Marx planned to crown his critique of political economy with a book on the world market, competition, and crises — but never had the time to write it. Since then, Marxists have proposed diverse and often contradictory theories to explain the periodic economic crises that have marked capitalism’s concrete history since 1825. A Marxist Guide to Capitalist Crises takes up the unfinished task.
Based on the blog Critique of Crisis Theory, the book examines the most influential crisis theories put forward since Engels’ death, from Rosa Luxemburg’s underconsumptionism to the breakdown theories of Henryk Grossman and Paul Mattick. It traces the evolution of capitalism from the era of free competition through monopoly capitalism, the Great Depression, the Keynesian era, the end of the international gold standard, and the neoliberal reaction — up through the crisis of 2007–09 and its aftermath.
Along the way, Williams takes up currency, credit, banking, interest rates, exchange rates, world trade, the law of comparative advantage, and the disputed question of long waves. The result is a crisis theory rooted in the basic laws of motion Marx worked out, but grounded in the concrete conditions of competition and credit on the world market.
The book is free to download as a PDF.