ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: Marx on public debt and fiscal exploitation
Author: Forges Davanzati Guglielmo, patalano rosario
Marx devoted little attention to the functions of the State (and, particularly, to the role of public debt) in the capitalist system, and, in more recent times, little ttention has been devoted to this issue on the part of Marxist scholars. Starting from a reconstruction of Marx’s view on this issue, this paper aims to show that the effects of the expansion of public debt on employment and wages are ambiguous, since three mechanisms are in operation. First, the increase in public debt encourages speculation, involving a decrease of investment, employment and wages. The increase in public debt reduces wages also because it is reimbursed via fiscal exploitation at the expense of workers. Second, the increase in public debt can increase employment (via the expansion of the public sector), involving an increase in wages. Third, the increase in public expenditure can improve welfare services, increasing labour productivity and improving workers’ conditions.
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