From: Pen-L Fred Moseley (fmoseley@MTHOLYOKE.EDU)
Date: Tue Mar 20 2007 - 23:42:11 EDT
Quoting Jerry Levy <Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM>: >> That is, a stash of "money to be advanced" can be said to exist >> _prior_ to production only (a) at the micro level of individual >> firms (perhaps!) or (b) in a fictional economy on a synchronized >> annual agricultural cycle. > > > Hi Allin and others: > > > I think this issue arises in Fred's perspective because he takes the > analysis of Volume 1 and capital-in-general to concern the > macroeconomy. Suppose instead that the issue of where the > initial M comes from and what its quantity is in the formula > M - C - M' comes up in the context of what modern economists > call a "representative firm". In more Hegelian language, it might be > thought of as a capitalist firm in the context of simple, undifferentiated > unity. This isn't exactly a real firm because it is presented at a stage > when competition has not yet been posited. If this were the case, then > the macro issue in terms of stipulating the initial quantity of M doesn't > come up: one could plug in _any_ number so long as a) the number is > assumed to be sufficient to purchase C (MP, LP) and b) so long as > M' is larger than M. The issue, after all, for Marx wasn't what the > quantity of M in the beginning of the formula is; the issue was what is > the source of delta M at the end of the formula. > > The micro/macro distinction that we're all familiar with doesn't work > very well in terms of interpreting Marx's theory, imo. > > In solidarity, Jerry > Hi Jerry, In my view, the crucial point is the determination of the total surplus-value prior to its division into individual parts, for which there is very substantial evidence, which I have presented in several papers. It seems reasonable to me to describe this logical method as a macro-micro distinction. Comradely, Fred ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
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