La rentabilidad del capital en España

Abstract

The rate of profit is an essential variable in the analysis of capitalism within the labour theory of value. In this paper, we provide an empirical estimation of the profitability of capital in Spain in the period 1964-2000. This task requires to face two theoretical problems: the empirical estimation of labour-values and the transformation of orthodox statistical categories into categories of the labour theory of value. About the first problem, we argue that prices are direct and unique measures of labour times. The second theoretical aspect has two parts. First, departing from the CNE we describe the necessary theoretical steps for the empirical estimation of the main variables of income distribution: variable capital, surplus value and the rate of surplus value. Secondly, departing for the estimations of the stock of capital in Spain, we discuss the theoretical matters for the construction of the series of capital invested in production. From these data, we show the evolution of the rate of profit in Spain and we briefly characterise the evolution of the Spanish economy in the last decades according to the profitability of capital.