The Transformation Problem of Values Into Prices of Production: Marx Errors Or an Inattentive Reading of ‘Capital’?
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The Transformation Problem As a Problem of Fetishism
Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2019 The Transformation Problem as a Problem of Fetishism Lange, Elena L Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-184016 Journal Article Published Version Originally published at: Lange, Elena L (2019). The Transformation Problem as a Problem of Fetishism. Filosofski Vestnik, 40(3):51-70. Filozofski vestnik | Volume XL | Number 3 | 2019 | xx–xx Elena Louisa Lange* The Transformation Problem as a Problem of Fetishism ‘The further we trace out the valorization process of capi- tal, the more is the capital relationship mystified and the less are the secrets of its internal organization laid bare.’ Karl Marx1 Introduction: Marx’s Fetishism-Critical Method In the international research of Marx’s Critique of Political Economy of the past decades, it has become fashionable to perform the Bob Dylanesque2 song of “The Rejection of the Labour Theory of Value”, a kind of spoken-word blues with lots of minor chords. The chorus goes like this: “The labour theory of val- ue/ it’s just a residue of the classics”3. The verses tell the story of a “substan- tialist”, “embodied” labour theory of value held by poor forlorn Marx, against his better judgment. The “message” is that we, and our interpretation of Marx, 1 Karl Marx, Capital. A Critique of Political Economy. Volume 3. Penguin, London 1981, p. 139. 2 I apologise to all Marxist Bob Dylan-fans, should they exist. -
Modern Monetary Theory: a Marxist Critique
Class, Race and Corporate Power Volume 7 Issue 1 Article 1 2019 Modern Monetary Theory: A Marxist Critique Michael Roberts [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower Part of the Economics Commons Recommended Citation Roberts, Michael (2019) "Modern Monetary Theory: A Marxist Critique," Class, Race and Corporate Power: Vol. 7 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. DOI: 10.25148/CRCP.7.1.008316 Available at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower/vol7/iss1/1 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts, Sciences & Education at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Class, Race and Corporate Power by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Modern Monetary Theory: A Marxist Critique Abstract Compiled from a series of blog posts which can be found at "The Next Recession." Modern monetary theory (MMT) has become flavor of the time among many leftist economic views in recent years. MMT has some traction in the left as it appears to offer theoretical support for policies of fiscal spending funded yb central bank money and running up budget deficits and public debt without earf of crises – and thus backing policies of government spending on infrastructure projects, job creation and industry in direct contrast to neoliberal mainstream policies of austerity and minimal government intervention. Here I will offer my view on the worth of MMT and its policy implications for the labor movement. First, I’ll try and give broad outline to bring out the similarities and difference with Marx’s monetary theory. -
Computational Methods and Classical-Marxian Economics Jonathan F
Computational Methods and Classical-Marxian Economics Jonathan F. Cogliano, Roberto Veneziani, Naoki Yoshihara Working Paper No. 913 October 2020 ISSN 1473-0278 School of Economics and Finance Computational Methods and Classical-Marxian Economics∗ Jonathan F. Cogliano,† Roberto Veneziani,‡ Naoki Yoshihara§ September 15, 2020 Abstract This article surveys computational approaches to classical-Marxian economics. These approaches include a range of techniques { such as numerical simulations, agent-based models, and Monte Carlo methods { and cover many areas within the classical-Marxian tradition. We focus on three major themes in classical-Marxian economics, namely price and value theory; inequality, exploitation, and classes; and technical change, profitability, growth and cycles. We show that computational methods are particularly well-suited to capture certain key elements of the vision of the classical-Marxian ap- proach and can be fruitfully used to make significant progress in the study of classical- Marxian topics. Keywords: Computational Methods; Agent-Based Models; Classical Economists; Marx. JEL Classification Codes: C63 (Computational Techniques, Simulation Modeling); B51 (Socialist, Marxian, Sraffian); B41 (Economic Methodology). ∗We would like to thank Peter Flaschel, Duncan Foley, Heinz Kurz, David Laibman, Peter Matthews, Bertram Schefold, Mark Setterfield, and Lefteris Tsoulfidis for helpful comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies. †(Corresponding author) Economics Department, University of Massachusetts Boston, Wheatley -
Chapter Z 4 the New Interpretation and the Value of Money Makoto Itoh
Chapter Z 4 The new interpretation and the value of money Makoto Itoh This chapter examines the significance of the so-called new interpretation of Marx’s theory of transforming values into prices of production in the first section, as well as remaining issues on it in the second section, focusing on its definition of value of money and value of labor-power. As an important shortage of the new interpretation is in the absence of the theory of determining the exchange-value of money, we shall try to fill this gap in the subsequent sections. After assessing Moseley’s analysis of the commodity money in the third section as a corollary, we try to examine the dynamic mechanism through business cycles to determine the exchange-value of money commodity in the fourth section. The fifth section briefly argues what happens to the exchange-value of money in the regime of contemporary non-commodity money. 1 The significance of value of money in the new interpretation A 'new interpretation' on the transformation problem concerning Marx's theory of transforming values into prices of production was presented by Foley (1982, 1986) and Duménile(1983). The new interpretation is based on a particular definition of value of money as the monetary expression of labor time. More concretely, the value of money is conceived as 'the ratio of the net domestic product at current prices to the living productive labor expended in an economy over a period of time' (Foley, 2000:21), and thus it represents the average amount of expended labor time obtainable by a unit of money, say a dollar. -
The Falling Rate of Profit Thesis Reassessed: Owart D a Sociology of Marx’S Value Theory of Labor
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 8-2007 The Falling Rate of Profit Thesis Reassessed: owarT d a Sociology of Marx’s Value Theory of Labor John Hamilton Bradford University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Bradford, John Hamilton, "The Falling Rate of Profit Thesis Reassessed: owarT d a Sociology of Marx’s Value Theory of Labor. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2007. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/261 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by John Hamilton Bradford entitled "The Falling Rate of Profit Thesis Reassessed: owarT d a Sociology of Marx’s Value Theory of Labor." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Sociology. Harry F. Dahms, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Stephanie Ann Bohon, Robert Gorman Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by John Hamilton Bradford entitled “The Falling Rate of Profit Thesis Reassessed: Toward a Sociology of Marx’s Value Theory of Labor.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Sociology. -
The Transformation from Marx to Sraffa Anwar Shaikh
3 The Transformation from Marx to Sraffa Anwar Shaikh I. Introduction Recent history has seen a tremendous revival of Marxist economic analysis. But this process has also produced its own specific problems, because as Marxist economics gain in respectibility, the temptation to represent itself i~ respectable terms grows accordingly. And these terms, in the end, are ·almost always the wrong ones. There is no question but that Marxism must appropriate all modem developments. Bur to appropriate them involves much more than merely adopting them. It involves tearing them out of the bourgeois framework in which they appear, examining their hidden premises, and re-situating them (when and if possible) on a Marxist terrain-a terrain which cannot be derived merely by algebraic variation or sociological transformation of the premises of orthodox economics. We must, and indeed we do, have our own ground to stand upon. It is my contention that the Sraffian, neo-Ricardian, tradition is by far too respectable. Its roots in left Keynesianism are easy to establish, and its refuge in mathematical economics is quite revealing. Nonetheless, the claims made by this school must be addressed, and· its real contributions must be separated out from what is merely part of its cloak of respectability. In this paper I do not intend to reproduce previous criticisms of the neo-Ricardians, nor even to reproduce my own arguments in favour of Marx's theory of value. Instead, in the discussion that follows I would like to show that even within the algebraic framework of which the neo-Ricardians are so proud, there are a host of issues which they do not, and cannot, face. -
The Rate of Turnover in Karl Marx's Analysis of Capitalist Valorisation
Munich Personal RePEc Archive Capital’s Pons Asinorum: the Rate of Turnover in Karl Marx’s Analysis of Capitalist Valorisation Passarella, Marco and Baron, Hervé University of Leeds, Università dell’Insubria 20 May 2013 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/48306/ MPRA Paper No. 48306, posted 17 Jul 2013 08:35 UTC CAPITAL’S PONS ASINORUM: THE RATE OF TURNOVER IN KARL MARX’S ANALYSIS OF CAPITALIST VALORISATION * Marco [VERONESE] PASSARELLA and Hervé BARON† Version: 3.2. Last updating: July 14th, 2013 Abstract. This article aims to shed light on the role played by the ‘rate of turnover’ of capital within the Marxian analysis of the working laws of capitalism. Oddly enough, that concept has been neglected by the most part of Karl Marx’s scholars and exegetes, as is demonstrated proved by the small number of scientific works dealing with it. Yet, the rate of turnover plays a crucial role in Marx’s economic thought, since it allows Marx to address the impact of the improvement in finance, transportation and means of communication on the capitalist process of creation (and realization) of surplus-value. As we are going to show, the new manuscripts from the MEGA2 philological edition of Marx’s writings may provide some useful insights. Against this background, the goal of the paper is twofold: first, to bridge the gap in the literature concerning the economic thought of Marx; second, to provide a rigorous (and general) definition of the notion of the ‘rate of turnover’ of capital. This will also allow us: to redefine the concept of the ‘annual rate of profit’; to define a new linked concept – that is, the ‘temporal composition of capital’; and to add a further element in the debate on the counter- tendencies to the law of the tendential fall in the general rate of profit. -
Torrence, Ryan MRP.Pdf (404.7Kb)
Running head: MARXIST CRITIQUE OF CRITICAL HEALTH POLICY TOWARDS AN ORTHODOX MARXIST CRITIQUE OF CRITICAL HEALTH POLICY RYAN TORRENCE Supervisor’s Name: Claudia Chaufan Advisor’s Name: Dennis Pilon Supervisor’s Signature: ___________________________ Date Signed: ___________________________ Advisor’s Signature: ___________________________ Date Signed: ___________________________ A Research Paper submitted to the Graduate Program in Health in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Graduate Program in Health York University Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 August 2020 MARXIST CRITIQUE OF CRITICAL HEALTH POLICY 1 Introduction Critical health policy researchers have, over the past few decades, shown beyond doubt the connection between socioeconomic inequalities and disparities in health and disease outcomes. The evidence is strong enough that mainstream outlets like the World Health Organization now acknowledge the centrality of the social determinants of health. However, researchers and activists have largely been frustrated in their attempts to mobilize this knowledge into practice. By most accounts, social health inequalities are increasing on intranational and global scales, especially following the 2008 economic crisis (Cash-Gibson, et al., 2018). The present Covid-19 pandemic – which has caused unemployment levels to rise to historic heights in most advanced economies – has made understanding the connection between socioeconomics and individual health even more urgent. The concept of health inequality as a field of study emerged alongside the pioneers of the socialist tradition; Frederick Engels’ 1845 The Condition of the Working Class in England is a seminal work in the field, and his lifelong collaborator Karl Marx elaborated at length the deleterious (physical, psychological, and spiritual) effects of capitalism on the lower classes. -
Some Notes on the "Transformation Problem"'
SOME NOTES ON THE "TRANSFORMATION PROBLEM"' THE debate initiated by Bohm-Bawerkon the alleged " great contradic- tion " between Volume I and Volume III of Marx's Capital has by no means been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. In one form or another, and with various degrees of sophistication, a number of aspects of the question continue to be hotly disputed to-day. In particular, literature on the so-called " transformation problem" has multiplied considerably since Paul Sweezy drew the attention of English-speaking readers to it in 1946 in his Theoryof CapitalistDevelopment.2 The present article sets out to do three things. First, it examines Marx's own discussion of the transformation of " values " into " prices of produc- tion," dealing in particular with the meaning which ought properly to be ascribed to his famous statement that " total values equal total prices of production." Second, it reviews two solutions of the " transformation problem " which have recently been put forward, and suggests an alternative method of solution which (it is submitted) illustrates more effectively than the others the essential point which Marx was trying to make. Third, it says something about an important gap in Marx's argument which still remains after the " transformationproblem" has been solved. " Profit ", wrote Marx, " is . that disguise of surplus-value which must be removed before the real nature of surplus-value can be discovered. In the surplus-value, the relation between capital and labour is laid bare." 3 In Volume I of Capital, therefore, Marx presents us with an analysis of surplus value stripped of its disguise. -
Demand, Values and Prices in Marx: Contrasting Simultaneous and Temporal Approaches
Bucknell University Bucknell Digital Commons Faculty Journal Articles Faculty Scholarship Winter 2-27-2018 Demand, Values and Prices in Marx: Contrasting Simultaneous and Temporal Approaches David Kristjanson-Gural Bucknell University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/fac_journ Part of the Economics Commons Recommended Citation Kristjanson-Gural, David. "Demand, Values and Prices in Marx: Contrasting Simultaneous and Temporal Approaches." Rethinking Marxism (2018) : 538-555. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Bucknell Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of Bucknell Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Demand, Values and Prices in Marx: Contrasting Simultaneous and Temporal Approaches David Kristjanson-Gural Economics Department Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA 17837 [email protected] 570.577.3085 Abstract: In this article I briefly contrast two single-system approaches to the integration of demand with a diachronic approach that integrates two meanings Marx develops for the term “socially necessary labor-time. I develop a one-commodity model of simple reproduction and use the model to illustrate how a change in aggregate demand from one period to the next affects the determination of value and exchange-value. I use the model to contrast the simultaneous single-system interpretation of the relationship between -
Production, Circulation and Value 24 5
Product ion, circulation and value: the significance of the 'transformation problem' in Marx's Critique of Political Economy Ira Gerstein Economy and Society,vol.5 n°3,1976 Abstract The Marxian transformation problem is usually thought of as bridging the transition from 'essence' (value) to 'phenomena' or surface (prices). This paper shows that such a conception is incorrect. The transformation is actually between two theoretical levels of the construction of the economic region of the capitalist mode of production. The first of these levels is production in itself (Capital, Volume I), while the second is the complex unity of production and circulation (Capital, Volume 111). This theoretical construction is complicated for two reasons: (l)despite the fact that production is the dominant instance, the social relationships of commodity production appear only in circulation; (2) circulation categories appear implicitly even at the level of production in itself: These considerations establish the transformation problem at the heart of a correct conception of the capitalist mode of production, Thus the sharpest distinctions between neo-Ricardianism, vulgar Marxism and Marxism can be drawn here. In particular, it is shown that a correct appreciation of the transformation problem proves the inadequacy of an instrumentalist conception of the state since, at least in this area, bourgeois class interest arises only at the level of class and is not the sum of individual interests (even over a subgroup of the class). Finally, the transformation problem itself is reviewed in detail. Mathematical results are separated from the essentials of the problem which are shown to lie in the correct choice of normalization, a choice that insures the transformation will actually be from value to modified value and not from value to price. -
Marx's Theory of Money: Modern Appraisals
11 The New Interpretation and the Value of Money Makoto Itoh1 This chapter examines the significance of the so-called new interpretation of Marx’s theory of transforming values into prices of production in the first section, as well as remaining related issues in the second section, focusing on the definitions of the value of money and the value of labour-power. Since an important shortcoming of the new interpretation is the absence of any theory of the exchange-value of money, we shall try to fill this gap in the subsequent sections. After assessing Moseley’s analysis of the value and exchange-value of commodity money in the third section as a corollary, the chapter examines the dynamic mechanism through business cycles to deter- mine the exchange-value of money commodity in the fourth section. The fifth section briefly explores what happens to the exchange-value of money in the regime of contemporary non-commodity money. 1 The significance of the value of money in the new interpretation A ‘new interpretation’ of Marx’s theory of transforming values into prices of production was presented by Foley (1982, 1986) and Duménil (1983). The new interpretation is based on a particular definition of the value of money as the monetary expression of labour time. More concretely, the value of money is conceived as ‘the ratio of the net domestic product at current prices to the living productive labor expended in an economy over a period of time’ (Foley 2000: 21), and thus it represents the average amount of expended labour time obtainable by a unit of money (say, a dollar).