Business Cycle

The idea of the business cycle goes back at least to Marx' description of capitalisms booms and busts in Das Kapital, and has been described in more detail by modern writers starting in the 1940s. Business cycles -- which do not occur at any sort of regular interval -- are generally understood in terms of when the direction of the economy changes (Romer, 2008). As Brad DeLong (2010) describes, Marx noted that business cycles occur when there is an overaccumulation of capital and overproduction of goods. In order to restore balance to the overheated economy, a crisis must follow. This crisis will create the depreciation of the value of assets. Marx further described what would happen to employment (it would go down). Real capital is destroyed, which means the equipment and factories must cease production, workers must be made unemployed and capital will inevitably sit on the sidelines...
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