Changes in the Rate of Profit in the Postwar U.S. Manufacturing Sector

This study examines the rate of profit for the U.S. manufacturing sector since World War II. In addition to measuring the rate of profit, this paper also examines the impact of turnover of capital on the rate of profit. One of the major findings is that there has not been a secular decline in the manufacturing rate of profit. Rather the rate of profit has exhibited what might be termed intermediate cycles. This finding reveals one of the fundamental insights of Marx that crises are not permanent but rather periods in which contradictions are forcibly resolved, thereby setting the stage for new crises