[OPE-L:1338] Re: let's look at value anew.

Allin Cottrell (cottrell@wfu.edu)
Wed, 6 Mar 1996 10:43:34 -0800

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Michael writes:

> I suspect that Marx would have been proud to have come up with a 95%
> theory of value a la Ricardo.

I agree, in this sense: If it is possible to account for 950f the
cross-sectional and time-series variation in relative prices (for
fairly broadly defined commodities -- say 50 or 100 sectors of the
economy) by reference to differences in required labour-times, that
is in itself very significant, and there is relatively little point
in chasing the other 5% too hard. I think, though, that the recent
debates on the list have been concerned with a somewhat different
issue, namely: What is the proper theoretical definition of value,
from a Marxian standpoint? That is, by reference to what, exactly,
are we accounting for 950f price-variation? And that is not
really a nit-picky quantitative question.

Allin Cottrell