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A Marxist theory of producer costs: The case of Nicaraguan cotton growers
Abstract
The main concern of this thesis is to develop a Marxist theory of capitalist producer costs. In this dissertation a theory of producer costs is developed and elaborated upon in three ways. First, a nonreductionist framework is constructed which theorizes capitalist expenditures as being in a mutually conditioning relationship with class as well as nonclass processes. Second, the framework is then applied to the historical experience of cotton growers in Nicaragua during the 1950s and 1960s. The case of Nicaragua illustrates how a class theory of costs quite literally changes one's understanding of how its capitalist producers obtained competitive costs and the consequences of maintaining a comparative cost advantage for Nicaragua's development. Third, the Marxist theory and its application to Nicaragua is contrasted with the neoclassical theory of costs. Each theory builds its knowledge of costs employing different concepts and notions of causality. Thus, each theory offers a different explanation of Nicaragua's rise as a cotton producing nation. However, it is argued that the centrality of class to the Marxist theory of costs provides unique insight into the growing tensions and social conflict which accompanied the rise of cotton as Nicaragua's chief export. These developments are argued to be missed by a neoclassical depiction of Nicaragua's comparative cost advantage in cotton. From the neoclassical perspective, Nicaragua's success in cotton production can be attributed to an appropriate matching of its endowments and available technologies to the production requirements for cultivating cotton. The reward was rising wealth in the form of a growing national product. The Marxist explanation will show that cost competitiveness required increasing levels of exploitation, deteriorating living standards for many laborers, and a greater concentration of wealth in the hands of a few capitalists. The consequence was a polarized society of poor and wealthy, and a society ripe with class tensions and conflict.
Subject Area
Economic theory|Agricultural economics|Economics
Recommended Citation
DelGiudice, Thomas Scott, "A Marxist theory of producer costs: The case of Nicaraguan cotton growers" (1991). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9120868.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9120868