In response to Chai-on in OPE-L:3788, what you propose is fine with me
also. I haven't checked that your proposed iteration works, but I can't see
why it wouldn't. I would make the same points about the formalism as before
- there is no need to provide a "real" intepretation of each stage. I am
sure you are right about the reason Shaikh keeps "total price = total
value", namely that this what Marx did. Shaikh was trying to make the point
that you can see what Marx did as a first step, as incomplete rather than
"inconsistent". Given that polemical point, his adoption of "total price =
total value" is well enough motivated. But as you say, there is no
necessity to adopt that particular relation between "values" and "prices of
production" to establish a numeraire.