Paul A. Baran Books
Paul Alexander Baran (1909–1964) was a Polish-American Marxist economist and a leading member of the Stanford School of political economy. He is best known for his contributions to the theory of economic surplus and his collaboration with Paul M.
Known for: The Political Economy of Growth
Books by Paul A. Baran
The Political Economy of Growth
In this influential work, Paul A. Baran examines the structural causes of economic underdevelopment in the global South, arguing that the capitalist system inherently produces inequality between advanced and backward economies. He explores how surplus is generated and appropriated, and how the political and social institutions of underdeveloped countries are shaped by their dependence on advanced capitalist nations. The book became a cornerstone of Marxist development theory and dependency analysis.
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Historical Background
To understand the predicament of underdeveloped nations, I begin by tracing the historical formation of capitalism itself. Modern capitalist economies did not emerge uniformly across the globe; they arose from specific historical conditions within Europe, where technical progress, commercial expansi...
From The Political Economy of Growth
The Nature of Economic Surplus
The central analytical concept I introduce is that of **economic surplus**. Every society, regardless of its mode of production, produces more than is strictly necessary to sustain its labor and reproduce its material conditions. This surplus—whether in the form of goods, services, or monetary value...
From The Political Economy of Growth
About Paul A. Baran
Paul Alexander Baran (1909–1964) was a Polish-American Marxist economist and a leading member of the Stanford School of political economy. He is best known for his contributions to the theory of economic surplus and his collaboration with Paul M. Sweezy on 'Monopoly Capital'.
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Paul Alexander Baran (1909–1964) was a Polish-American Marxist economist and a leading member of the Stanford School of political economy. He is best known for his contributions to the theory of economic surplus and his collaboration with Paul M.
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