what is marxian economics 
marxian economics is a school of economic thought based on the work of 19th century economist and philosopher karl marx marxian or marxist economics focuses on the role of labor in the development of an economy it s critical of the classical approach to wages and productivity developed by adam smith marx argued that the specialization of the labor force coupled with a growing population pushes wages down he added that the value placed on goods and services doesn t accurately account for the true cost of labor understanding marxian economicsmuch of marxian economics is drawn from karl marx s seminal work das kapital it was his magnum opus first published in 1867 marx described his theory of the capitalist system its dynamism and its tendencies toward self destruction in the book 1much of das kapital spells out marx s concept of the surplus value of labor and its consequences for capitalism it wasn t the pressure of labor pools that drove wages to the subsistence level according to marx it was the existence of a large army of unemployed and he blamed this on capitalists he maintained that labor was a mere commodity that could gain only subsistence wages within the capitalist system capitalists could force workers to spend more time on the job than was necessary to earn their subsistence however they could then appropriate the excess product or surplus value created by the workers marx argued that workers create value through their labor but aren t properly compensated he said that their hard work is exploited by the ruling classes who generate profits not by selling their products at a higher price but by paying staff less than the value of their labor marx claimed that there are two major flaws inherent in capitalism that lead to exploitation the chaotic nature of the free market and surplus labor marxian economics vs classical economicsmarxian economics is a rejection of the classical view of economics developed by economists such as adam smith smith and his peers believed that the free market an economic system powered by supply and demand with little or no government control and an onus on maximizing profit automatically benefits society marx disagreed arguing that capitalism consistently only benefits a select few he argued that the ruling class becomes richer by extracting value out of cheap labor provided by the working class under this economic model in contrast to classical approaches to economic theory marx favored government intervention he said that economic decisions shouldn t be made by producers and consumers they ought to be carefully managed by the state to ensure that everyone benefits he predicted that capitalism would eventually destroy itself as more people become relegated to worker status leading to a revolution and production being turned over to the state special considerationsmarxian economics is considered separate from marxism even if the two ideologies are closely related it focuses less on social and political matters marxian economic principles clash with the virtues of capitalist pursuits it seemed the marxist dream had finally and firmly taken root during the first half of the twentieth century with the bolshevik revolution in russia and the spread of communism throughout eastern europe that dream collapsed before the century had ended the people of poland hungary czechoslovakia east germany romania yugoslavia bulgaria albania and the ussr rejected marxist ideology and entered a remarkable transition toward private property rights and a market exchange based system 