Subject: [OPE-L:1631] Re: technical change and real wages
From: Gerald Levy (glevy@pratt.edu)
Date: Tue Nov 02 1999 - 14:09:38 EST
Re Chris's [OPE-L:1629]:
> I am sorry to be so late raising this point. Mike L states that Marx's
> *Capital* assumes a fixed real wage. IMO this is not quite correct. It is
> certainly the Volume 1 assumption but in Volume 3 it is displaced by the
> assumption of a fixed rate of exploitation, both in the discussion of the
> average rate of profit and the falling rate of profit. <snip>
Interesting point. In his discussion of the "Counteracting Factors" to the
law of the tendency for the general rate of profit to decline, Marx
writes:
"2. REDUCTION OF WAGES BELOW THEIR VALUE
We simply make an empirical reference to this point here, as,
like many other things that might be brought in, it has nothing
to do with the general analysis of capital, but has its place
in an account of competition, which is not dealt with in this
work. It is none the less one of the most important factors
stemming the tendency for the rate of profit to fall." (Penguin
ed., p. 342)
What do you (and others) think is the significance of this passage?
In solidarity, Jerry
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