Profitability in the United States has been rising since the early 1980s, and by 1997 was nearing its postwar peak in the mid-1960s. The profit share has also recovered from its postwar low in the early 1970s. In this paper, I examine the role of the change in the profit share and capital intensity on movements in the rate of profit between 1947 and 1997. Its recent recovery is traced to a rise in the profit share in national income and a decline in the capital-output ratio.
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