Introduction: a Macro-Monetary Interpretation of Marx's Theory
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Department of Economics
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS Working Paper Problematizing the Global Economy: Financialization and the “Feudalization” of Capital Rajesh Bhattacharya Ian Seda-Irizarry Paper No. 01, Spring 2014, revised 1 Problematizing the Global Economy: Financialization and the “Feudalization” of Capital Rajesh Bhattacharya1 and Ian J. Seda-Irizarry2 Abstract In this essay we note that contemporary debates on financialization revolve around a purported “separation” between finance and production, implying that financial profits expand at the cost of production of real value. Within the literature on financialization, we primarily focus on those contributions that connect financialization to global value-chains, production of knowledge- capital and the significance of rent (ground rent, in Marx’s language) in driving financial strategies of firms, processes that are part of what we call, following others, the feudalization of capital. Building on the contributions of Stephen A. Resnick and Richard D. Wolff, we problematize the categories of capital and capitalism to uncover the capitalocentric premises of these contributions. In our understanding, any discussion of the global economy must recognize a) the simultaneous expansion of capitalist economic space and a non-capitalist “outside” of capital and b) the processes of exclusion (dispossession without proletarianization) in sustaining the capital/non-capital complex. In doing so, one must recognize the significance of both traditional forms of primitive accumulation as well as instances of “new enclosures” in securing rent for dominant financialized firms. Investment in knowledge-capital appears as an increasingly dominant instrument of extraction of rent from both capitalist and non-capitalist producers within a transformed economic geography. In our understanding, such a Marxian analysis renders the separation problem an untenable proposition. -
THE DEFINITIVE DISCOVERY of the CATEGORY of SURPLUS VALUE (Grundrisse, Pp
1 THE DEFINITIVE DISCOVERY OF THE CATEGORY OF SURPLUS VALUE (Grundrisse, pp. 321,10-358, 37; pp. 227, 18-264, 27)1 (Notebook III, from folio 21 to folio 40 of Marx´s manuscript, in December of 1857) Prof. Enrique Dussel A. (Philosophy Department, UAM-Iztapalapa, Mexico City) “The surplus value (Mehrwert) which capital has at the end of the production process –a surplus value which, as a higher price of the product, is realized only in circulation, but, like all prices, is realized in it by already being ideally presupposed to it, determined before they enter into it- signifies, expressed in accord with the general concept of exchange value that the labour time objectified in the product -or amount of labour (expressed passively, the magnitude of labour appears as an amount of space; but expressed in motion, it is measurable only in time)- is greater than that which was present in the original components of capital. This in turn is possible only if the labour objectified in the price of labour is smaller than the living labour purchased with it” (321, 10-22; 227,18-30). This is how the most critically important pages begin in all of Marx´ life, and in all of the Grundrisse. In these lines we can already observe the difficulties implied by a reflection regarding the issue that concerns us here. This difficulty will always signify a problem in the “order of categories” in Marx´s own processes of research and exposition. His marked tendency was always to prefer a path ranging from the simplest level to the most complex, from the deepest to the most superficial, from the abstract to the concrete. -
Abstract Labor: Substance Or Form
ABSTRACT LABOR: SUBSTANCE OR FORM ABSTRACT LABOR: SUBSTANCE OR FORM? A CRITIQUE OF THE VALUE-FORM INTERPRETATION OF MARX’S THEORY by Fred Moseley Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (Mexico City) Mount Holyoke College (Massachusetts) May 1997 Our analysis has shown that the form of value, that is the expression of the value of a commodity, arises from the nature of commodity value, as opposed to value and its magnitude arising from their mode of expression as exchange-value. Marx (C. I. 152) It is not money that renders commodities commensurable. Quite the contrary. Because all commodities, as values, are objective human labor and therefore themselves commensurable, their values can be communally measured in one and the same commodity. Mon ey is the necessary form of appearance of the measure of value immanent in commodities - labor-time. Marx (C.I. 188) ABSTRACT LABOR: SUBSTANCE OR FORM? A CRITIQUE OF THE VALUE-FORM INTERPRETATION OF MARX’S THEORY In the Introduction to our first book, I wrote: All the authors agree that Marx attempted in Section 1 of Chapter 1 of Capital to derive abstract labor as the "substance of value," which exists prior to exchange - although it is not observable - and which determines the exchange values of com modities. But there is significant disagreement over the validity file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/mhcuserxp/Desktop/VALUEFRM.htm (1 of 15)10/15/2005 2:29:42 PM ABSTRACT LABOR: SUBSTANCE OR FORM and necessity of Marx’s derivation. Indeed this disagreement is probably the most significant one amount the authors. This controversy has a long history beginning with Boehm-Bawerk. -
2 Primitive Accumulation of Capital a System of Social Production Organized Along Capitalist Lines Can Be Represented by the Circuit of Capital: M-C-C’-M’
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS Working Paper Capital, Non-Capital and Transformative Politics in Contemporary India Deepankar Basu Working Paper 2019-01 UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST UMass Amherst Economics Papers Capital, Non-Capital and Transformative Politics in Contemporary India Deepankar Basu± December 18, 2018 Abstract Kalyal Sanayal’s work on postcolonial capitalism has been influential in many strands of critical social theory. In this brief note, I investigate three key components of his argument and find them wanting. In particular, I show that the evolution of land ownership in India does not support the claim that the primitive accumulation of capital is one of the important processes in operation in contemporary India. On the contrary, the evidence suggests that the process of primitive accumulation has been arrested or significantly slowed down. In addition to the critical comments on Sanyal (2007), I indicate towards an alternative framework that is better able to explain the key features of contemporary India. JEL Codes: B24; O290 Keywords: postcolonial capitalism 1 Introduction In his 2007 book, Rethinking Capitalist Development: Primitive Accumulation, Governmentality and Post-Colonial Capitalism, Kalyan Sanyal offers an innovative analysis of contemporary capitalism in the global South. The economy of post-colonial capitalist social formations, Sanyal argues, is composed of two domains, a domain of capitalist production (which he calls capital) and a domain of non-capitalist production (which he calls non-capital). It is a key contention of ± Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Email: [email protected]. A shorter version of this paper was presented at the 2016 South Asia Conference at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. -
The Marxist Theory of Overaccumulation and Crisis
The Marxist Theory of Overaccumulation and Crisis Simon Clarke In this paper I intend to contrast the `falling rate of profit’ crisis theories of the 1970s with the `underconsumptionism' of the orthodox Marxist tradition. The central argument is that in rejecting traditional underconsumptionist theories of crisis contemporary Marxism has thrown the baby out with the bathwater, with unfortunate theoretical and political consequences. A more adequate critique of traditional underconsumptionism leads not to the falling rate of profit, but to a dis- proportionality theory of crisis, which follows the traditional theory in seeing crises not as epochal events but as expressions of the permanent tendencies of capitalist accumulation. The background to the paper is my recent book, Keynesianism, Monetarism and the Crisis of the State (Clarke, 1988a), in which analysed the development of capitalism on the basis of a version of the theory of overaccumulation and crisis which is proposed here. However in the book this theory is developed in relation to the historical analysis, without reference to either traditional or contemporary debates. The purpose of this paper is to draw out the theoretical significance of the argument as the basis of a re- evaluation of the Marxist tradition. The issue is of the highest importance as erstwhile Marxists, in both East and West, fall victim once more to the `reformist illusion' that the negative aspects of capitalism can be separated from the positive, that the dynamism of capitalism can be separated from its crisis tendencies, that capitalist prosperity can be separated from capitalist immiseration. 1 Contemporary Marxist Crisis Theory The Marxist theory of crisis is distinguished from bourgeois theories in the first instance in being concerned with the necessity of crisis, in order to establish that the permanent stabilisation of capitalism and amelioration of the class struggle, on which reformism pins its hopes, is impossible. -
What's Value Got to Do with the Critique of Political Economy? the Multiple Meanings of Value Theory in Marx
WHAT’S VALUE GOT TO DO WITH THE CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY? THE MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF VALUE THEORY IN MARX. Riccardo Bellofiore (University of Bergamo) Marx l Uniqueness of Marx: value theory within monetary analysis l Capital as an Automatic Fetish & Subject l Capital as a [social] relation [of production] l Theory of exploitation l within a universalised commodity exchange economy l which is an essentialy monetary economy l Internal tendency to development & crisis l How to read Marx: reading + interpretation + reconstruction l The challenge: being a Marxian (not a Marxist) means do what Marx did: what is political economy after Marx? what have been fundamental changes in capitalism l constant doubt & revision (& procrastination?) CRITIQUE of Political Economy l Critique versus Criticism l Pointing out errors in Political Economy l Learning from its scientific results l Developing science until the point it can be criticised (Critical P.E.) l Putting that science in question (Critique of P.E.) l What are the conditions of possibility of Political Economy? l This conditions are historical, but a capitalism is a system positing its own presuppositions. l The critique of the science provide a critique of capitalist social relation l Uniqueness of Marx: value theory within monetary analysis Multiple meanings of value theory • What IS Value theory • Labour Theory of Value = Value Theory of Labour • 1) Monetary [Labour] Theory of Value • 2) Theory of [Capitalist] Exploitation • 3) Macro-Monetary Theory of Capitalist Production • 4) Theory of [individual, relative] Prices • 5) ‘Out-of-equilibrium’ Theory • 6) Theory of Crisis(Crises • Each one of this multiple meanings has been misinterpreted ToV as Monetary Theory of Value • Separation of commodity producers. -
And Marx's Equalized Rate of Surplus-Value
Smith’s ‘Perfect Liberty’ and Marx’s Equalized Rate of Surplus-Value Jonathan F. Cogliano∗ The New School for Social Research October 8, 2010 Abstract Karl Marx’s use of an equalized rate of surplus-value across sectors of production is not merely a convenient assumption. The equalization of the sectoral rate of surplus-value is in fact one of the central tenden- cies of Marx’s framework, and is elevated to the level of an economic law. The reasoning behind Marx’s use of an equalized rate of surplus- value is the mobility of labor found in Adam Smith. This reasoning, when combined with the long-period method, reveals that the rate of surplus-value across sectors is subject to the same turbulent dynamics and equalization process as the rate of profit. Keywords: Karl Marx; Long-Period Method; Rate of Surplus-Value; Mobility of Labor; Adam Smith. JEL Classification Numbers: B51. ∗Please do not quote directly from this paper without permission, it is still in progress and subject to change and revision at any time. Address: Economics Department, The New School, 11th floor, 6 East 16th St., New York, NY 10003, USA. E-mail: [email protected]. 1 Introduction Marx’s use of an equalized rate of surplus-value across sectors of production is often taken to be an assumption that paves the way to analyzing the equal- ization of the rate of profit and prices of production for all capitals. However, the equalized rate of surplus-value is much more than a convenient assump- tion. The turbulent equalization of sectoral rates of surplus-value is in fact one of the central tendencies of Marx’s framework, and is elevated by Marx to the same level as other “economic laws” (Marx 1981, 275). -
Of Marx's Critique of Capitalism
THE “HEART AND SOUL” OF MARX’S CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM: EXPLOITATION OR SOCIAL FORM - OR BOTH? A REPLY TO MURRAY By Fred Moseley Mount Holyoke College The editors of Rethinking Marxism have invited me to write a response to Patrick Murray’s (2001) comments on Enrique Dussel’s (2001) paper on “the four drafts of Capital” and my (Moseley 2001) introduction to Dussel’s paper, and I am happy to do so. I will briefly discuss three issues in particular: (1) the extent to which Marx’s theory of surplus-value and exploitation is the “heart and soul” of his critique of capitalism, (2) Marx’s quantitative theory of value and price, and (3) the precise “starting-point” of Marx’s theory in Capital. 1. Theory of surplus-value Murray criticizes Dussel for being similar to what he calls “Ricardian Marxism”, in that he emphasizes Marx’s theory of surplus-value, which concludes that surplus-value is produced by the surplus labor of workers, and thus that workers are exploit ed in capitalism. According to Murray: “The hallmark of Ricardian Marxism is that it takes the theory of surplus-value to be the heart and soul of Marx’s critique of capitalism.” (emphasis added) Marx’s theory of exploitation is the basis for Dussel’s ethical critique of capitalism. Murray suggests that the problem with such an emphasis on the theory of surplus-value and exploitation is that it implies that “human emancipation can be achieved … by eliminating surplus-value,” or through a “fancied redistribution of surplus-value,” without necessarily eliminating value production. -
Joseph A.Schumpeter
CAPITALISM, SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY When Joseph Schumpeter’s book first appeared, the New English Weekly predicted that ‘for the next five to ten years it will certainly remain a work with which no one who professes any degree of information on sociology or economics can afford to be unacquainted’. The prophecy has been justified, but how much more fully than its maker anticipated. A generation later, it is more widely read than when it first appeared. The mixed economy has become established in North America as well as in the countries of the European Community, while in the socialist countries there has been a move towards various forms of decentralisation and of a market economy. In this new context the issues that Schumpeter raises are still matters of lively debate. CAPITALISM, SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY Joseph A.Schumpeter INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD SWEDBERG Stockholm University London and New York First published in the USA This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. First published in the UK in 1943 First impression 1944 Second edition 1947 Third edition 1950 First impression 1952 Fourth edition 1954 Eighth impression 1974 Fifth edition 1976 Third impression 1981 New in paperback 1994 © George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd 1976 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. -
Creative Destruction As a Radical Departure: a New Paradigm for Analyzing Capitalism
Page 1 of 34 Chapter 2 Creative Destruction as a Radical Departure: A New Paradigm for Analyzing Capitalism Leonardo Burlamaqui1 State University of Rio de Janeiro Levy Economics Institute “The task confronting economics today may be characterized as a need to integrate Schumpeter's vision of a resilient intertemporal capitalist process with Keynes' hard insights into the fragility introduced into the capitalist accumulation process by some inescapable properties of capitalist financial structures " (1986:121). 1- Introduction In the Kyoto’s 1992 Schumpeter Society’s conference Nathan Rosenberg delivered a brilliant paper later published with the provocative title “Schumpeter: Radical Economist” (Rosenberg: 1994). In the paper, Rosenberg begins stating that according to him, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy was the “mature statement of the most radical scholar in the discipline of economics in the twentieth century” (1994, 41). He went further: “Rather, it is my intention to show the quintessential later Schumpeter...held views that were not only radical, but are deserving of far more serious attention than they receive today, even, or perhaps especially from scholars who think of themselves as working within the Schumpeterian tradition” (ibid). Rosenberg’s statements are sharp, on the mark, but were almost completely overlooked. This chapter will pick up where he left off and argue that after seventy-five years of its publication, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (CSD) still is a vastly unexplored work in the sense that if offers a whole new paradigm to analyze the way capitalism works. It does that by not only criticizing the core assumptions of the prevailing neoclassical theory. -
The Development Of
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX'S THEORY OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF SURPLUS-VALUE by Fred Moseley Department of Economics Mount Holyoke College South Hadley MA 01075 E-mail: [email protected] AUGUST 1995 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX'S THEORY OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF SURPLUS-VALUE Marx's theory of the production and distribution of surplus-value is based on a fundamental methodological premise, which has not been sufficiently recognized: that the total amount of surplus-value is determined prior to and independent of the division of this total amount into individual parts. The individual parts of surplus-value are then determined at a subsequent stage of the analysis, with the predetermined total amount of surplus-value taken as a given magnitude. This premise was first discussed by Marx in the Grundrisse with respect to the equalization of rates of profit across different branches of production. In the second draft of Capital, written in 1861-63, parts of which have been only recently published in English, Marx also began with this premise as he worked out his theories of rent, interest, and merchant profit. In the remaining drafts of Capital, this fundamental premise is consistently adhered to and emphasized, especially in Volume 3, in which the distribution of surplus-value is the main subject. file:///A|/MOSELEY2.htm (1 of 21) [9/14/2000 5:05:43 PM] THE DEVELOPMENT OF Marx expressed this fundamental premise of his theory concerning the prior determination of the total amount of surplus-value in terms of the distinction between the stages of analysis of "capital in general" and "competition" (or "many capitals"). -
MONEY and TOTALITY: Marx's Logic in Volume I of Capital
MONEY AND TOTALITY: Marx’s Logic in Volume I of Capital by Fred Moseley A widely accepted interpretation of Marx’s theory (e.g. Morishima, Steedman) is that Volume I of Capital is primarily about the determination of the labor-values of individual commodities. In other words, Volume I presents mainly a microeconomic theory, and the main microeconomic variables determined are the labor-values of commodities, rather than the prices of commodities. I have argued in previous papers (Moseley 1993, 2000, 2002) that Volume I is primarily about the determination of the total increment of money ( M), or total surplus-value, produced in the capitalist economy as a whole. In other words, Volume I presents mainly a macroeconomic theory, and the main macroeconomic variable determined is the total money profit for the economy as a whole. I have called this a ‘macro-monetary’ interpretation of Marx’s theory. (Others who have presented various aspects of such a ‘macro-monetary’ interpretation include Mattick 1969, Yaffe 1976, Rosdolsky 1977, Mattick Jr. 1981, Carchedi 1984, Foley 1986, and Bellofiore 1989.) This paper provides further detailed textual evidence to support these two main points - that Volume I presents a monetary theory and that it presents a macroeconomic theory of the total surplus-value. 1 1. Volume I is about money According to a widely held interpretation of Marx’s theory (e.g. Steedman, Morishima, etc.), Volume I of Capital is about the labor-values of commodities, i.e. the labor-times required to produce commodities. The main variables determined in Volume I are the labor-values of individual types of commodities.