Paul Sweezy: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Paul Marlor Sweezy (April 10, 1910 - February 27 2004) was a Marxian economist and a founding editor of the magazine Monthly Review.

Sweezy was born in New York City, the son of a bank executive. He attended Harvard and was editor of The Harvard Crimson, graduating in 1931. He then spent a year at the London School of Economics, where he was first exposed to Marxian economic ideas. Returning to Harvard, he received his doctorate in 1937, after which he began teaching economics there. In 1942, he published The Theory of Capitalist Development (ISBN 085345079X), a book which summarized economic ideas of Marx and his followers. It was the first book in English that dealt with certain questions thoroughly such as the transformation problem. From 1942 to 1945, he worked for the research and analysis division of the Office of Strategic Services.

In 1949, he founded Monthly Review with Leo Huberman. It was a socialist magazine founded in the midst of the American Red Scare. In 1954, the New Hampshire Attorney General subpoenaed Sweezy and made inquiries into his political beliefs and associations, demanding to know the names of his political associates. Sweezy refused to comply, citing his First Amendment right of freedom of expression. He was cited for contempt of court, but the US Supreme Court overturned that citation in 1957.

In 1966, Sweezy published Monopoly Capital (ISBN 0853450730) with Paul Baran. The book set forth the idea of stagnation theory. The main dilemma modern capitalism would face, they argued, would be how to sell the economic surpluses created by capital accumulation. Increases in marketing, defence spending and various forms of debt would tend to alleviate the falling rate of profit foreseen by Marx. However, they believed that these remedies to capital's difficulties were inherently limited and that monopoly capital would tend toward economic stagnation. This book is the cornerstone of Sweezy's contribution to Marxian economics.