Re: [OPE] peanut butter value-form theory

Alejandro, let me rephrase my question. Assume a given level of labor scarcity and other demand/supply factors; assume a given level of skill (or craftmanship) - what then determines the value of a commodity?
Paula

From: Alejandro Agafonow
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 1:00 PM
To: Outline on Political Economy mailing list
Subject: Re: [OPE] peanut butter value-form theory

Paula: *This is why, in addition to the distinction between price and value (a distinction more easily understood in our post-bubble times) you need the ceteris paribus method. Suppose demand, craftmanship, etc, are the same, but the amount of necessary labor time varies - don't you think the value will also change?*

In this case we can’t separate ‘craftmanship’ from ‘necessary labor time’ because we are talking of a labor which provides specific useful effects. So the necessary labor time needed to produce a Ford is less scarce, because it requires simple tasks performed in a fordist chain of production. But the necessary labor time needed to produce a Ford is scarcer, because its performance requires artisan dexterity.

Therefore the prices of Ford and Ferrari don’t necessary correspond to the labor time embodied in them, but to the relative scarcity of the useful effects provided by different substantive labor.

Regards,

A. Agafonow

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De: Paula <Paula_cerni@msn.com>
Para: Outline on Political Economy mailing list <ope@lists.csuchico.edu>
Enviado: miércoles, 8 de abril, 2009 23:59:16
Asunto: Re: [OPE] peanut butter value-form theory

Jerry:
> Now put one orange in each hand. In your left hand there is an orange that fell
> from a tree and hit you in the head on public lands and in your right
> hand there is an orange produced as a commodity by a capitalist firm which
> you purchased with money. Not so easy to tell them apart if one is only
> looking at their material form, is not? What is the "physical difference"
> between the two oranges?

Orange trees in public lands are usually watered and tended by people, so their fruit contains human labor too. You need to compare an orange that has not been cultivated with one that has.

> So, the means of production which are purchased by "service capitalists"
> are, from your perspective, merely a "collection of use-values"? Don't these
> "use-values" (the means of production employed by service capitalists)
> also have an exchange value?

Obviously I would not call them means of production, but, yes, they do have an exchange value. My point is that service capitalists are final buyers of these objects, therefore they exchange for the purposes of obtaining their use-values - just like you do when you buy oranges. Service capitalists do not have the same relationship to those objects as does the industrial capitalist who sells them in order to realize their value.

Alejandro:
>> The craftsmanship to produce Ferrari is scarcer than the craftsmanship to produce Ford. Note that scarcity is a phenomenon that emerges from the combination of demand and availability of resources.<<

This is why, in addition to the distinction between price and value (a distinction more easily understood in our post-bubble times) you need the ceteris paribus method. Suppose demand, craftmanship, etc, are the same, but the amount of necessary labor time varies - don't you think the value will also change?

Paula
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Received on Tue Apr 21 19:27:24 2009