From: Paul Cockshott (wpc@DCS.GLA.AC.UK)
Date: Thu Feb 09 2006 - 06:24:40 EST
Ian Wright wrote: > > >But I am still intrigued about why >simultaneous determination and uniform profits should cause our value >theory so much trouble. In the past I have felt that's maybe because >the "special case" is not a reachable fix-point in a dynamic theory of >capitalism. But now I am beginning to think that there's a conceptual >error hidden in the TP itself, which is why I'm mulling it over. > > The reason they cause difficulty is that they represent two different historical/class standpoints. The labour theory of value expresses the viewpoint of the independent artisan or the employed worker. To them, labour is the only source of value. The price of production theory expresses the viewpoint of capital - that capitals self expanding power is the source of all new value. To the extent that one class or the other predominates in practice, the two theories approximate better of less to reality. As the rate of surplus value approches zero, the dispersion of prices around values will by F&M's argument become smaller and smaller. Conversely a high rate of surplus value and a preponderance of capital in the capital/labour struggle will result in a wider dispersion of the price value ratio and allow the operation of production prices to come into effect. -- Paul Cockshott Dept Computing Science University of Glasgow 0141 330 3125
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