Re: [OPE] Consumption & law of value

Allin Cottrell: *social labour should be allocated towards goods that have a high ratio of "useful effect" to labour embodied*   May I use this argument referring to you?   Regards, A. Agafonow ________________________________ De: Allin Cottrell <cottrell@wfu.edu> Para: Outline on Political Economy mailing list <ope@lists.csuchico.edu> Enviado: sábado, 11 de abril, 2009 3:34:11 Asunto: Re: [OPE] Consumption & law of value On Fri, 10 Apr 2009, Alejandro Agafonow wrote: > I think that you and Cottrell has admitted that socially > necessary labor must be reallocated toward the production of > goods thatchanges of preferences have pointed out as more > valuable or desired. What we argue (I wouldn't say "admit", it's more positive than that) is that social labour should be allocated towards goods that have a high ratio of "useful effect" to labour embodied.  If we're talking about consumer goods, "useful effect" can reasonably be measured by how much people are willing to pay for them, spending the labour-tokens that they've earned. How might a particular good come to have an unusally favourable ratio of useful effect to labour embodied?  One possibility is that people's preferences have shifted in favour of the good. But, as ever, you're fixated on preferences.  The more likely case is that technological advance has lowered the required labour time -- this will call for an expansion of production up to the point where "willingness to pay" has fallen to match the reduced labour embodied. > An orthodox Marxist would interpret this as the law of value > determining consumption decisions. Perhaps.  I don't know.  But this seems an obscure way of putting things. Allin Cottrell _______________________________________________ ope mailing list ope@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope

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Received on Fri Apr 17 16:09:18 2009