University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 1983 THE THEORETICAL GENESIS OF CAPITAL USING A COMMODITY THEORY OF VALUE SPENCER JAY PACK University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation PACK, SPENCER JAY, "THE THEORETICAL GENESIS OF CAPITAL USING A COMMODITY THEORY OF VALUE" (1983). Doctoral Dissertations. 1391. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1391 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This reproduction was made from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. 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Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 8322735 Pack,Spencer Jay THE THEORETICAL GENESIS OF CAPITAL USING A COMMODITY THEORY OF VALUE University o f New Hampshire Ph.D. 1983 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Copyright 1983 by Pack, Spencer Jay All Rights Reserved THE THEORETICAL GENESIS OF CAPITAL USING A COMMODITY THEORY OF VALUE BY Spencer Jay Pack M.A. University of Toronto, 1978 B.A. Franconia College, 1976 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ECONOMICS May, 1983 All Rights Reserved c 1983 Spencer Jay Pack This dissertation has been examined and approved. ( -P- 1 I Dissertation director, Robert F. Barlow Professor of Economics and Administration f\fjkub Pradeepadeep BendyopodhyafeiBtndyopodhya^ 'Associate QPr/professor of Sociology Trent University •>-<2 - / R. Valentine Dusek, Associate Professor of Philosophy Marilyn B./Fewer, Assistant Professor of Economics Kenneth J. Rothwell, Professor of Economics /iiAsvy-eJ.o-j (j Evangelos 0. Simos, Assistant Professor of Economics 01+y /?r? Date ' Acknow1edgements The ideas behind this dissertation have had a relatively long gestation period. I first became interested in this topic while studying at the University of Toronto in 1977, at the urging of Pradeep Bandyopadhyay. This was before I had had any formal training in either economics or in mathematics. I would like to thank Paul Sweezy, Ian Steedman and David Hawkins for lending inspiration and support to me at crucial conjunctures during the working out of some of the ideas contained in this dissertation. I would also like to thank Midge Tennant, as well as my colleagues at Connecticut College, Michael Federow, Gautam Mukerjee, and Stephen Rosow, who have read parts of various drafts of the dissertation. The members of my dis­ sertation committee, Pradeep Bandyopadhyay, Robert Barlow, Valentine Dusek, Marilyn Power, Kenneth Rothwell and Evangelos Simos have been of great help to me, particularly in forcing me to better articulate, clarify, and express my ideas. The members of this committee approach the particular issues discussed in the dissertation, as well as economics in general, from various backgrounds, including orthodox Marxist, neo-Ricardian, Keynesian, and Monetarist perspectives. The composition of the committee has helped me to reach (I hope) as wide an audience as possible. It has also shown that economists and people interested in economic theory, although coming from various diverse backgrounds and interests, can get together and mutually discuss controversial issues in economic theory in a spirit of free scientific inquiry. I would like to thank The Whittemore School of Business and IV Economics of the University of New Hampshire for providing an environ­ ment where this is indeed possible. Finally, I would like to extend my special thanks to Dr. Robert F. Barlow, the chairperson of my committee. Without his help, encouragement, and faith in me, this dissertation could probably never have been started, let alone completed. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. INTRODUCTION............................ 1 CHAPTER 1 Theoretical Background................ 16 CHAPTER 2 Sraffa and the Commodity Theory of Value........................ 34 CHAPTER 3 Theoretical Implications from the Commodity Theory of Value........ 47 CHAPTER 4 A Model of a Fully Automated Society.................................. 64 CHAPTER 5 Theoretical and Historical Assumptions Concerning the Capitalist Mode of Production........ 75 CHAPTER 6 Commodities............................. 87 CHAPTER 7 The Theoretical Genesis of Money.................................... 99 CHAPTER 8 Commodity Fetishism.................... 117 CHAPTER 9 The Functions of Money in the Simple Circulation of Commodities.... 134 CHAPTER 10 The Transformation of Money into Capital.................................. 151 CHAPTER 11 CONCLUSION.............................. 170 APPENDIX A Capital as Self-Expanding Value.................................... 176 APPENDIX B Dmitriev's Calculation of the Sum of Labor Expended in the Production of a Given Product........ 179 APPENDIX C Dmitriev's Model of a Fully Automated Society...................... 181 APPENDIX D Aristotle and Marx on the Origins of Capital..................... 190 APPENDIX E Some Unresolved Questions Raised by the Commodity Theory of Value........................ 199 Selected Bibliography................. 212 VI ABSTRACT THE THEORETICAL GENESIS OF CAPITAL USING A COMMODITY THEORY OF VALUE by SPENCER JAY PACK University of New Hampshire, May 1983 The purpose of this dissertation is to show that the basic frame­ work of Marx's analysis of capitalism is sufficiently independent of the labor theory of value to survive the replacement of the labor theory of value with a Sraffian-based commodity theory of value. It addresses a problem posed by such economists as Joan Robinson and Ian Steedman. They criticize the labor theory of value from a Sraffian perspective. They argue that economists should use a basically Marxian framework when analyzing capitalism, but not use the labor theory of value. The ques­ tion then arises as to what remains of Marx's work when the labor theory of value is not used. This dissertation makes a major contribution towards the solution of that problem. Specifically, this dissertation makes the following contributions to the discipline of economics. 1. It clearly and consciously elaborates on the fact that Sraffa is using a theory of value which is distinct from both the Marxist theory of value and the neoclassical theory of value. 2. It shows that Sraffa is using what may be termed a commodity theory of value. This commodity theory of value may in some ways be seen VII to be a generalization of Marx's labor theory of value. In Marx's theoretical system only one commodity, labor power, can create value and surplus value. Within Sraffa's system, any commodity can create value and surplus value, when that commodity is used to make more commodities. 3. It posits that the commodity theory of value is so close to the labor theory of value that it may be used in place of the labor theory of value in Marx's analysis of capitalism". 4. It actually reworks Marx's account of the theoretical genesis of capital on the basis of a commodity theory of value rather than the labor theory of value. The dissertation concludes that one may indeed rework Marx's ac­ count of the theoretical genesis of capital based upon a commodity theory of value rather than upon the labor theory of value. VIII INTRODUCTION The purpose of this dissertation is to show that the basic archi­ tectonics of Karl Marx's analysis of capitalism are sufficiently inde­ pendent of Marx's labor theory of value to coherently survive the re­ placement of the labor theory of value by a commodity theory of value as presented by Piero Sraffa. To be more precise, the dissertation tests the following hypothesis: Marx's analysis of the theoretical genesis of capital does not necessarily depend upon the labor theory of value. The theoretical genesis of capital as demonstrated by Marx can be based upon a Sraffian commodity theory of value. Thus, even if the labor theory of value is replaced with a commodity theory of value, this essential aspect of Marx's theory of capital will remain intact.