Pardon me butting in with an unwanted aside here, but w.r.t. Andrew's closing comment that: "I think the importance of this case here is that it makes clear that depreciation and the transfer of value are two different things." This is precisely the case I make: the former represents the exchange-value of the machine, the latter is its use-value. The standard labor theory of value/Marxian approach is to equate these two magnitudes--so that exactly the same quantitative entry is made for the value of the input (c) and the value it transfers (also c). When Marx put this proposition to himself in terms of exchange-value and use-value, however, he made the following statement: "It also has to be postulated (which was not done above) that *the use-value of the machine significantly (sic) greater than its value*; i.e. that its devaluation in the service of production is not proportional to its increasing effect on production." (The Grundrisse, p. 383. Emphasis added.) This would mean, of course, that the value transferred by the machine could exceed the value of the machine itself, which is the same case as for labor. Cheers, Steve At 11:35 15/10/00 -0400, you wrote: >In reply to 4091. > >John wrote: "what you now seem to be saying is that ... the value lost >by the machine due to aging, when it is used as well as when it is not >used, is not transferred to the output." > >No, my point was that, in Marx's theory, what allows the value of a means >of production to be preserved (by being transferred) is that it is used >in production. If the same kind of item is *not* used in production, but >depreciates through aging (a machine is idled in a slump, and rusts out), >its value is lost along with its use-value. > >Marx discusses this in Capital I, Ch. 8. And it is obvious in any case. >If a machine doesn't produce any output, it can't transfer value to that >output. > >I think the importance of this case here is that it makes clear that >depreciation and the transfer of value are two different things. > >Ciao, > >Andrew > > > > > > Dr. Steve Keen Senior Lecturer Economics & Finance University of Western Sydney Macarthur Building 11 Room 30, Goldsmith Avenue, Campbelltown PO Box 555 Campbelltown NSW 2560 Australia s.keen@uws.edu.au 61 2 4620-3016 Fax 61 2 4626-6683 Home 02 9558-8018 Mobile 0409 716 088 Home Page: http://bus.macarthur.uws.edu.au/steve-keen/
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