Long waves research is currently dominated by two main approaches: a "neo-Schumpeterian" and a "social structure of accumulation" paradigm. While the former fits into evolutionary economics, the latter is rooted within Marxian and Keynesian macroeconomics. Although each research school continues with its own approach, without knowing what the other school has learned, a similarity between the two is inevitable, since long wave (or cycles) theory is a common framework for research. This makes both theories well-suited to help in understanding the factors underlying the financial and economic crises of capitalism. The primary purpose of this paper is to compare their respective accounts in this field, from a theoretical and analytical perspective, concluding that, despite the different premises and approaches of both schools, the resulting periodizations of capitalism elaborated by each theory are quite similar.
