In reply to my question: > Before trying to measure the socially necessary labor time in individual products and the jobs that make them, I'd ask why one would attempt to use the theory of value this way. < Paul Cockshott replied: > I would suggest that we need to do it in a socialist economy if we are to have any rational basis for comparing the efficiency of different production techniques. < Yes, somebody in a capitalist or a socialist economy needs to measure the labor time needed to produce things, but this does not require the theory of value. Incidentally, I found Paul Cockshott and Allin Cottrell's writings on socialist planning helpful. They drove home a refutation of the idea that socialist planning requires too much detailed calculation. Since we are all feeling our way through one objective history, we build on each other's ideas, and my suggested outline of a labor republic reflects their work. In reply to the same question above, Jerry Levy wrote: > That is similar to asking why we would want to know what the rate of surplus value, the organic composition of capital, the rate of profit, etc. are in different nations. < My question was concerned with the problems of using the theory of value to measure something (SNLT) in individual products. I was merely cautioning against pursuit of a labor theory of prices. The theory of value is crucial for discovering the historical limit of capitalism and similar overall facts about its workings and tendencies. I merely suggest that we raise our sights and look this way rather than toward calculating dimensions of individual products and taking averages of them. If the discussion in this thread is concentrating on international issues, my essay on globalization might be of interest. It is available at http://www.LaborRepublic.org/Essay44.htm Regards, Charles Andrews Web site for my book on this subject is at http://www.LaborRepublic.org
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