Finance and the realization problem in Rosa Luxemburg: a ‘circuitist' reappraisal

The aim of this paper is to show that Rosa Luxemburg’s analysis of capitalist accumulation is framed within a ‘circuitist’ macroeconomic reading of capitalism as a monetary production economy. The strengths and the limits of her approach are to be found elsewhere than suggested by the usual criticisms, especially those advanced by Marxists authors. Rosa Luxemburg cannot be reduced to the uncertain theoretical status of an ‘under-consumptionist’. On the contrary, she presents a clear (although incomplete) picture of the macro-monetary and sequential working of the capitalist process.