Re: (OPE-L) Re: Dynamic value and natural price

From: Philip Dunn (pscumnud@DIRCON.CO.UK)
Date: Tue Nov 04 2003 - 05:56:12 EST


Quoting gerald_a_levy <gerald_a_levy@MSN.COM>:

> Phil wrote:
>
> > To measure the natural price markup we use wage data.  We
> > use real wages -- the average hourly wage is equal to 1. Then we
> > recalculate each firm's wage bill using not the actual wage paid to
> > each worker, but the economy-wide average wage paid for each type of
> > skill.  Since these economy-wide averages will be statistically
> > independent, the recalculated real wage bill will be immunized
> > against market noise.  The greater the number of different skills
> > used by the firm the better this works. <snip>
> > It does need a breakdown into different skill groups, as finely as
> > possible.  Also it would be desirable to break down the firm's
> > wage bill into parts corresponding to joint products and then break
> > those down into skill groups. This would pitch things
> > at the level of the valorization process for each joint product.
>
> Wouldn't  the wage bill have to be divided into wages for two distinct
> groups --  wages for productive workers and wages for unproductive
> workers?  If one is trying to determine the 'R-potential for value-creating
> labor activity', isn't that a necessary  step -- even if it is an additional
> complication?
>

Hi Jerry

Yes. it is certainly necessary to make the distinction between productive and
unproductive labour.  But I look at all private sector labour as productive.
Whereever there is profit there is productive labour.  So checkout workers in
the supermarket are productive, as are banking workers, lawyers, passenger
transport workers, etc.  Also marketing and advertising expenses are genuine
productive costs and not to be paid for out of profit.  I would regard the
whole waged workforce of a firm as productive too. Clearly, payment by stock
options would be an exception, I think.

A lot of confusion over productive labour seems to be due to thinking that there
is a need for a physical use-value to be produced.  There does not seem to be
one in banking, say.  But I would see the ordinary busines of banking as the
joint production of two services: providing willing lenders for borrowers and
reliable borrowers for lenders.

Phil


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