Ridhiman Balaji - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Conference Presentations by Ridhiman Balaji
This paper critically examines Gottfried von Haberler’s reformulations of David Ricardo’s work. ... more This paper critically examines Gottfried von Haberler’s reformulations of David Ricardo’s work. It starts by raising doubts about whether Haberler fully understood the true purpose behind Ricardo’s numerical illustration which Ricardo uses to show that commodities do not exchange according to embodied quantities of labour. It then argues Haberler did not interpret either Ricardo’s theory of value or Ricardo’s numerical example provided in Chapter VII of the Principles (1817) correctly, raising doubts about whether his reformulations accurately preserved the intended meaning behind the numerical example. The following section examines Haberler’s concerns regarding the mobility of the factors of production. Haberler was correct to note that the classical economists differentiated between home and foreign trade, but undue focus on factor mobility led him to overlook the role of the rate of profit for determining exchange-values. The last section examines how Haberler’s reformulation gained widespread acceptance over competing interpretations, despite its inaccuracies, and explains how textbook portrayals of Ricardo are effectively based on Haberler’s invalid interpretation of his numerical example.
Drafts by Ridhiman Balaji
Sweatshops and Exploitation: A Critical Analysis of the Scholarly Debate, 2024
The paper examines how theoretical misunderstandings of Karl Marx’s theory of value have affected... more The paper examines how theoretical misunderstandings of Karl Marx’s theory of value have affected scholarly debates on sweatshops and labour-exploitation more broadly. Participants to these debates tend to overlook the distinction between the form of value and the substance of value. The paper further analyses problems with an exchange-based conceptualization of the labour-process, adopted by many sweatshop-defenders. Rather than posit Marx’s own perspective as the exclusively correct position, this paper seeks to foster a more informed dialogue on the issue of labour-exploitation in global sweatshops.
This article critiques policies aimed at income redistribution within the framework of Marx’s c... more This article critiques policies aimed at income redistribution within the framework
of Marx’s critique of political economy. The ‘Neoliberal’ characterization of
capitalist history, the tendency to divide capitalism into distinct sub-periods or
phases, continues to play a significant role for describing changes to social policy
in the United States. Prominent academics and public intellectuals continue to
hold spirited debates over whether or not welfare spending in the United States
has become less generous over the years, owing to increasing ‘neoliberalization’
of the American economy. This mixed-methods research paper analyzes trends in
social welfare spending and income inequality for the United States. To supplement
the analysis, a novel dataset on Distributional National Accounts from the Bureau
of Economic Analysis is also analyzed. Evidence suggests previous concerns in
the literature are unfounded and are not borne out by empirical evidence.
Papers by Ridhiman Balaji
Review of Economics and Economic Methodology (REEM), 2022
In this review-essay of the book Eating NAFTA (2018) by Dr. Alyshia Gálvez, I argue that Gálvez u... more In this review-essay of the book Eating NAFTA (2018) by Dr. Alyshia Gálvez, I argue that Gálvez ultimately provides readers with a weak critique of David Ricardo's theory of foreign trade. I use an accurate textual reading of David Ricardo's four numbers to argue that Gálvez attacks a straw-man of the classical free trade position. I then critique Gálvez's discussion of efficiency and provide an alternative discussion of the debate over efficiency vs self-sufficiency. Finally, I raise concerns with Gálvez's claim that NAFTA contributed to Mexico's import dependency and provide a general critique of Dependency Theory; a popular framework employed by many economists, often used to analyze uneven economic development. Overall, while Gálvez presents readers with a thoughtful analysis of the impact of NAFTA on Mexico, Gálvez, unfortunately, misreads classical political economists like David Ricardo completely, and ends up providing readers with a weak analysis of production-exchange relations under the capitalist system. JEL Classification: B17, Y3, F10
Review of Economics and Economic Methodology, 2021
This review-essay raises several important issues with the book Economics in the Twenty-first Cen... more This review-essay raises several important issues with the book Economics in the Twenty-first Century: A Critical Perspective (2016) by Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson. I begin by summarizing the book, followed by a critical discussion of its content. The primary focus of this review-essay is on inequality. Using figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, I dispute three popular narratives characteristic of popular discourse on economic inequality. I also discuss problems with Dependency Theory, and the notion of "Comparative Advantage," which is often erroneously attributed to David Ricardo. Finally, I discuss issues with the author's critique of Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson, and some broader issues with the school of thought known as New Institutional Economics. In general, Chernomas and Hudson present a fair critique of mainstream economics; however, many of their assertions throughout this book deserve critical scrutiny in light of existing empirical data.
Book Reviews by Ridhiman Balaji
Platypus Review
This review-essay examines three books on the topic of identity politics in the United States of ... more This review-essay examines three books on the topic of identity politics in the United States of America: 1) Identity Capitalists (2021) by Nancy Leong, 2) Elite Capture (2022) by Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, and 3) Toward Freedom (2020) by Touré Reed. All three books are criticized within the framework of Marx’s materialist conception of history, commonly known as "Historical Materialism".
Article available online at : https://platypus1917.org/2024/05/01/identity-politics-in-america-a-review-essay/
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review , 2021
My review-essay of Hensman's excellent book on workers' rights, and the trade union movement in I... more My review-essay of Hensman's excellent book on workers' rights, and the trade union movement in India. I update Hensman's analysis and include a discussion of recent trends in trade union membership, as well as issues regarding industrial and labour relations in India.
Published in ASR 84.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2021
In this review-essay, I raise several issues with the book The Lion's Den (2019) by Susie Linfiel... more In this review-essay, I raise several issues with the book The Lion's Den (2019) by Susie Linfield. I begin by challenging Linfield's conception of "Zionism", and discuss how some Jewish Zionist intellectuals, like Judah Magnes and Martin Buber, broke with the mainstream Zionist movement. I also refute Linfield's claim that the 1976 United Nations Security Council resolution does not propose a two-state solution. The name of this piece draws on the Zionist movement's own rich history of opposing the creation of an ethno-religious Jewish state, a fairly popular position during the early stages of the Zionist movement.
Capital & Class, 2021
This is a short two-page book review of the recent 2020 book on International Trade law by Trebil... more This is a short two-page book review of the recent 2020 book on International Trade law by Trebilcock and Trachtman. The focus of the review is on an accurate understanding of Ricardo's four numbers.
Philosophy in Review, 2021
My review of the book Just Liberal Violence: Sweatshops, Torture, War by Michael Neu, published i... more My review of the book Just Liberal Violence: Sweatshops, Torture, War by Michael Neu, published in Volume 41, Issue 2 of Philosophy in Review.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2021
My review of The Jakarta Method (2020) by Vincent Bevins. Appears in the Winter 2021 edition of t... more My review of The Jakarta Method (2020) by Vincent Bevins. Appears in the Winter 2021 edition of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review (ASR 81).
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2021
My short review of the book Our Masters are Helpless (2019) edited by Iain McKay. Appears in ASR ... more My short review of the book Our Masters are Helpless (2019) edited by Iain McKay. Appears in ASR 81 - Winter 2021
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2020
I review the book The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics (2012) by Deric Sh... more I review the book The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics (2012) by Deric Shannon, Anthony J. Nocella II and John Asimakopoulos. This book is a collection of essays written by various authors who fall within the Libertarian Socialist tradition. This is the short version of the review which appeared in print, a lengthy version has been posted online through our website, see here :
https://syndicalist.us/2020/10/20/accumulation-of-freedom-writings-on-anarchist-economics/
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2020
My review of The People's Republic of Walmart by Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski. I discuss t... more My review of The People's Republic of Walmart by Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski. I discuss the attribution of Input-Output analysis to Marx and provide my perspective on the authors' proposal to implement a democratic variant of Soviet-style central planning. This is the second article of mine which appears in the 80th issue of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2020
My review of Hired by James Bloodworth in which the author writes about his experiences as a low-... more My review of Hired by James Bloodworth in which the author writes about his experiences as a low-wage worker for six months in Great Britain. I begin by summarizing the book, then present my critique of his analysis. This is the first of my two articles which appear in the 80th issue of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2020
I review Globalists by Quinn Slobodian and focus on a lesser-known member of the Geneva School, G... more I review Globalists by Quinn Slobodian and focus on a lesser-known member of the Geneva School, Gottfried von Haberler (1900-1995). I discuss how von Haberler reformulated David Ricardo's famous numerical example using the Opportunity Cost approach. I argue that the left should be careful not to embrace protectionism on the basis of apparent refutations of Ricardo. I also discuss what differentiates a neoliberal who supports free trade from a non-neoliberal who supports free trade. Article first appeared in the 79th issue of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review.
![Research paper thumbnail of How Employers Rule Our lives [June 2020] - Book review of Private Government by Elizabeth Anderson](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/63812096/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2019
This is the revised June 2020 version of my review of Private Government (2017) by Elizabeth Ande... more This is the revised June 2020 version of my review of Private Government (2017) by Elizabeth Anderson. The first version of this review appeared online through the official Anarcho-Syndicalist Review website as a special bonus to issue 78. **Update: recent empirical findings suggest there was little to no decoupling between wages and productivity for US workers prior to the Great Recession if you take into account a broader measure of income. However, after the Great Recession, and especially after COVID, wages and productivity have decoupled.**
Masters Research Paper by Ridhiman Balaji
This paper contains two interrelated sections; the first section uses an accurate textual reading... more This paper contains two interrelated sections; the first section uses an accurate textual reading of Smith, Ricardo, & Marx to 1) resolve the authorship dispute concerning the origins of the so-called Labour Theory of Value, and 2) clear up the confused attribution debate ('authorship kerfuffle') of Pierro Sraffa's (1898-1983) Physical Quantities framework. I then use my textual analysis to criticize contractual defenses of sweatshops, such as the ones offered by Zwolinski (2007), and Powell and Zwolinski (2012), and clear up some confusion regarding the link between 'exploitation' as a concept and the so-called Labour Theory of Value. The second section builds on the first part by analysing trends in US public expenditures and critiquing redistributionist politics within the framework of an accurate understanding of Marx's value theory and capitalist production. To supplement my analysis, I examine a novel dataset on Distributional National Accounts (DINA) from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). I also discuss the 'Neoliberal' characterization of capitalist development, and tendency to divide capitalism into distinct sub-periods. Overall, I find that that previous concerns in the literature about an alleged 'shrinking' of the welfare state, generally attributed to the post-WWII 'neoliberalizion' of the US economy, has been overestimated, and is not borne out by empirical evidence.
This paper critically examines Gottfried von Haberler’s reformulations of David Ricardo’s work. ... more This paper critically examines Gottfried von Haberler’s reformulations of David Ricardo’s work. It starts by raising doubts about whether Haberler fully understood the true purpose behind Ricardo’s numerical illustration which Ricardo uses to show that commodities do not exchange according to embodied quantities of labour. It then argues Haberler did not interpret either Ricardo’s theory of value or Ricardo’s numerical example provided in Chapter VII of the Principles (1817) correctly, raising doubts about whether his reformulations accurately preserved the intended meaning behind the numerical example. The following section examines Haberler’s concerns regarding the mobility of the factors of production. Haberler was correct to note that the classical economists differentiated between home and foreign trade, but undue focus on factor mobility led him to overlook the role of the rate of profit for determining exchange-values. The last section examines how Haberler’s reformulation gained widespread acceptance over competing interpretations, despite its inaccuracies, and explains how textbook portrayals of Ricardo are effectively based on Haberler’s invalid interpretation of his numerical example.
Sweatshops and Exploitation: A Critical Analysis of the Scholarly Debate, 2024
The paper examines how theoretical misunderstandings of Karl Marx’s theory of value have affected... more The paper examines how theoretical misunderstandings of Karl Marx’s theory of value have affected scholarly debates on sweatshops and labour-exploitation more broadly. Participants to these debates tend to overlook the distinction between the form of value and the substance of value. The paper further analyses problems with an exchange-based conceptualization of the labour-process, adopted by many sweatshop-defenders. Rather than posit Marx’s own perspective as the exclusively correct position, this paper seeks to foster a more informed dialogue on the issue of labour-exploitation in global sweatshops.
This article critiques policies aimed at income redistribution within the framework of Marx’s c... more This article critiques policies aimed at income redistribution within the framework
of Marx’s critique of political economy. The ‘Neoliberal’ characterization of
capitalist history, the tendency to divide capitalism into distinct sub-periods or
phases, continues to play a significant role for describing changes to social policy
in the United States. Prominent academics and public intellectuals continue to
hold spirited debates over whether or not welfare spending in the United States
has become less generous over the years, owing to increasing ‘neoliberalization’
of the American economy. This mixed-methods research paper analyzes trends in
social welfare spending and income inequality for the United States. To supplement
the analysis, a novel dataset on Distributional National Accounts from the Bureau
of Economic Analysis is also analyzed. Evidence suggests previous concerns in
the literature are unfounded and are not borne out by empirical evidence.
Review of Economics and Economic Methodology (REEM), 2022
In this review-essay of the book Eating NAFTA (2018) by Dr. Alyshia Gálvez, I argue that Gálvez u... more In this review-essay of the book Eating NAFTA (2018) by Dr. Alyshia Gálvez, I argue that Gálvez ultimately provides readers with a weak critique of David Ricardo's theory of foreign trade. I use an accurate textual reading of David Ricardo's four numbers to argue that Gálvez attacks a straw-man of the classical free trade position. I then critique Gálvez's discussion of efficiency and provide an alternative discussion of the debate over efficiency vs self-sufficiency. Finally, I raise concerns with Gálvez's claim that NAFTA contributed to Mexico's import dependency and provide a general critique of Dependency Theory; a popular framework employed by many economists, often used to analyze uneven economic development. Overall, while Gálvez presents readers with a thoughtful analysis of the impact of NAFTA on Mexico, Gálvez, unfortunately, misreads classical political economists like David Ricardo completely, and ends up providing readers with a weak analysis of production-exchange relations under the capitalist system. JEL Classification: B17, Y3, F10
Review of Economics and Economic Methodology, 2021
This review-essay raises several important issues with the book Economics in the Twenty-first Cen... more This review-essay raises several important issues with the book Economics in the Twenty-first Century: A Critical Perspective (2016) by Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson. I begin by summarizing the book, followed by a critical discussion of its content. The primary focus of this review-essay is on inequality. Using figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, I dispute three popular narratives characteristic of popular discourse on economic inequality. I also discuss problems with Dependency Theory, and the notion of "Comparative Advantage," which is often erroneously attributed to David Ricardo. Finally, I discuss issues with the author's critique of Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson, and some broader issues with the school of thought known as New Institutional Economics. In general, Chernomas and Hudson present a fair critique of mainstream economics; however, many of their assertions throughout this book deserve critical scrutiny in light of existing empirical data.
Platypus Review
This review-essay examines three books on the topic of identity politics in the United States of ... more This review-essay examines three books on the topic of identity politics in the United States of America: 1) Identity Capitalists (2021) by Nancy Leong, 2) Elite Capture (2022) by Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, and 3) Toward Freedom (2020) by Touré Reed. All three books are criticized within the framework of Marx’s materialist conception of history, commonly known as "Historical Materialism".
Article available online at : https://platypus1917.org/2024/05/01/identity-politics-in-america-a-review-essay/
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review , 2021
My review-essay of Hensman's excellent book on workers' rights, and the trade union movement in I... more My review-essay of Hensman's excellent book on workers' rights, and the trade union movement in India. I update Hensman's analysis and include a discussion of recent trends in trade union membership, as well as issues regarding industrial and labour relations in India.
Published in ASR 84.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2021
In this review-essay, I raise several issues with the book The Lion's Den (2019) by Susie Linfiel... more In this review-essay, I raise several issues with the book The Lion's Den (2019) by Susie Linfield. I begin by challenging Linfield's conception of "Zionism", and discuss how some Jewish Zionist intellectuals, like Judah Magnes and Martin Buber, broke with the mainstream Zionist movement. I also refute Linfield's claim that the 1976 United Nations Security Council resolution does not propose a two-state solution. The name of this piece draws on the Zionist movement's own rich history of opposing the creation of an ethno-religious Jewish state, a fairly popular position during the early stages of the Zionist movement.
Capital & Class, 2021
This is a short two-page book review of the recent 2020 book on International Trade law by Trebil... more This is a short two-page book review of the recent 2020 book on International Trade law by Trebilcock and Trachtman. The focus of the review is on an accurate understanding of Ricardo's four numbers.
Philosophy in Review, 2021
My review of the book Just Liberal Violence: Sweatshops, Torture, War by Michael Neu, published i... more My review of the book Just Liberal Violence: Sweatshops, Torture, War by Michael Neu, published in Volume 41, Issue 2 of Philosophy in Review.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2021
My review of The Jakarta Method (2020) by Vincent Bevins. Appears in the Winter 2021 edition of t... more My review of The Jakarta Method (2020) by Vincent Bevins. Appears in the Winter 2021 edition of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review (ASR 81).
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2021
My short review of the book Our Masters are Helpless (2019) edited by Iain McKay. Appears in ASR ... more My short review of the book Our Masters are Helpless (2019) edited by Iain McKay. Appears in ASR 81 - Winter 2021
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2020
I review the book The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics (2012) by Deric Sh... more I review the book The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics (2012) by Deric Shannon, Anthony J. Nocella II and John Asimakopoulos. This book is a collection of essays written by various authors who fall within the Libertarian Socialist tradition. This is the short version of the review which appeared in print, a lengthy version has been posted online through our website, see here :
https://syndicalist.us/2020/10/20/accumulation-of-freedom-writings-on-anarchist-economics/
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2020
My review of The People's Republic of Walmart by Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski. I discuss t... more My review of The People's Republic of Walmart by Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski. I discuss the attribution of Input-Output analysis to Marx and provide my perspective on the authors' proposal to implement a democratic variant of Soviet-style central planning. This is the second article of mine which appears in the 80th issue of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2020
My review of Hired by James Bloodworth in which the author writes about his experiences as a low-... more My review of Hired by James Bloodworth in which the author writes about his experiences as a low-wage worker for six months in Great Britain. I begin by summarizing the book, then present my critique of his analysis. This is the first of my two articles which appear in the 80th issue of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2020
I review Globalists by Quinn Slobodian and focus on a lesser-known member of the Geneva School, G... more I review Globalists by Quinn Slobodian and focus on a lesser-known member of the Geneva School, Gottfried von Haberler (1900-1995). I discuss how von Haberler reformulated David Ricardo's famous numerical example using the Opportunity Cost approach. I argue that the left should be careful not to embrace protectionism on the basis of apparent refutations of Ricardo. I also discuss what differentiates a neoliberal who supports free trade from a non-neoliberal who supports free trade. Article first appeared in the 79th issue of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 2019
This is the revised June 2020 version of my review of Private Government (2017) by Elizabeth Ande... more This is the revised June 2020 version of my review of Private Government (2017) by Elizabeth Anderson. The first version of this review appeared online through the official Anarcho-Syndicalist Review website as a special bonus to issue 78. **Update: recent empirical findings suggest there was little to no decoupling between wages and productivity for US workers prior to the Great Recession if you take into account a broader measure of income. However, after the Great Recession, and especially after COVID, wages and productivity have decoupled.**
This paper contains two interrelated sections; the first section uses an accurate textual reading... more This paper contains two interrelated sections; the first section uses an accurate textual reading of Smith, Ricardo, & Marx to 1) resolve the authorship dispute concerning the origins of the so-called Labour Theory of Value, and 2) clear up the confused attribution debate ('authorship kerfuffle') of Pierro Sraffa's (1898-1983) Physical Quantities framework. I then use my textual analysis to criticize contractual defenses of sweatshops, such as the ones offered by Zwolinski (2007), and Powell and Zwolinski (2012), and clear up some confusion regarding the link between 'exploitation' as a concept and the so-called Labour Theory of Value. The second section builds on the first part by analysing trends in US public expenditures and critiquing redistributionist politics within the framework of an accurate understanding of Marx's value theory and capitalist production. To supplement my analysis, I examine a novel dataset on Distributional National Accounts (DINA) from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). I also discuss the 'Neoliberal' characterization of capitalist development, and tendency to divide capitalism into distinct sub-periods. Overall, I find that that previous concerns in the literature about an alleged 'shrinking' of the welfare state, generally attributed to the post-WWII 'neoliberalizion' of the US economy, has been overestimated, and is not borne out by empirical evidence.