Over-accumulation, Rising Costs and 'Unproductive' Labour: The Relevance of the Classic Stationary State Issue for Developed Countries

The current crisis takes place within a long downturn. Forty years after publication of the Meadows report, new debates on the future of growth are emerging. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the general discussion on the prospects for economic growth in rich countries by stressing the relevance of some theoretical insights made by classical economists about the end of economic expansion. We focus on three key mechanisms related to contemporary economic analysis: overaccumulation; rising costs of accumulation; and the productive and unproductive labour and consumption balance. Key-Words Stationary state, Long downturn, Smith, Marx, Overaccumulation, Crisis N° 2011-12 Over-accumulation, Rising Costs and 'Unproductive' Labour: The Relevance of the Classic Stationary State Issue for Developed Countries