From: Paul Cockshott (wpc@DCS.GLA.AC.UK)
Date: Mon Apr 02 2007 - 17:52:53 EDT
In practice one is reliant upon the judgement of accountants in quoting figures for capital depreciation. Paul Cockshott www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~wpc -----Original Message----- From: OPE-L on behalf of glevy@PRATT.EDU Sent: Mon 4/2/2007 10:21 PM To: OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU Subject: [OPE-L] calculating the not rate of profit > Even more difficult than getting a handle on secondhand goods is the > challenge figuring out the value of used capital goods that have not > been marketed. Without knowing the value ( monetary value of course) of > these goods to termination of the rate of profit becomes impossible. Hi Michael P: Good point. It's also the case that since the *rate of moral depreciation* can't be reliably estimated in advance, individual and average rates of profit can not be known _ex ante_. This is especially important when the economy is experiencing a period in which technological breakthroughs in means of production abound. This is not merely an accounting problem: because of moral depreciation the rate of profit is *IN PRINCPLE* unknowable ex ante. It can *ONLY BE KNOWN EX POST*. In solidarity, Jerry
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