Re: [OPE] The Labour Theory of Value: a Marginal Analysis

This is an extremely important point Jerry.   Nobody can know ex-ante the subjective use value, but unfortunately Marxist Economics has been built upon the false assumption that this is possible or at least, that an economy can be organized upon the objective use value without paying attention to the former.   But the experience of soviet economy shows that if it is the case, we have more pervading forms of waste and inefficiency expressed in unsold inventories and/or long lines.   It is true that every economy that allows freedom of choice in consumption has to face the alleged wastefulness that you referred to. But it seems that we have only two options; to choose between two kinds of wastefulness.   Regards,A. Agafonow ----- Mensaje original ---- De: GERALD LEVY <gerald_a_levy@msn.com> Para: Outline on Political Economy mailing list <ope@lists.csuchico.edu> Enviado: miércoles, 17 de septiembre, 2008 12:49:41 Asunto: RE: [OPE] The Labour Theory of Value: a Marginal Analysis > The controversial matter is the potential mistakes that this power station manager could > commit if she doesn’t pay attention to the independent variable –if institutionally speaking > the system allows freedom of choice.     Hi Alejandro:   It may seem a trivial point, but the production manager would not pay attention to this "independent variable" because it's not her job. Perhaps there is someone else within the managerial bureaucracy who considers that question but, probably not, because of the industry selected in this example.   In any event, the use-value that you are referring to can not be known ex ante. It can only be known ex post - when and if the commodities are sold.  This is the case in general with market activity - risk and uncertainty are inherent characteristics of markets. This is - from a macro perspective - an inherently wasteful and inefficient method for determining the distribution of resources.    In solidarity, Jerry

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Received on Wed Sep 17 07:19:47 2008