A Shrinking Universe How Corporate Power Shapes Inequality Jordan Brennan jordan.brennan@unifor.org http://brennanjordan.tumblr.com/ Economist, Unifor PhD Candidate, York University Toronto, Canada Paper to be delivered at the York University Lecture Series, hosted by the Forum on Capital as Power Toronto, Canada, 5 November 2013 ABSTRACT Income inequality has recently appeared on the public radar in North America, but much of the attention has been confined to its ominously high level and its socially corrosive impact. The long-term drivers of inequality, by contrast, have attracted less attention. This presentation will explore the linkages between corporate power and inequality, arguing that both the level and pattern of inequality in Canada closely shadows the differential size and performance of dominant corporations. Brennan, Jordan. 2012. A Shrinking Universe: How Concentrated Corporate Power is Shaping Income Inequality in Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Chart Book available online at: http://brennanjordan.tumblr.com/presentations 1
Corporate Power and Income Inequality A Visual Representation Globalization of corporate ownership Depth DIFFERENTIAL ACCUMULATION Breadth The distribution of personal income Aggregate concentration Depressed democratic engagement The profit markup Institutional Strength of Organized Labour National wage bill Hourly earnings Capital-labour redistribution 2
PRESENTATION CHECK POINTS The produce of the earth is divided among three classes of the community To determine the laws which regulate this distribution is the principal problem in Political Economy - David Ricardo (1817) Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality. For one very rich man, there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. - Adam Smith (1776) Two Puzzles Twentieth Century Economics and the Large Corporation o The modern corporation as a (non-state) power institution o The challenge issued to political science by Adolf Berle Income Inequality and Social Pathology o Wilkinson and Pickett s, The Spirit Level Capital, Power and the Conventional Dualisms of the Social Sciences Economics and politics Real and nominal The measure and meaning of capital o The marginal productivity theory of distribution The Alien Vision of Thorstein Veblen The immaterial equipment Business and Industry Corporate Power: Stepping Stones Gardiner Means and the administered prices thesis Michal Kalecki s degree of monopoly Capital as Power: Conceptual Infrastructure Dominant capital and differential accumulation o From aggregate to disaggregate o From absolute to relative Regimes of differential accumulation Working Assumptions Political economy as an integrated system of wealth and power Capital as capitalization (finance and only finance) Distribution manifests, in part, socio-institutional power 3
Table 1 Some Categorical Schemes within Political Economy The Conventional Dualism of the Social Sciences The Alien Dualism of Thorstein Veblen Economics Politics Business Industry Private Public Immaterial Material Markets States Ownership/acquisition Workmanship/production Business Government Control and power Serviceability and need Individual gain Collective good Individual gain Communal welfare Consumers Citizens Salesmanship/vendibility Manufactureship/usability Pursuit of wealth Pursuit of power Capitalized wealth Material wealth (intangible) (tangible) Employers vs employees Rulers vs ruled Owners and managers Engineers and workman Competitive Cooperative Ruling elites Obedient masses Voluntary contracts Coercive laws Pecuniary/monetary terms Industrial/mechanistic terms Productive Parasitic Parasitic and predatory Productive and cooperative Dynamic Static Distribution Production Realm of freedom Realm of coercion Exploitation and struggle Functionality and harmony Natural law Conventional law Control of human beings Control of natural world Progressive Necessary evil Absentee ownership Technological inheritance 4
Table 2 The Real/Nominal Duality Real Nominal Material Immaterial Utils/Utility Prices/Pecuniary Hedonistic terms (pleasure and pain) Business terms (gain and cost) Production and consumption Finance and investment Property, plant & equipment Debt and equity Capital wealth Capital value Table 3 Business and Industry : Sociology and Political Economy Condition of the Degree 0 Degree 1 Degree 2 possibility of Inherited Knowledge ( Culture ) Industrial Community Private Proprietor (Capitalist Employer) Absentee Owner (Pecuniary Magnate) Immaterial Equipment Mechanical Process Money Sphere Credit Sphere Inspired from Veblen (1904). Table 4 Nitzan & Bichler s Regimes of Differential Accumulation External Internal Breadth Green-Field Investment Mergers and Acquisitions Depth Stagflation Cost-Cutting Source: Nitzan and Bichler (2009: 329), Table 14.2. 5
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Table 5 Accounting Conventions, Sociological Categories and Distributional Struggle Revenue - Expenses = Profit Accounting Entry Sociological Category Distributive Struggle Revenue Owners vs. Owners Market share Owners vs. Non-Owners Sales price inflation Expenses Owners vs. Workers Wage inflation/deflation Workers vs. Workers Wage location in the industrial geography Profit Owners vs. Owners Distributive share Owners vs. Workers Distributive share Owners vs. Society Distributive share 8
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