From: Dave Zachariah (davez@KTH.SE)
Date: Wed Dec 12 2007 - 14:49:05 EST
Hi Jerry:
> Is the following the only reason you think so?
>
> > Would it not be better to explicitly distinguish:
> > (a) the labour-value of the real wage
> > (b) the total labour (social *and* domestic) necessary to reproduce
> > the capacity to work
Yes. I think the VLP was an ingenious theoretical invention by Marx but
it is also imprecise for the reason given above.
Take one wage-labourer, working for 1 month. We have to distinguish:
1. a (nominal) wage, i.e. the sum of money payed.
2. a bundle of goods and services purchased, which I call a real
wage vector.
3. the labour-value of that vector.
Thus I don't see a "fall of the wage below the value of labour-power",
rather I see a fall of the wage leading to a fall in the labour-value of
the real wage bundle. But the total labour necessary to reproduce the
capacity to work may be unchanged, and it is a matter of definition
whether one should call this or the labour-value of the real wage as
"VLP". But I think you run into problems if you don't distinguish them.
//Dave Z
on 2007-12-12 19:26 GERALD LEVY wrote:
> > I think the concept of "value of labour-power" is a bit problematic.
>
>
> Hi Dave:
>
> Perhaps - let's talk about it. Is the following the only reason you
> think so?
>
>
> > Would it not be better to explicitly distinguish:
> > (a) the labour-value of the real wage
> > (b) the total labour (social *and* domestic) necessary to reproduce
> > the capacity to work
> > Therefore if "the price of wheat goes up in the next 3 months but falls
> > afterwards, then during those 3 months real wages would decline ceteris
> > paribus", and so would (a), which I interpret as the "value of
> labour-power".
>
>
> I think it's helpful to distinguish between wages and the VLP.
> How would you explain, for instance, counteracting factor #2
> to the tendency for the general rate of profit to fall (reference:
> _Capital_,
> Volume 3, Ch. 14, Section 2) without reference to the distinction
> between wages and the VLP?
>
> In solidarity, Jerry
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