The following review appeared in the October 2014 issue of CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries
Foster, John Bellamy. The theory of monopoly capitalism: an elaboration of Marxian political economy. Monthly Review, 2014. 280p index ISBN 9781583674420, $85.00; ISBN 9781583674413 pbk, $22.00.
Foster (Univ. of Oregon) is editor of Monthly Review and one of the leading experts in Marxian political economy. In this new edition, Foster explains that the increasing tendency of monopolistic companies to control a large share of the financial industry since the 1980s has created a “financialization-stagnation trap” that is negatively affecting economies of all countries around the world. The author believes that the global financial crisis and the resulting great recession of 2007-08 in the US–with their negative impact on the rest of the global economy–constituted a turning point in world history. Marxist economists, including the author, have been arguing for some time now that the global capitalist economy is showing symptoms of long-term economic stagnation; they believe that this stagnation, even more so than the financial crisis or the recession itself, has recently emerged as the biggest challenge facing the global economy. A clear and powerful explanation of the Marxian political economy, this book is a welcome addition for those who are interested in, or have serious concerns about, monopoly capital as well as economic stagnation, financial instability, and the futures of both capitalism and socialism.
–R. M. Ramazani, Saint Michael’s College
Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers/faculty.
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