Structural Trends of the Capitalist World-Economy

This group is seeking to determine trends in the level of profit across the centuries. It has decided that the highest profit levels are to be found in the so-called leading industries. It therefore is taking five such leading industries at different points of historical times. For each it is attempting to obtain data on personnel compensation, the cost of inputs, and levels of taxation, and trying to subtract their sums from the sales price levels. The five successive leading industries are shipbuilding in the 17^th century, textiles in the beginning of the 19^th century, steel and petrochemicals in the late 19^th-early 20^th centuries, and computers in the late 20^th century. All calculations are worldwide, and the effort is to see whether there are credible trends in the overall level of profit.

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