THE HISTORICAL PEAK OF THE RATE OF SURPLUS VALUE AND THE “NEW NORMAL” OF THE CHINESE ECONOMY: A POLITICAL ECONOMY ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT This paper reports homogenous series of the rate of surplus value for the Chinese economy over the period 1956-2015 with a Marxian approach. It finds that the rate of surplus value reached the historical peak of the whole period in 2008 and that the high profitability in the decade before the 2008 crisis had relied on the continuous growth in the rate of surplus value. It provides a time series analysis to show that the rising wage pressure and value composition of capitalhas restrained profitability since 2008. Thus, this paper interprets the so-called “new normal” of the Chinese economy as a stage of declining profitability that results mainly from the stagnant rate of surplus value and the rising value composition of capital