From: Ian Wright (iwright@GMAIL.COM)
Date: Thu Sep 22 2005 - 22:54:46 EDT
> > Would, say, race horses count as an example of self-reproducing > non-basics? And is the problem that (say) it might be the case that > the reproduction rate of race horses implies a rate of profit in > excess of what can be achieved in the basic sector, so that one > can't have a uniform rate of profit without shenanigans? Yes. But this has nothing to do with luxury goods consumed only by the rich. Self-reproducing non-basics could just as well be commodities that are consumed only by workers. Nor, of course, does it imply the genetic meaning of "self-reproducing". Here's a quote from PCMC: "Consider a commodity which enters to an unusually large extent into the production of itself. It may be imagined to be come crop such as a species of beans or of corn the wastage on which is so great that for every 100 units sown no more than 110 are reaped. It is clear that this would not admit of a rate of profits higher than, or indeed, since other means of production must be used as well, as high as, 10%. "If the product in question is a basic one there is no problem; it simply means that the Maximum rate of profits of the system will have to be less than 10%. If however it is a non-basic product, complications arise ..." etc. -Ian.
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