Income distribution and development: Celso Furtado’s theory in a context of global economic changes and its proximity to neo(post)-Kaleckian literature

Abstract

The objective of the present article is to analyse the elements proposed by Celso Furtado regarding the process of overcoming underdevelopment – before and after “industrial civilization” – and to determine whether such attributes can characterize him as a neo(post)-Kaleckian. To accomplish this objective, we will carry out a detailed analysis of growth patterns led by profits and wages based on the neo-Kaleckian literature. The relationship between income distribution, demand, and capital accumulation was always present in Furtado's analyses, even before these approaches were formalised theoretically. This analysis is important to understand two main points of Furtado’s thought: i) the reason for Furtado's emphasis on distributive conflict as an engine of structural transformations and, in turn, as a driver of economic development; ii) the challenges imposed over underdeveloped economies in the face of a new world economic order, based on the increase in dependency relations as a result of the huge capital flows in the form of foreign direct investment of developed economies in underdeveloped regions.