Fixed-capital intensity forced the state to stabilize demand.

Evidence

To the degree that mass production requiring heavy investment in fixed capital in turn required relatively stable demand conditions to be profitable, so the state strove to curb business cycles through an appropriate mix of fiscal and monetary policies in the postwar period. Such policies were directed towards those areas of public investment - in sectors like transportation, public utilities, etc. - that were vital to the growth of both mass production and mass consumption, and which would also guarantee relatively full employment. Governments likewise moved to provide a strong underpinning to the social wage through expenditures covering social security, health care, education, housing, and the like. In addition, state power was deployed, either directly or indirectly, to affect wage agreements and the rights of workers in production. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 808

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The causal chain — heavy fixed investment requires stable demand, which forces the postwar state into countercyclical and social-wage functions — is the analytical engine of Harvey’s periodization, dense and multi-step.
• XREF: connects to: Fordism required active nation-state economic management. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 813

Broader Connections

• Fordism required active nation-state economic management. #expands (0.85) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 813