From: Paul Zarembka (zarembka@BUFFALO.EDU)
Date: Thu Jul 12 2007 - 11:26:29 EDT
Thanks, Andrew. What I like about the subsequent footnote is that Marx
knew what he was doing in even presenting a calculation.
There is also something interesting: Marx in Vol. 1 is reporting the
example for the spinning industry and obtains a c/v = 7.3. Yet, in Vol. 3
for the same industry he reports an implied 38.3! Recall the Vol. 3 was
written before Vol. 1 and never edited later by Marx. Thus, the Vol. 1
figure ought to be considered more reflective of his empirical work.
Paul Z.
*************************************************************************
(Vol.23) The HIDDEN HISTORY of 9-11-2001 "a benchmark in 9/11 research"
(Vol.24) TRANSITIONS in LATIN AMERICA and in POLAND and SYRIA
Research in Political Economy, P.Zarembka,ed, Elsevier hardbacks
********************** http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PZarembka
On Thu, 12 Jul 2007, Andrew Brown wrote:
> Paul, and all,
>
> It must be stressed that Marx's *next* footnote, concerning the calculation that Jurriaan draws our attention to (plus a second example calculation) reads:
>
> 'The calculations given in the text are intended merely as illustrations. We have in fact assumed that prices = values. We shall, however, see in Volume 3 that even in the case of average prices the assumption cannot be made in this very simple manner'. [Capital 1, 1976 Penguin edition, p. 329]
>
> Many thanks
>
> Andy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OPE-L [mailto:OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU] On Behalf Of Paul Zarembka
> Sent: 11 July 2007 19:39
> To: OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU
> Subject: Re: [OPE-L] Marx's own empirical estimate of c/v
>
> Thanks, Jurriaan. I had missed the footnote as to actual data being
> relied upon.
>
> Anybody for any other examples anywhere in Marx's works?
>
> Paul Z.
>
> *************************************************************************
> (Vol.23) The HIDDEN HISTORY of 9-11-2001 "a benchmark in 9/11 research"
> (Vol.24) TRANSITIONS in LATIN AMERICA and in POLAND and SYRIA
> Research in Political Economy, P.Zarembka,ed, Elsevier hardbacks
> ********************** http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PZarembka
>
> On Wed, 11 Jul 2007, Jurriaan Bendien wrote:
>
> > From Capital Vol. 1:
> >
> > First we will take the case of a spinning mill containing 10,000 mule spindles, spinning No. 32 yarn from American cotton, and producing 1 lb. of yarn weekly per spindle. We assume the waste to be 6%: under these circumstances 10,600 lbs. of cotton are consumed weekly, of which 600 lbs. go to waste. The price of the cotton in April, 1871, was 7 3/4d. per lb.; the raw material therefore costs in round numbers £342. The 10,000 spindles, including preparation-machinery, and motive power, cost, we will assume, £1 per spindle, amounting to a total of £10,000. The wear and tear we put at 10%, or £1,000 yearly = £20 weekly. The rent of the building we suppose to be £300 a year, or £6 a week. Coal consumed (for 100 horse-power indicated, at 4 lbs. of coal per horse-power per hour during 60 hours, and inclusive of that consumed in heating the mill), 11 tons a week at 8s. 6d. a ton, amounts to about £4 1/2 a week: gas, £1 a week, oil, &c., £4 1/2 a week. Total cost of the above auxiliary materials, £10 weekly. Therefore the constant portion of the value of the week's product is £378. Wages amount to £52 a week. The price of the yarn is 12 1/4d. per. lb. which gives for the value of 10,000 lbs. the sum of £510. The surplus-value is therefore in this case £510 - £430 = £80. We put the constant part of the value of the product = 0, as it plays no part in the creation of value. There remains £132 as the weekly value created, which = £52 var. + £80 surpl. The rate of surplus-value is therefore 80/52 = 153 11/13%. In a working-day of 10 hours with average labour the result is: necessary labour = 3 31/33 hours, and surplus-labour = 6 2/33
> > http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch09.htm
> >
> > Marx adds in a note: The above data, which may be relied upon, were given me by a Manchester spinner. In England the horse-power of an engine was formerly calculated from the diameter of its cylinder, now the actual horse-power shown by the indicator is taken.
> >
> > Jurriaan
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Tue Jul 31 2007 - 00:00:06 EDT