An Interview with Anwar Shaikh by C. J. Polychroniou

Anwar Shaikh switched from engineering to economics due to his interest in real-world issues like racism and poverty. He rejected the mainstream neoclassical economics that is founded on the concept of perfect competition. At the same time, he also believes that imperfect competition, the analytical basis of post-Keynesian economics, views perfect competition as a reference point for its theoretical construction, thus creating another loophole that needs to be filled. Therefore, Shaikh advocates for a logically consistent and systematic alternative framework, which he calls the theory of real competition, based on the ideas of classical political economists such as Smith, Ricardo, and Marx. This framework allows for the exploration of significant theoretical issues including value and distribution, the falling rate of profit, international trade, and economic crisis. Shaikh's research findings were finally published in his book <i>Capitalism</i>: <i>Competition, Conflict and Crisis</i>, which provides a comprehensive account of the operation of capitalist economy, considerably enhancing the explanatory power of Marxism. Furthermore, Shaikh draws parallels between the evolution of capitalism and the mutation of the new coronavirus.