From: Claus Magno (cmgermer@UFPR.BR)
Date: Wed Jan 07 2004 - 06:35:34 EST
Just an addition to this: one of the reasons for Marx's believe of a lower than average organic composition of capital in agriculture and mining is that a significant part of the constant capital - the raw material - does not have a cost because it is not produced. It seems to me that this is more the case in mining than in agriculture, where there is a gradual need for production of raw materials that in the beginning are supplied by nature itself, like fertilization, levelled and disease free land and so on. The same isn't obviously the case in mining. On the other hand, theoretically an absolute rent has to exist as long as there is private property of land and mines. THus, even the least productive land and mines have to be bought or rented. Since rent cannot be deduced from the profit and the cost of land does not enter into the value of the product, they must be based on a specific form of rent, the absolute rent or pure monopoly rent. If the organic composition of capital in agriculture or mining is higher than average, then there is a pure monopoly rent, which Marx admits. Claus. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Zarembka" <zarembka@BUFFALO.EDU> To: <OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 2:24 AM Subject: Re: unanswered questions about rent > --On Tuesday, January 06, 2004 3:46 PM -0300 "michael a. lebowitz" > <mlebowit@SFU.CA> wrote: > > > I understand Cyrus' dismissal of the existence of absolute rent in oil on > > the grounds that Marx's discussion of this talked about an industry with > > a low value composition of capital (which is counter-intuitive for oil), > > but wasn't the essence of the argument barriers to entry? > > Absolute ground rent depends upon BOTH low value composition of capital AND > barrier to entry. Given that the oil industry cannot have a low value > composition, the discussion must focus on only differential ground rent. > > Paul > > *********************************************************************** > RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, Paul Zarembka, editor, Elsevier Science > ******************** http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PZarembka >
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