Even if the class implications of austerity are embodied in the profi t rate itself, regardless of the secondary question of how much of the profi t rate the capitalists wind up investing, it is interesting to note that in our case high profi t rates favored greater capital accumulation, evidenced by the impressive growth of industrial production starting in 1921. In both countries, industrial production almost doubled over the decade (Mitchell 1998, 422). Capital stock also grew substantially. In Italy it rose by 18 percent between 1922 and 1929. Th is is an impressive spike given that the British capital stock increased only 4.8 percent during the same time.

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 1731