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Brief, very brief elaboration.
R.L. thought there was a law of the falling relative wage (cfr.
Introduction to political economy; see Rosdolsky for some reference). This,
of course, is the other side of relative surplus value extraction, but
follows also from a very original reading of the theory of the wage. And of
course, this may well be an implicit starting point for an
'underconsumptionist' view. However, this law means also that, in terms of
the schemes of reproduction, there is a change in the 'equilibrium ratios',
and then disproportionality crisis are the more and more easier the more
and more the rate of surplus value goes up. Especially, since the higher
investment needed to close the 'demand gap' requires a more or less distant
point of reference in consumption in a market society (this, if I remember
well, is one of Dobb's arguments in favor of planning). This way,
disproportionality gives way to generalized overproduction and realization
crisis, if and when excess supply affects important sectors. BTW, some of
this sort is present in germ in the Grundrisse. Unfortunately, RL did not
take this route, which could however be based in a reading of her lectures,
and chose a different direction to her argument, the one we find in the
Accumulation of capital.
riccardo
P.S.: I have a paper in Italian on this.
At 13:32 +0100 30-04-2000, Paul Zarembka wrote:
>On Sat, 29 Apr 2000, riccardo bellofiore wrote:
>
>> BTW; I am particularly surprised by the fact that no interest have been
>> ever given in Anglo-Saxon Marxist economics to her Introduction to
>> Political Economy (I think that only the first chapter has been
>> translated). And I would argue that Rosa's problem on the issue of
>> realization of commodities must be related to her view about law of the
>> falling 'relative' wage.
>
>Ricardo, could you elaborate on the last sentence on wages?
>
>Paul Z.
Riccardo Bellofiore
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