From: Rakesh Bhandari (bhandari@BERKELEY.EDU)
Date: Wed Jan 18 2006 - 11:51:19 EST
In reply to Paul Cockshott: >Rakesh Bhandari wrote: > >>Jerry, my emphasis was not on the oversupply of labor relative to >>capital but the undersupply of capital relative to labor. Perhaps the >>oversupply of labor is unique, but what explains the fixity in the >>supply of >>capital? I would still appreciate any illumination on what Freeman is >>saying >>about this. It seems terribly confused and vague, yet >>the fixity in the supply of capital seems to be a key premise >>in Freeman's argument. > >Oversupply of labour is temporary. It will come to and end >within 25 to 40 years. The growing workforce means an period >of exponential growth of the accumulation fund - a growth that >is faster than the natural population growth. This proved true after Malthus falsely thought the problem of labor oversupply intrinsic to the human condition. But will the accumulation fund grow exponentially this time? I suggested reasons for skepticism (see long Grossman quotes in my original post). >By the end >of the 2030s the economies of China and india will be looking >for external places ot invest their surplus capital - where will >that be? Why will there be surplus capital? Because there will be a shortage of available labour power or because as a result of a shortage of surplus labor in the production process surplus value will become surplus to accumulation demand? Rakesh
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