These essays develop a Marxist response to and approach to aspects of the recent economic past in the United Kingdom. They reflect issues and controversies that have arisen within economic policy debate and the economic theory associated with the debate, highlighting the problematic nature of economic policy in the period since the mid-1970s. The book, first published in 1986, develops a line of argument organized around issues of 'calculation', thus challenging the orthodox Marxist framework and presenting a neo-Marxist analysis.

1. Introduction 2. The relationship between the financial and industrial sector in the United Kingdom economy 3. Capitalist profit calculation and inflation accounting 4. Capitalist profit calculation and inflation accounting: a comment 5. Economic calculation as 'sign'? A reply to Angelo Reati 6. Monetarism and economic ideology 7. The firm as a 'dispersed' social agency