From: ajit sinha (sinha_a99@YAHOO.COM)
Date: Fri Sep 17 2004 - 02:33:15 EDT
--- Paul Cockshott <wpc@DCS.GLA.AC.UK> wrote: > Ajit > ___________________ > > Ian, I think even today in capitalist economies even > income tax departments find it very hard to assess > the > correct incomes of small businesses. How do you > expect > individual workers to get this information so > easily? > As a matter of fact, I would expect to find strong > family traditions in various lines of production in > a > scp society. And one of the major reasons for this > would be absence of wages as public data. I think I > have taken care of your first point in my response > to > Paul C. Cheers, ajit sinha > [snip] > > > ------------ > Paul C > > I think your point about family tradition is > significant, > but the same thing exists in capitalist countries as > well > with sons following their fathers to the mines or > shipyards. > It is just that the time periods are compressed. > Industries > grow and shrink over the course of a century or so. > In > pre-capitalist society the rate of technical change > was > somewhat slower, and the family traditions could > last longer. > But alongside that is another consequence. Because > technical > change is slower, prices have a longer time to > equilibrate, so > that less mobility is required to achieve it. The > basic > technologies of carpentry and wine production for > example, > remained the same for a couple of millennia in the > Mediterranean > prior to the development of capitalist industry. > That gives > plenty of time for even marginal movements of labour > between > vine growing and carpentry to establish customary > prices > for the products of the two trades that were > proportionate > to their labour inputs. _________________ But Paul, my point was that the income differentials may become customary, so the customary prices may not reflect labor-values. In my opinion, before the advent of classical economics, and in this context Ricardo rather than Smith, the fair price was calculated by,more or less, adding up established customary returns. Cheers, ajit sinha __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
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