Dear friends;
This is short comments on three issues raised in OPE-L. I cannot identify
the related OPE-L numbers. Does this way of participation work or not?
1. On the value of gold money; it is worth trying to think how gold
industry is affected by the motion of general prices inversely, and how
the reduction or increase in gold production slowly react to the purchasing
power of gold money through a change in the huge stock of existing gold.
There was a series of interesting debate on such a topic including the
definite or indefinite social demand for gold at the beginning of this
century in Germany and Russia-Soviet. Marx's theory on differential rent
presents certain cases for marginal determination for land products. Is
it not applicable to gold production? (This point relates to Chaion Lee's
initiated debate.)
2. On the international difference of the rate of interest, questioned
by Dancun and followed by Anwar Shaikh. Although there has been a world money
such as gold or dollar to be used universally in the world, money market is
not a market to sell or buy this form of money directly, but is really a
financial or credit market, which organises more national relations of
social debt and credit. It is indeed interesting how the boarderless economic
development of multinationals etc. seems rather intensify national
differences in the motion of such national financial markets. I do not think
that the difference in monetary policy can fully explain this problem.
3. On the international evaluation of value, raised by John Ernst. This is
surely related to the problem how to solve the theorectical issue of
complex labour. I became suspect that Marx left unsolved the issue, and
resultantly mishandled the theory of international value in chap.22 in the
first volume of Capital. I tried to reformulate the basic issue in my Basic
Theory of Caoitalism (6.1) though I did not come to extend the issue to the
international aspect. The point would, in my view, relate how to conceive
a fundamental egalitarian ground in human capacity to work.
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Makoto Itoh
mktitoh@e.u-tokyo.ac.jp
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Makoto Itoh
mktitoh@e.u-tokyo.ac.jp
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