ISBN : 9789811267062
Author : Rob Bryer
Publisher : World Science
Year : 2023
Language : English
Type : Book
Description : Historians have not convincingly explained modern capitalism's two major economic crises, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008–2009. Accounting for Crises offers a new explanation, why both began and were more severe in the USA ("America"), based on an accounting interpretation of Marx's theory of crises. It explains their origins in capitalists' control of accumulation, which reveals important overlooked roles for Irving Fisher's accounting theory. This theory, by allowing discretion in accounts, in the context of falling rates of profit, encouraged "swindling", overstating reported profits, and understating their risk, which facilitated and aggravated both crises. Framed by Fisher's theory, during the 1920s