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Giulio Palermo, The ontology of economic power in capitalism: mainstream economics and Marx, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Volume 31, Issue 4, July 2007, Pages 539–561, https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/bel036
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Abstract
Mainstream economics conceives power to be incompatible with perfect competition. This conception, I argue, derives from its deductivist method and the ‘empirical realist’ ontology that it presupposes. Following Marx, I show that capitalism constantly reproduces asymmetrical constraints on classes of individuals, independent of the market form. My ontological argument is rooted in the philosophy of ‘critical realism’. My conclusion is that the dichotomy ‘power–competition’ is ontologically untenable. If capitalist relations necessarily involve power, it is not simply because neoclassical competition does not exist in reality, as radical mainstream economists suggest, but rather because capitalism altogether is a ‘system of power’.