It may be appropriate at this stage to pause, and,
even at the cost of some inevitable repetition, try to draw a few
theoretical conclusions from the considerations presented thus far.
Indeed, if our preceding account succeeded in capturing the basic
principles governing the functioning of monopoly capitalism, some of the
fundamental concepts of economic theory would stand in need of a
thorough re-examination. While it is impossible to undertake this
important task at the present occasion, the following brief discussion
should indicate the general direction in which, we believe, such an
effort ought to move and may facilitate the understanding of what this
book is seeking to convey.
That all is not well in the realm of bourgeois
economic theory is strongly felt by its closest observers. Professor
Mason’s blunt statement that “the functioning of the corporate system
has not to date been adequately explained,”i
could hardly be contradicted by anyone familiar with contemporary
economic literature. Its most conspicuous feature is, indeed, this very
failure to come to grips with the most important aspects of what, one
would think, should constitute its central problem—at least in this
country at the present time. As noted by the authors of one of the few
important studies dealing with questions posed by the corporate system:
“The long-recognized existence of oligopoly led to theories of
inter-firm rivalry, theories considered an important, if ill-mannered
and discordant, adjunct to the analytically more tractable market
structures usually assumed in price theory. With the exception of
Kaysen, theoretical recognition of market structure in the field of
investment decisions has been ignored.”ii
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