John Ernst (ernst@PIPELINE.COM)
Fri, 22 Oct 1999 12:26:37
Ther are two immediate problems in choosing which rate of
profit we are dealing with in reading Marx:
1. Do any of the rates you mention include "rent"? Clearly, Marx
abstracts from the rent producing sectors as he transforms
values into prices of production. Further, the debates
about the falling rate of profit generally refer only to
the rate of profit he uses in that transformation. Yet Marx
tells in his discussion of the falling rate of profit that
rent is part of profit in the numerator. Hence, to his defenders
and critics one might say --- Where's the rent?
2. Rent presents a unique problem as one attempts to look at matters
in terms of labor time expended. For example, if we focus on
differential rent, then the labor hours spent on the most productive
means of production in a sector count for more than those spent
in that sector. Can we say how much more without reference to prices?
John
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