Do Profits Equalize in the Woods?
I agree with what Alan said. Especially about the difference between
(a), (b), and (c). Don't expect answers to (a) and (c) type questions
from (b) type models.
And Alan is right about why we assume profit rate *equalization*. We
could easily have the *formation* of a general (i.e., weighted average)
profit rate without a *equalized* profit rate, in order to conform to
Ch. 9 of vol. 3. But we also wanted to answer the Bortkiewicz charge
that Marx's prices disrupt reproduction because input and output
prices differ. So we needed some determinate output prices, and
assuming uniform profitability was the simplest thing, and the path
of least resistance to orthodoxy (why get into a long thing about
the difference between a general rate of profit and a uniform rate of
profit is your paper is about something else?).
This does not mean I'm trying to duck the historical vs. replacement
cost profit rate issue. I hope to post on it either later this week
or early next.
Andrew