RE: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Eurocentrism onceagain

[Max Sawicky]

>There's no question that imperialism was essential to the rise of 
>European capitalism. But what about its contribution to First World 
>wealth in the present? No doubt greater than zero, but how much? 
>Does anyone have any good ideas?   Doug

It would seem to be bounded from above by the share of first-world 
consumption, investment, and government purchases that are made in 
countries with GDP per capita levels less than half that of the U.S.
So less than 3%.
Of course, this is not "dialectical"...   Brad DeLong


Seems to me this takes as given the prices of
those purchases, whereas the raison d'etre of
primitive accumulation is to enforce sub-
optimal prices with violence.  The question
is the amount of economic rent, methinks.
Even that would be a lower bound, insofar as
rents implied by an 'efficient' price counter-
factual took for granted an unreasonable efficiency
norm predicated on existing income distribution.
Plus it's not dialectical, whatever that is.

mbs