The tendency of the rate of profit to fall (TRPF) is a hypothesis in economics and political economy, most famously expounded by Karl Marx in chapter 13 of Das Kapital, Volume 3. It was generally accepted in the 19th century. Economists as diverse as Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, and Stanley Jevons noticed a long-run empirical trend for the internal rate of return on capital invested to produce industrial products to decline, and Marx called this tendency "the most important law of political economy" and sought to give a causal explanation for it, in terms of his labour theory of value.
Read more about Tendency Of The Rate Of Profit To Fall: Adam Smith's 1776 Comment On The Rate of Profit, Marx's Argument, Quote From Marx On The Tendency of The Rate of Profit To Fall, Later Marxist Interpretation, Criticisms, In Terms of Mainstream Economics, Empirical Evidence, Further Controversy
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