> > 2. From the mid-70s to 1997, the rate of profit recovered, but only > partially (only about half of its prior decline), so that the rate of > profit in 1997 remained about 25% below its earlier postwar peak. The > main reason for such a weak recovery of the rate of profit was the > continued increase of the ratio of unproductive labor to productive labor, > which partially offset a sharp increase in the rate of surplus-value and > its positive effect on the rate of profit (the composition of capital > increased only slightly during this period, due mainly to slower capital > accumulation and lower costs of raw materials). OK, so was the decline in the costs of raw materials less or more important as the rise in s/v in the (partial) recovery of the profit rate? what made for lower costs of raw materials? technological improvements in extraction, breaking of cartels by entry of new states? RB
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