By Abdisalam M Issa-Salwe and Abdullahi S Osman
Vice-President Kamala Harris, who is running for president in the American presidential election in 2024, has pledged to expand opportunities for the middle class if elected president of the United States. She firmly believes a strong middle class can contribute to America’s economic future. She emphasized the importance of building a more robust middle class to foster an opportunity-driven economy, underscoring that the middle class is one of the United States’s most substantial assets.
She further declares that if elected, she will cut costs and open up opportunities for working class or middle-class Americans. She stated that a sizeable portion of the American population does not yet experience that degree of improvement in their day-to-day lives, which is something that we are aware of. However, the prices are astronomically high for what they are.
Kamala Harry pledged that the first objective of an incoming Harris administration would be to expand possibilities for the middle class that would improve their economic security, stability, and dignity regarding their economic well-being (Diyar Guldogan, 2024). Another significant promise is to bring together labour with small businesses and huge enterprises to invest in the United States of America, creating excellent employment and achieving widespread growth.
On the other hand, Kamala indicated that she would set an economic strategy to reduce expenses, boost your family’s financial security and stability, and expand opportunities for working-class and middle-class Americans (Ibid.) To understand Kamala Harris’s confidence, we should examine her background and the potential support she may receive. It appears that she will thrive under the guidance of her father’s economic theory.
Donald Harris’s research and publications have focused on exploring the process of capital accumulation and its implications for economic growth, arguing that economic inequality and uneven development are inevitable properties of economic growth in a market economy. Just by applying her father’s economic theory, Kamala Harris can contribute to the American nation.
Helping the USA Regain Its Greatness as a Nation
Professor Harris follows the centuries-old heterodox school of thought. He has a terrier-like grasp on the blind spots and mistaken beliefs of society’s mainstream, and he is tenacious and prosecutorial in behaviour.
Classical economists were able to provide an account of the broad causes that affect economic growth and the mechanisms that underpin the growth process because they focused on the growing conditions of industrial capitalism during their historical moment. This allowed them to provide an account of both the broad causes and the mechanisms that drive economic growth. Because of this, they were able to provide an account of the mechanisms that lead to economic growth as well as the broad causes that contribute to it. In the form of returns on investment, it was believed that the primary driving force behind the decision was the accumulation and productive investment of a portion of the surplus that the society had developed. This was the widely held belief at that time.
As a consequence of this, changes in the rate of profit served as an essential reference point for the research of the transformation of the economy throughout the course of a considerable amount of time during the course of the study. There is an unavoidable tendency for the rate of profit to decrease in a closed economy, also referred to as a closed economy. This was the conclusion arrived at when the analysis was finished.
Donald Harris Economic Theory Setting
In accordance with that historical tradition, Professor Harris was considered a member of the heterodox economics tradition. He was a writer who was easy to understand because of his straightforward style, according to the heterodox economics school. His writing was accessible, making his ideas clear and easy to understand.
Professor Harris has studied the various issues that may arise when capitalists, motivated by profit-making, administer an economy in a piece of literature he has dubbed “Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution.”
During the conversation mentioned above, the primary focus of the discussion was the connection between economic growth and various forms of inequality. In an attempt to reconcile with post-Keynesian economists like Joan Robinson and Piero Sraffa, Professor Harris dismissed the studies conducted by Robert Solow, widely regarded as the founder of the mainstream growth theory. However, he was also fascinated by why certain sectors of all economies have been falling behind, a trend he referred to as “uneven development.” He was fascinated by the fact that certain economies had fallen behind. He was intrigued by why some countries were thriving while others were falling further behind, and he was also interested in examining why some countries were progressing while others were lagging behind. (Alves, April 2022).
Harris’s economic philosophy criticised mainstream economics and called into question the assumptions of the conventional school of thought.
According to Marx’s theory, after the exploitation rate has been established, the rate of profit can be calculated from it, and then the wage rate can be determined from it. In order to answer the question of what determines the wage rate, one must first inquire about the factors that determine the rate of exploitation. When viewed in this manner, the rate of exploitation leads us to the factors that drive class conflict in capitalism, which are, therefore, outside of the system of price and technology. (Harris, D. J. 1972).
Harris’s research and publications have primarily focused on investigating capital accumulation and its consequences for economic growth. He has argued that economic inequality and uneven development are unavoidable characteristics of economic growth in a market economy like the United States. Harris’s work consistently adheres to the post-Keynesian school of thought. The monograph “Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution,” published in 1978, is considered one of Harris’s most significant contributions to economics. This monograph critiques conventional economic theories and offers an alternative by synthesising the works of individuals such as David Ricardo, Kalecki, Marx, Roy Harrod, and others.
Harris uses mathematical modelling to investigate the relationship between the accumulation of capital and income inequality, economic growth, economic instability, and other phenomena. He contends that conventional theories do not adequately account for power, class, and historical context.
Harris has developed plans and programs for fostering economic growth and social inclusion through his research on the Jamaican economy. He has also presented assessments and reports on the structural circumstances, historical performance, and contemporary difficulties of the economy and presented his findings.
Donald Harris’ Theory Setting
To connect himself with post-Keynesian thinkers like Joan Robinson and Piero Sraffa, Mr. Harris rejected the work of Robert Solow, who is considered to be the father of the mainstream growth theory.
The clash between the neo-Keynesian economists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, such as Solow, and the post-Keynesian economists in Cambridge, England, often led to heated debates. This confrontation, famously known as “the Cambridge Capital Controversy,” took place in the 1950s, sparked by Robinson’s critique of Solow’s growth model. The latter group criticised their American counterparts for misconstruing the concept of capital. Circular logic was deemed essential to aggregate the capital stock, which encompasses the varied equipment an economy relies on in monetary terms. Calculating the return on capital was necessary to determine its volume, a crucial component for subsequent computations.
The American economists continued to use their models even though they acknowledged the argument. “If God had meant there to be more than two factors of production, he would have made it easier for us to draw three-dimensional diagrams,” Solow joked. “If God had anticipated the existence of more than two factors of production, it would have been easier.”
In his 1978 book, Harris developed a growth model that excluded an aggregate capital stock. He argued that businesses should choose their capital products from a “book of blueprints” instead of Solow’s smooth “production function”.
According to this model, savings rate and population growth determine the amount of capital per worker. The level of salaries and profits in the economy will serve as the basis for the blueprint that capitalists will choose to use in their competition to ensure that the rate of profit is consistent across all industries. All sectors of the economy, except for Solow’s model, do not allocate the maximum amount of capital to each worker; instead, multiple equilibria are dependent on salaries and profits. There is no “steady state” direction of growth. In later years, he would propose that consistent unemployment is an inevitable consequence of the ever-evolving nature of technology.
Harris’ diagnosis of capitalism as inherently insecure and insufficient to improve living standards echoes the public investment and industrial policy in Bidenomics, which aims to stimulate growth for the “middle class” and the more interventionist aspects of Donald Trump’s economic nationalism. People in America with various political beliefs agree that the unrestricted free market is not the path to general wealth. (The Economy, July 2024).
Conclusion
As a candidate for the presidency of the United States in the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris will have great influence on the national setting, helped by her father’s economic theory. Her conviction that a robust middle class can positively contribute to the United States’ economic destiny is unwavering.
Additionally, she asserts that if elected, she will reduce expenses and create opportunities for people from the middle class or the working class in the United States. We know that a large portion of the American population does not yet experience that level of daily improvement. She also pointed out that she is aware of this issue. On the other hand, the prices seem incredibly high compared to their actual value.
Creating opportunities for the middle class that would increase their economic security, stability, and dignity in terms of their economic circumstances is Kamala’s primary goal if she is allowed to be the president. When it comes to growing an opportunity economy, she believes that establishing a more vibrant middle class is absolutely necessary. Indeed, it is vital. She stated that the middle class is one of the United States’s most important strengths.
Abdisalam M Issa-Salwe
Email: [email protected]
Abdullahi Salah Osman
_________
Reference:
Alves Carolina (April 2022). Joan Robinson in 1942, An encounter between Marxian
Economics and Macroeconomics. Cambridge Working Papers In Economics, University
of Cambridge.
Harris Donald J (1978). Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution. Stanford University
Press, Stanford, California. Available;
https://web.stanford.edu/~dharris/papers/Capital%20Accumulation%20and%20Income
%20Distribution.pdf
Harris, Donald J (1972). On Marx’s Scheme of Reproduction and Accumulation. Journal
of Political Economy, 80(3), 505–522.
The Economist (July 25 2024): Revisiting the work of Donald Harris: The combative Marxist
economist focused on questions related to growth. Available:
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/07/25/revisiting-the-work-ofdonald-harris-father-of-kamala
Diyar Guldogan (August 2018): Harris vows creating opportunities for middle class if elected
US president. Available: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/harris-vows-creatingopportunities-for-middle-class-if-elected-us-president
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