Re: [OPE] Open problems in Marxist economics: Workers' savings

From: GERALD LEVY <gerald_a_levy@msn.com>
Date: Wed Apr 07 2010 - 15:39:30 EDT

Hi Dave:

 

So, in other words, workers' savings is a problem for Kaleckian theory?

 

In solidarity, Jerry
 
> Let's keep the model simple at first, by considering a Kaleckian closed,
> two-class economy. In monetary terms we have the following identity,
> Profits + Wages = Investment + Capitalist consumption + Workers'
> consumption,
> or expressed differently,
> Profits + Net savings by workers = Investment + Capitalist consumption
> Now looking at the economy in real terms, by definition historical
> materialism takes the investment goods and capitalist consumption goods
> and services as the 'surplus product', i.e. the product over and above
> that consumed by workers. Hence the RHS of the equation is the monetary
> expression of the surplus product.
> If net savings by workers equals zero then we see that
> Profits = monetary expression of the surplus product
> and this corresponds to the standard formulation of surplus value. But
> when net savings are non-zero this does not hold. (This mirrors a
> non-correspondence between exploitation of aggregate surplus labour-time
> and monetary 'surplus-value'.)

 
                                               

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Received on Wed Apr 7 15:42:26 2010

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