While doing some research in order to respond to Fred's ope-l 3507, I came
across a passage in _Capital_ I that had been discussed briefly many months
ago, but only by Fred and me, I believe. I'm interested in learning what
others think.
The passage reads:
"[The value of a means of production] is determined not by the labor process
into which it enters as a means of production, but by that out of which it has
issued as a product. In the labour process it serves only as a use-value, a
thing with useful properties, and cannot therefore transfer any value to the
product unless it posessed value before its entry into the process."
[_Capital_ I, Ch. 8, p. 314, Vintage.]
I think that this passage would be consistent with simultaneous determination
if, when referring to the production of commodities, Marx's value theory
restricted itself to commodities that do not re-enter production, either
directly or indirectly.
Does anyone think that is the case? If so, why?
If you do not think that is the case, do you think this passage can be
reconciled with the view that input and output prices (and/or values) in
Marx's theory are simultaneous determined? If so, how? (To make the issue as
clear as possible, assume a kind of means of production that has a value of
zero before entering production of this period, but that the value of the same
kind of commodity, as an output of this period, is positive.)
Andrew Kliman