Interwar austerity produced high profits that doubled industrial production in both countries

Evidence

Even if the class implications of austerity are embodied in the profi t rate itself, regardless of the secondary question of how much of the profi t rate the capitalists wind up investing, it is interesting to note that in our case high profi t rates favored greater capital accumulation, evidenced by the impressive growth of industrial production starting in 1921. In both countries, industrial production almost doubled over the decade (Mitchell 1998, 422). Capital stock also grew substantially. In Italy it rose by 18 percent between 1922 and 1929. Th is is an impressive spike given that the British capital stock increased only 4.8 percent during the same time. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1731

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the modern argument that austerity is a class weapon redistributing to capital owners; the profit-rate framing echoes Mattei’s earlier chapters on the deflationary turn. — connects to: Austerity reversed postwar labor income gains in both Italy and Britain by 1929 — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1486; Austerity disciplines workers within both colonizer and colonized nations alike — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 339

Broader Connections

• Austerity reversed postwar labor income gains in both Italy and Britain by 1929 #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1486
• Austerity disciplines workers within both colonizer and colonized nations alike #qualifies (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 339