[OPE-L:3067] assumptions, assumptions, assumptions

Gerald Lev (glevy@pratt.edu)
Fri, 20 Sep 1996 17:34:53 -0700 (PDT)

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Andrew wrote in [OPE-L:3063]:

> 2. workers' consumption is zero

> One can, for instance, let the extraction of living labor increase or
> decrease over time, and/or introduce positive wages, [...]

> But his [Duncan's] discussion of the profit rate does assume
> circulating constant capital, which,
> along with depreciation of fixed capital, is always present in capitalism.

Andrew: you seem to be suggesting that within a discussion of profit rate
determination, constant circulating and constant fixed capital need to
both be positive since they are "always present in capitalism." Yet, workers'
consumption = 0 is *never* present in capitalism. Why can't you just
forget once and for all that v = 0 assumption? Yes, I know I'm beginning
to sound like a broken record (see the beginnings of the "assumptions,
assumptions, assumptions" thread a few months back). Let's instead develop
models where constant circulating capital > 0, constant fixed capital
> 0, and variable capital > 0.

In OPE-L Solidarity,

Jerry