An interactive visualization of Karl Marx's core economic theories
Marx's Labour Theory of Value argues that the value of a commodity is determined by the socially necessary labor time required to produce it. This theory explains how surplus value is generated through the exploitation of labor.
This scatter plot shows the relationship between labor time and value across different industries. The difference between the value produced (blue) and wages paid (red) represents surplus value (yellow).
This chart shows historical trends in productivity, labor's share of value, and the rate of surplus value. As productivity increases, the rate of surplus value tends to rise while labor's share of value falls.
This chart compares labor's share of value and the rate of surplus value across different countries, showing variations in exploitation rates.
Marx's theory of capital accumulation explains how capitalists must continuously reinvest profits into expanding production, leading to increasing concentration of capital, rising organic composition, and intensified exploitation of labor.
This chart shows the historical growth of capital stock, the rising organic composition of capital (c/v), and changes in investment rates over time.
This chart illustrates Marx's prediction that capital becomes increasingly concentrated in fewer hands over time, shown through top wealth shares and inequality measures.
This scatter plot compares different economic sectors, showing how higher organic composition of capital tends to correlate with lower profit rates. Bubble size represents capital intensity.
Marx identified the tendency for the rate of profit to fall as the fundamental cause of capitalist crises. As capitalists compete by investing in labor-saving technology, the organic composition of capital rises, leading to a declining rate of profit despite countervailing factors.
This chart shows the long-term tendency for the rate of profit to fall, with economic crisis events marked. The rising organic composition of capital (dashed line) is the primary driver of this tendency.
This chart compares profit rates across major capitalist economies. Computing…
This chart shows the strength of various countervailing factors that temporarily offset the falling rate of profit, including cheaper raw materials, labor intensification, wage reduction, capital devaluation, and foreign trade.