World Development under

Monopoly Capitalism

One of the main effects (I will not say purposes) of orthodox traditional economics was…a plan for explaining to the privileged class that their position was morally right and was necessary for the welfare of society. —Joan Robinson

Benjamin Selwyn and Dara Leyden


The recent period of globalisation—following the collapse of the Eastern bloc and the reintegration of China into the world economy—is one where global value chains have become the dominant organisational form of capitalism. From low to high tech, basic consumer goods to heavy capital equipment, food to services, goods are now produced across many countries, integrated through global value chains. According to the International Labour Organization, between 1995 and 2013 the number of people employed in global value chains rose from 296 to 453 million, amounting to one in five jobs in the global economy. We are living in a global value chain world.

The big question is whether this global value chain world is contributing to, or detracting from, real human development. Is it establishing a more equal, less exploitative, less poverty-ridden world? Which political economic frameworks are best placed to illuminate and explain the workings of this

Recent critical scholarship has applied monopoly capital concepts and categories to the analysis of global value chains and have illuminated how global value chains represent the latest form of monopoly capital on a world scale.

For a full review of this essay, click here or on the picture to download the pdf file.