[OPE-L:1086] Re: does price affect value

akliman@acl.nyit.edu (akliman@acl.nyit.edu)
Fri, 16 Feb 1996 12:12:49 -0800

[ show plain text ]

A response to Paul C. on the monetary expression of value (MEV).

Paul says I (Andrew) am wrong to think there's a single MEV. In reality,
the $-value produced per labor-hour differs across industries.

Two responses:
(1) Even if I am wrong empirically, my work is an interpretation of Marx's
value theory, and *he* conceived of the MEV as scalar. Thus it is
correct and necessary to do so to have an adequate *interpretation* of
his theory.

(2) How does Paul know that the MEV varies across industries? I suspect
that this isn't known at all. I suspect that the variations are due to
price-value deviations--some industries receive more value for their
stuff than the value produced, but the bourgeoisie doesn't care and
imputes the production of value on the basis of the receipt of value.

Andrew Kliman