I agree with Jerry's proposal. Of course, his procedure implies
that important (and interesting) questions about the contemporary
relevance of Marx's work will not be addressed for a substantial
period of time. However, Jerry's approach (or Jerry's synthesis) may
provide the framework for a common conceptual structure in OPE-L (or
at least the knowledge of our different conceptual structures), which
is necessary for the discussion of more complex topics.
I think that the alternative of going straight into more complex
issues (Okishio, the transformation problem, productivity growth,
etc...) in the absence of this preliminary analysis is likely to lead
to a situation where people merely repeat what they already hold to
be true.
The gains from Jerry's proposed strategy are likely to exceed
these of the alternative view (with apologies if I am building a
'straw-strategy'). I think that we should 'go for it' from Monday.
*********************************************
Alfredo Saad Filho
School of Business and Economic Studies
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT, England
+44-113-233-4472 (tel W)
+44-113-233-4465 (fax W)
+44-113-240-3697 (tel/fax H)
email: ASF2@BES.LEEDS.AC.UK