[OPE-L:7413] [OPE-L:945] Re: Marx's concept of prices of production

Gerald Levy (glevy@pratt.edu)
Tue, 4 May 1999 18:30:10 -0400 (EDT)

In [OPE-L:939], John wrote:

> On Point 1. Here we have to question Marx, do we not? If
> capitalists are maximizing the RRI and not the rate of profit,
> why there would be any tendency for the rates of profit to
> equalize is unclear. Again, Marx like the political
> economists of the 19th Century was clearly mistaken.

And he added in [OPE-L:944]:

> As Fred pointed out to me a while ago, fixed capital is present as
> Marx proceeds with the transformation of values to prices of production
> in Ch. 9 of V3. Given that, would you not use Sraffa's notion of
> joint production to compute the rate of profit? This rate of profit
> is, for me, the RRI and not the simple rate of profit Marx and Fred
> compute.

What is the *formula* that you are using for the RRI?

In solidarity, Jerry