Marx law of the falling trend of the rate of profit has often been rejected, pointing to the possibility of a change in the rate of exploitation, which might compensate for the predicted rise in the organic composition of capital. It must be remembered, however, that Marx' predictions do nol apply to this latter ratio but to the technical composition of capital, which according to Marx will decline in the course of capitalist development. Then it can be shown that the rate of profit must fall as a result of this secular increase in the technical composition of capital, if this increase also results in an increase of the capital coefficient, which, however, must not necessarily occur. The rate of exploitation does not exert any influence on the rate of profit in this case.
