relations of production

Marx's immensely rich and varied politico-theoretical preoccupations were initially influenced by his contact with Hegelian philosophy. Hegel proposed a form of idealism in which the progress of freedom is the guiding theme of human history. Freedom progresses by the development of ideas into their contraries. That is, material circumstances in the world are dictated by series of conflicts and subsequent compromises between ideas. Hegel believed that for every thesis in the history of humanity there arises a antithesis to counter it. In the ...

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Marxism, Marxism - The Hegelian roots of Marxism, Marxism - The political-economy roots of Marxism, Marxism - The liberal challenge, Marxism - Class analysis, Marxism - Marxist revolutions and governments, Marxism - Marx's views on the structure of communist society, Marxism - The October Revolution, Marxism - Criticisms, Marxism - Other articles about Marxism

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Marx explains the origin of surplus labour in the following terms: "It is only after men have raised themselves above the rank of animals, when therefore their labour has been to some extent socialised, that a state of things arises in which the surplus-labour of the one becomes a condition of existence for the other. At the dawn of civilisation the productiveness acquired by labour is small, but so too are the wants which develop with and by the means of satisfying them. Further, at that early period, the portion of society tha ...

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Surplus labour, Surplus labour - Origin of surplus labour, Surplus labour - Surplus labour and exploitation, Surplus labour - Surplus labour in capitalist society, Surplus labour - Surplus labour and historical materialism, Surplus labour - Surplus labour and unequal exchange, Surplus labour - Modern criticism of Marx's concept of surplus labour

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The literature summarised above relates to the logical (mathematical) aspects of the transformation problem, as discussed by the numerical examples of Chapter 9 of Capital's Volume III. All the above formal conclusions have ceased to be controversial since more than a generation ago. To many, their upshot appears to be that – since under competitive capitalism prices are generally unrelated to the direct and indirect labour contents of individual commodities – Marx's "value" of Capital's Volume I, and its attendant notions of surplus value, surplus labour and exploitation, a ...

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Transformation problem, Transformation problem - Overview, Transformation problem - British classical labour theory of value, Transformation problem - Simplest case: labour costs only, Transformation problem - Capital costs, Transformation problem - Marx’s labour theory of value, Transformation problem - Labour as the value-creating substance, Transformation problem - Surplus value and exploitation, Transformation problem - Variable and constant capital, Transformation problem - Value formulas, Transformation problem - Transformation of values into prices, Transformation problem - Marx's reasoning, Transformation problem - Marx's error and its correction, Transformation problem - The non-transformation problem, Transformation problem - Formal conclusions, Transformation problem - Samuelson's eraser algorithm, Transformation problem - Special cases, Transformation problem - Implications and interpretations, Transformation problem - Mathematical vs historical transformation, Transformation problem - Other Marxist views, Transformation problem - Mainstream views, Transformation problem - Simplified Version of Transformation Problems

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Althusser's earlier works include the influential volume Reading Capital, which collects the work of Althusser and his students on an intensive philosophical re-reading of Marx's Capital. The book reflects on the philosophical status of Marxist theory as "critique of political economy," and on its object. The current English edition of this work includes only the essays of Althusser and Étienne Balibar, while the original French edition contains additional contributions from Jacques Ranciere and Pierre Macherey, among others. ...

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Louis Althusser, Louis Althusser - Biographical information, Louis Althusser - Early Life, Louis Althusser - Health, Louis Althusser - Post-War, Louis Althusser - 1980s, Louis Althusser - Thought, Louis Althusser - The 'Epistemological Break', Louis Althusser - Practices, Louis Althusser - Contradiction and Overdetermination, Louis Althusser - Ideological State Apparatuses, Louis Althusser - Influence

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Commodity - Definition. In the world of business, a commodity is an undifferentiated product whose market value arises from the owner's right to sell rather than the right to use. Example: commodities from the financial world include oil (sold by the barrel), electricity, wheat, bulk chemicals such as sulfuric acid, base and other metals, and even pork-bellies and orange juice. More modern commodities include bandwidth, RAM chips and (experimentally) computer processor cycles, and nega ...

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Commodity, Commodity - Business usage, Commodity - Definition, Commodity - Examples, Commodity - Branding, Commodity - Marxian usage, Commodity - General, Commodity - Characteristics of commodity, Commodity - Illustration, Commodity - Historical origins of commodity trade, Commodity - Forms of commodity trade, Commodity - Cost structure of commodities, Commodity - References

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A lot of criticism of Marx's concept originates from the ambiguities referred to earlier. Consequently, many of the criticisms can be dispelled simply by a more exact definition of the cost, product and revenue aggregates used, and of the timing of transactions. In doing so, it must be admitted though that Marx's draft manuscript often shows sloppy use of terminology and concepts, and that the Marx's purpose was often not fully explicit. At a high level of abstraction, he moves very easily and cavalierly from values to prices and back again, and restricts his discussion of "capital invested" to ...

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Prices of production, Prices of production - Basic definition, Prices of production - Two interpretations of production prices, Prices of production - Three types of production prices, Prices of production - Production prices and the transformation problem, Prices of production - Value and price, Prices of production - Facts and logic

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Marx argues that as economic exchange develops and markets expand, the law of value is modified in its operation. Thus, capitalism is a type of economy in which both inputs and outputs of production have become marketed goods and services (or commodities). In such an economy, Marx argues, what regulates the economic exchange of labour-products is their prices of production, i.e. cost-price + average profit. In pre-capitalist societies, where inputs often were ...

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Law of value, Law of value - Economic value as such, Law of value - Is it an equilibrium theory?, Law of value - Factors counteracting the law of value, Law of value - Law of value in capitalism, Law of value - Smith's hidden hand, Law of value - Modification of the law of value in the world market, Law of value - A comment by Marx on the law of value, Law of value - A comment by Frederick Engels on the law of value, Law of value - The law of value in non-capitalist societies, Law of value - Post-modern thinking about the topic, Law of value - Criticism, Law of value - A Californian perspective: Jim Devine on the LoV, Law of value - Steve Keen and the machine

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Economic value exists necessarily, according to Marx, because human beings as social and moral beings must co-operatively produce their means of life to survive, and in so doing they are subject to relations of production. This involves three kinds of relationships which are objectively and empirically verifiable, and often formalised in law: between people (social relations). between people and their products (technical relations). between products themselves (with or without trading prices; these a ...

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Law of value, Law of value - Economic value as such, Law of value - Is it an equilibrium theory?, Law of value - Factors counteracting the law of value, Law of value - Law of value in capitalism, Law of value - Smith's hidden hand, Law of value - Modification of the law of value in the world market, Law of value - A comment by Marx on the law of value, Law of value - A comment by Frederick Engels on the law of value, Law of value - The law of value in non-capitalist societies, Law of value - Post-modern thinking about the topic, Law of value - Criticism, Law of value - A Californian perspective: Jim Devine on the LoV, Law of value - Steve Keen and the machine

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Neo-classical economics is based on the assumption that, left to themselves, markets will balance supply and demand spontaneously. If equilibrium does not exist, it will exist in the future, provided obstacles to market functioning are cleared away. In his Bundesbank speech on January 13, 2004, US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, stated: "Globalization has altered the economic frameworks of both developed and developing nations in ways that are difficult to fully comprehend. Nonetheless, the largely unregu ...

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Law of value, Law of value - Economic value as such, Law of value - Is it an equilibrium theory?, Law of value - Factors counteracting the law of value, Law of value - Law of value in capitalism, Law of value - Smith's hidden hand, Law of value - Modification of the law of value in the world market, Law of value - A comment by Marx on the law of value, Law of value - A comment by Frederick Engels on the law of value, Law of value - The law of value in non-capitalist societies, Law of value - Post-modern thinking about the topic, Law of value - Criticism, Law of value - A Californian perspective: Jim Devine on the LoV, Law of value - Steve Keen and the machine

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The classical political economists, such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo raised the economic question of which kinds of labour contributed to increasing society's wealth, as against activities earning income which just represented a drain on wealth, a cost, or a form of parasitism. They regarded human labour as the mainspring of wealth, and therefore they regarded the economical use of labour as highly important. Within an enterprise, for example, there were many tasks which had to be performed, such as cleaning, record and bookkeeping ...

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Productive and unproductive labour, Productive and unproductive labour - Classical political economy, Productive and unproductive labour - A quote from Adam Smith, Productive and unproductive labour - Neoclassical economics, Productive and unproductive labour - National accounts, Productive and unproductive labour - Marx's critique, Productive and unproductive labour - Productive labour as misfortune?, Productive and unproductive labour - Ecological critique, Productive and unproductive labour - Material product accounts in Soviet-type societies, Productive and unproductive labour - New mysteries of wealth creation and the modern mercantilism

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In national accounts and social accounting theory the concepts of productive and unproductive labour do survive to some extent. The first reason is that if we want to estimate and account for the value of the net new output created by a country in a year, we must be able to distinguish between sources of new value added and conserved or transferred value. In other words, we need a value-theoretic principleSee also:

Productive and unproductive labour, Productive and unproductive labour - Classical political economy, Productive and unproductive labour - A quote from Adam Smith, Productive and unproductive labour - Neoclassical economics, Productive and unproductive labour - National accounts, Productive and unproductive labour - Marx's critique, Productive and unproductive labour - Productive labour as misfortune?, Productive and unproductive labour - Ecological critique, Productive and unproductive labour - Material product accounts in Soviet-type societies, Productive and unproductive labour - New mysteries of wealth creation and the modern mercantilism

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In neoclassical economics, the distinction between productive and unproductive labour was however rejected as being largely arbitrary and irrelevant. All the factors of production (land, labour and capital) create wealth and add value; they are all "productive". If the value of a good is just what somebody is prepared to pay for it (or its marginal utility), then regarding some activities as value-creating and others not is a purely subjective matter; any activity which produces anything, or generates an income, could be considered production and produ ...

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Productive and unproductive labour, Productive and unproductive labour - Classical political economy, Productive and unproductive labour - A quote from Adam Smith, Productive and unproductive labour - Neoclassical economics, Productive and unproductive labour - National accounts, Productive and unproductive labour - Marx's critique, Productive and unproductive labour - Productive labour as misfortune?, Productive and unproductive labour - Ecological critique, Productive and unproductive labour - Material product accounts in Soviet-type societies, Productive and unproductive labour - New mysteries of wealth creation and the modern mercantilism

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In Book 2, Chapter 3 of The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith wrote: "There is one sort of labour which adds to the value of the subject upon which it is bestowed; there is another which has no such effect. The former, as it produces a value, may be called productive; the latter, unproductive labour. Thus the labour of a manufacturer adds, generally, to the value of the materials which he works upon, that of his own maintenance, and of his master's profit. The labour of a menial servant, on the contrary, adds to the value of nothin ...

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Productive and unproductive labour, Productive and unproductive labour - Classical political economy, Productive and unproductive labour - A quote from Adam Smith, Productive and unproductive labour - Neoclassical economics, Productive and unproductive labour - National accounts, Productive and unproductive labour - Marx's critique, Productive and unproductive labour - Productive labour as misfortune?, Productive and unproductive labour - Ecological critique, Productive and unproductive labour - Material product accounts in Soviet-type societies, Productive and unproductive labour - New mysteries of wealth creation and the modern mercantilism

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Some scholars, such as the Japanese Marxian scholar Kozo Uno, have criticised Marx's presentation of the labour theory of value on the ground that Marx adduces arguments in the wrong order. Marx tries to prove logically that human labor-time is the "common substance" of commodities, as the basis of economic exchange. But, critics point out, it could just as well be argued that what commodities have in common is e.g. that they have a price (real or notional), and that ...

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Exchange value, Exchange value - Exchange value and price according to Marx, Exchange value - Exchange value and commodification, Exchange value - Marx's quote on commodities and their exchange, Exchange value - Exchange value and the transformation of values into prices, Exchange value - Criticism of Marx's interpretation of commodity exchange, Exchange value - Other theories of exchange value

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Marx believed that the operation of the law of value was not only modified by the capitalist mode of production, but also in the world market (world trade, as contrasted with the home market or national economy). The main reason for this was the existence of different levels of the intensity and productivity of labour in different countries, creating for example a very different cost structure in different countries for all kinds of products. Products that took 1 hour of labour to make in country A might take 10 hours to make in count ...

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Law of value, Law of value - Economic value as such, Law of value - Is it an equilibrium theory?, Law of value - Factors counteracting the law of value, Law of value - Law of value in capitalism, Law of value - Smith's hidden hand, Law of value - Modification of the law of value in the world market, Law of value - A comment by Marx on the law of value, Law of value - A comment by Frederick Engels on the law of value, Law of value - The law of value in non-capitalist societies, Law of value - Post-modern thinking about the topic, Law of value - Criticism, Law of value - A Californian perspective: Jim Devine on the LoV, Law of value - Steve Keen and the machine

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The main factors counteracting the operation of the law of value, as a law of economic exchange, are: structural unequal exchange - alternative or competing sources of supply or demand are absent or blocked, distorting trading ratios in favour of those in a stronger market (or bargaining) position. In that case, the true value or cost of products may deviate greatly from actual selling prices. other restrictions on trade and what people may do with resources (legal, technical, protectionismetc.). ...

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Law of value, Law of value - Economic value as such, Law of value - Is it an equilibrium theory?, Law of value - Factors counteracting the law of value, Law of value - Law of value in capitalism, Law of value - Smith's hidden hand, Law of value - Modification of the law of value in the world market, Law of value - A comment by Marx on the law of value, Law of value - A comment by Frederick Engels on the law of value, Law of value - The law of value in non-capitalist societies, Law of value - Post-modern thinking about the topic, Law of value - Criticism, Law of value - A Californian perspective: Jim Devine on the LoV, Law of value - Steve Keen and the machine

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It has become increasingly clear to intellligent economists that there is not one principle that can explain resource allocation in any real society, nor that economies allocate resources only according to one principle. It is virtually meaningless to elevate one principle, such as markets or planning, to be the only one explaining resource allocation. So-called "free" markets cannot exist without substantial social and economic regulation, enforced by the political state, and all sorts of non-market activity. Economic "planning" cannot occur ...

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Law of value, Law of value - Economic value as such, Law of value - Is it an equilibrium theory?, Law of value - Factors counteracting the law of value, Law of value - Law of value in capitalism, Law of value - Smith's hidden hand, Law of value - Modification of the law of value in the world market, Law of value - A comment by Marx on the law of value, Law of value - A comment by Frederick Engels on the law of value, Law of value - The law of value in non-capitalist societies, Law of value - Post-modern thinking about the topic, Law of value - Criticism, Law of value - A Californian perspective: Jim Devine on the LoV, Law of value - Steve Keen and the machine

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Clearly, in its historicism and in its political interpretations, New Historicism owes something to Marxism. But whereas Marxism (at least in its cruder forms) tends to see literature as part of a 'superstructure' in which the economic 'base' (i.e. material relations of production) manifests itself, New Historicist thinkers tend to take a more nuanced view of power, seeing it not exclusively as class-related but extending throughout society. This view derives primarily from Foucault. In its tendency to see society as consisting of texts rela ...

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New Historicism, New Historicism - The study, New Historicism - Pre-history, New Historicism - Foucauldian basis

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In an important new book, Debunking Economics, Steve Keen tries to pull the rug from under Marx's theory with a stunningly simple argument: machines can add more product-value over their operational lifetime than the total value of depreciation charged during those asset lives. Depreciation, he implies, was really the weak point in Marx's social accounting system all along, and Keen's case will hold irrespective of whatever definiti ...

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Law of value, Law of value - Economic value as such, Law of value - Is it an equilibrium theory?, Law of value - Factors counteracting the law of value, Law of value - Law of value in capitalism, Law of value - Smith's hidden hand, Law of value - Modification of the law of value in the world market, Law of value - A comment by Marx on the law of value, Law of value - A comment by Frederick Engels on the law of value, Law of value - The law of value in non-capitalist societies, Law of value - Post-modern thinking about the topic, Law of value - Criticism, Law of value - A Californian perspective: Jim Devine on the LoV, Law of value - Steve Keen and the machine

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In his letter to Kugelmann of July 11, 1868, Karl Marx commented gruffly: "As for the Centralblatt, the man is making the greatest concession possible by admitting that, if value means anything at all, then my conclusions must be conceded. The unfortunate fellow does not see that, even if there were no chapter on ‘value’ at all in my book, the analysis I give of the real relations would contain the proof and demonstration of the real value relation. The chatter about the need to prove the concept of value arises only from c ...

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Law of value, Law of value - Economic value as such, Law of value - Is it an equilibrium theory?, Law of value - Factors counteracting the law of value, Law of value - Law of value in capitalism, Law of value - Smith's hidden hand, Law of value - Modification of the law of value in the world market, Law of value - A comment by Marx on the law of value, Law of value - A comment by Frederick Engels on the law of value, Law of value - The law of value in non-capitalist societies, Law of value - Post-modern thinking about the topic, Law of value - Criticism, Law of value - A Californian perspective: Jim Devine on the LoV, Law of value - Steve Keen and the machine

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For most political economists, this kind of price corresponds roughly to Adam Smith's concept of "natural prices" and the modern neoclassical concept of long-term competitive equilibrium prices under constant returns to scale. However, the function of prices of production within Marxian theory is different from that of these other concepts in their own theories. Simply put, for a single commodity, Marx's "price of production" (P) is a price which applies to sales of new output produced, and it equals cost price (< ...

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Prices of production, Prices of production - Basic definition, Prices of production - Two interpretations of production prices, Prices of production - Three types of production prices, Prices of production - Production prices and the transformation problem, Prices of production - Value and price, Prices of production - Facts and logic

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Unfortunately, Marx never prepared the manuscript of the third volume of Das Kapital for publication. Therefore his draft text, which sketches complicated issues in a "shorthand" way, is sometimes ambiguous and incomplete. Some writers argue that Marx's production price is similar, or performs the same theoretical function, as the "natural prices" of classical political economy found e.g. in the writings of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. In that case, Marx's production price would be essentially a "centre of gravity" around whic ...

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Prices of production, Prices of production - Basic definition, Prices of production - Two interpretations of production prices, Prices of production - Three types of production prices, Prices of production - Production prices and the transformation problem, Prices of production - Value and price, Prices of production - Facts and logic

Read more here: » Prices of production: Encyclopedia II - Prices of production - Two interpretations of production prices