ILPC 2026

For years —and even today— people have questioned the value of measuring Marxist variables in our economy. Our disquisition approaches this discussion by explaining why it is relevant for economists to do quantitative Marxism.

On this matter, we will define exactly what quantitative Marxism is and explain what its major weaknesses are, keeping in mind that the data presented to us nowadays responds to a Neoclassic-keynesian model analysis.

We will be mentioning the controversies that have erupted from Marxism itself, mainly from the purists who dismiss the possibility that economic phenomena can be measured quantitatively. However, we will be questioning this stance by providing examples of Marxist measurements developed in the last period of time.

It is important to show the advantages of doing these measurements so we can perform a thorough analysis of the applicability and significance quantitative Marxism has in the economic and social field.

In order to study the structure, configuration and dynamics of a capitalist society, we need to understand the main concepts of the Labor Value Theory. And for this, quantifying phenomena is a valid methodological resource for all intellectual currents.

We will be focusing especially on the evolution of the global rate of surplus value as a way of showing class struggle. This discourse will be referring to the methodological discussion about measuring the rate of exploitation. In order to achieve a more efficient and globally homogeneous measurement of this rate, we will be using a method that serves itself from national accounts; thus making a longitudinal and historical analysis of social relations and its structure dynamics.

For the national accounts to be redefined and integrated in a new data matrix, we propose a deconstruction of its concepts and the way it operates. The methodological foundations of the integrated analysis design aimed to calculate the rate of exploitation of the capitalist world are developed with data coming from the regionalized national accounts of at least 90% of the capitalist GDP. In order to calculate this, there has to be a number of variables in mind: income of employees, mixed rents, wages in government and public administration; to achieve the relation between unpaid and paid work, crucial to determine the size of the exploitation rate through the Labor Value Theory.

 In return, we will try to provide a preliminary explanation for this evolution. In response to the tendency of the rate of profit to fall (as foreseen by Marx), we could use the rate of exploitation as an adjustment variable that acts as a cause for a counterbalance. The resulting series of measurement will allow us to ultimately describe the evolution on the levels of exploitation and its social and political impact.