[OPE-L:6747] [OPE-L:220] Re: Re: Re: Re: Chapter 1

Rakesh Bhandari (bhandari@phoenix.Princeton.EDU)
Mon, 26 Oct 1998 10:12:48 -0500 (EST)

I agree, John. Like Ricardo, Marx initially restricted his analysis only
to reproducible commodities. As for the validity of this initial
restriction, we could of course debate. Pasinetti justifies the
restriction, e.g., the elimination of land or rare art works.

What I don't agree with is this:

> If we rule out land as a commodity by saying that it is not
> a product of labor, Marx's argument becomes tautological.

Marx's analysis is not tautological because the point of his analysis is
to specify the kind of labor, abstract labor, that produces commodities,
value and surplus value. What is crucial to his analysis is this exact
"correction" of the classical labor theory of value.

best, rakesh