Structural Problems in the Crisis

Abstract

About ten years ago when the great reorientation of economists in relation to economic policy gained momentum it was often said, perhaps as an excuse for their volte-face, first, that ‘conditions were not what they had been before’ and second, that global measures to control demand were not sufficient ‘any more’ (they never were). An apparent justification for these arguments was the structural problem. Of course, this had existed before (Keynes, 1929). But maybe there is something new in the world-wide character of the present structural problems. All over the world the steel industry, the shipyards, the motor car and plastics industries and so on are in difficulties. But what may also be new is that the structural problem appears now not only in its industrial and regional aspects but also in its aspect of organisation (the crisis of the large concerns). We shall deal with these various aspects in turn although they are so closely connected as to be inseparable.

First published in Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, Quarterly Review, no. 154, September 1985.