Hi Fred,
Hope all is well.
You wrote in OPE 4280:
(snip)
"Rent comes after prices of production and before interest and merchant
profit. This is because of the way Marx developed his theory of prices of
production and rent in the 1861-63 manuscript. While working on Rodbertus'
and Ricardo's theory of rent (TSV. vol. 2), Marx understood more clearly the
connection between rent and prices of production."
I'm not sure of the connection between prices of production and rent but
do note that, in that 1863 plan, rent is treated prior to the falling rate
of profit. In CAPITAL, the reverse is true. In 1863, Did Marx think he
needed the concept of rent to develop the "falling rate of profit"? The
plan suggests he did. In CAPITAL we do find the Chapter 10 a discussion of
market values and market prices. This does not seem to part of the 1863
Plan. Again, though, we see Marx developing concepts after prices of
production and before the falling rate of profit. This leads me to suspect
that using prices of production to argue for or against the FRP may be
erroneous.
Some other points.
1. It's not clear where the Plan for Vol. III itself comes from. Are
the Parts and Chapters simply left in the order we see by Marx?
2. Whenever the discussion turns to Engel's role as Marx's editor, my
mind flashes on Section 4 of Chapter 15 of Vol. III. There we find
Engel's "correcting" Marx's idea of how the growth rate of fixed capital
compares to that of output when productivity changes.
John
P.S. Fred, I'd like copies of the papers you mention.