Distributive Conflict, Monetary Theory of Distribution and the Banking Sector

This paper discusses the problem posed for the monetary theory of distribution by the coexistence of stagnating real wages and near-zero interest rates. The difficulty in explaining this economic phenomenon paves the way to a more general discussion of the dynamics inherent in the contrast between workers and capitalists and between financial and productive capitalists. First, the paper shows how the introduction of the banking sector into the framework of the monetary approach to distribution makes it possible to explain the persistence of near-zero rates in an advanced capitalist system. Next, the idea of increased enterprise profit is analysed, and the study is extended to approaches to distributional conflict other than the monetary theory of distribution. Thus, the analysis shows that six different distributional configurations are possible, of which only two can be easily explained through the monetary theory of distribution. The other four can be explained by developing more recent approaches that continue, enrich and develop Marx's ideas.