From: Paul Cockshott (clyder@GN.APC.ORG)
Date: Thu Jan 15 2004 - 18:23:00 EST
Could the high rate of surplus value in Mexico be caused by the following mechanism. 1. Wage rates are determined by the rate of productivity in the non-internationally traded sector, and held low due to the continued existence of a substantial agricultural sector. 2. The factories of multinationals trading internationally can take advantage of those low wage rates and sell their product at a dollar price only slightly below the dollar price of similar factories in the USA. 3. This gives these factories an above average rate of surplus value. Higher both than the Mexican or US average. 4. Because of their higher value productivity per hour when compared to the non-internationally traded sector, the firms in the internationally traded sector exercise a weight in the national accounts that is disproportionate to the number of workers employed. 5. Because of 3 and 4 above the net effect is to raise the average social rate of surplus value for the Mexican economy relative to the US economy despite the much lower productivity of the Mexican economy.
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