Re: [OPE] Comments desired on surprising result in "A Marxist Modelingof Capitalism"

Hi, Paul,

I would like to see the paper!
Thanks,
Diego

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Paul Zarembka
  To: Outline on Political Economy
  Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 3:00 PM
  Subject: [OPE] Comments desired on surprising result in "A Marxist Modelingof Capitalism"

  I am presenting this paper at the Association for Heterodox Economics, "The Economy of Tomorrow", conference in Bordeaux next month.

http://hetecon.org/index.php?conference=AHE&schedConf=AHE2010&page=index

It is a technical paper mostly, but the results are surprising for me, namely, that perhaps ten percent of surplus value seems to be all that was needed to sustain the world levels of accumulation of capital over the past century and a half. This would suggest that political economists need to consider ever more carefully where the other ninety percent goes (luxury consumption of capitalist cannot be very much of that ninety percent; unproductive labor could be).

  I would appreciate any careful evaluation of my work. Basically, I don't want to have made any mistakes, either in judgment or technique. Please email me if you wish a copy of the draft.

  Thanks very much,

  Paul Zarembka, SUNY at Buffalo

  _____________

  A Marxist Modeling of Capitalism, Suggesting Theoretical Over-emphasis on Accumulation of Capital"

  Abstract: In Volume I of Capital, Marx offers actual data from a Manchester spinning factory describing that business. In Volume II, he offers schemes of reproduction to help understand accumulation of capital while mentioning numbers which actually suggest correlation to the spinning factory data. Nevertheless, Marx seems to slide over the costs of new machinery when analyzing accumulation, instead focusing on wear and tear (depreciation). In this paper, we offer a modeling of accumulation that takes account of modern estimates of the composition of capital, i.e., the relation of labor time invested in constant capital compared to the labor time employed with that constant capital, relying principally upon U.S. and Canadian estimates.

  We find empirically that the composition of capital fluctuates but does not show much trend. We also consider levels of the rate of exploitation and of utilization of surplus value required for achieving actual historical levels of accumulation of capital, and include consideration of the turnover of capital. We find that only a small portion of surplus value, perhaps ten percent, is required for actually achieved accumulation. This suggests that a focus on the utilization of surplus value for the accumulation of capital misses vast other terrains for the utilization of surplus value.

  Our result is suggestive of an over-emphasis within Marxist political economy on accumulation of capital.

=====
(V23) THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF 9-11, Seven Stories Press softcover, 2008 2nd ed
(V24) TRANSITIONS IN LATIN AMERICA .... (V25) WHY CAPITALISM SURVIVES CRISES
====> Research in Political Economy, Emerald Group, Bingley, UK
====> Paul Zarembka, Editor www.buffalo.edu/~zarembka
.

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Received on Thu Jun 3 11:22:27 2010