more importantly, power is highlighted. Second, it is shown that the concept of exploitation provides the foun-dations for a logically coherent and empirically relevant analysis of inequalities and class relations in advanced capitalist economies. An index that identifies the exploitation level, or intensity of each indi-vidual can be defined and its empirical distribution studied using the standard tools developed in the theory of inequality measurement