Theory of Value and Property Rights (original) (raw)
Related papers
11.[1-6]An Analysis of Karl Marx’s Theory of Value on the Contemporary Capitalist Economy
The paper examines Karl Marx's theory of value and its implications on the contemporary capitalist economy. By doing this, the paper critically reviews the principles of Marx's value analysis by extrapolating from the writings of Karl Marx and Neo -Marxists which fits into the Marxian theory of value. The study indicates that capitalism does have an overall tendency to extract surplus value from labour provided by the workers, since it is the most malleable (influenced) of things within the confines of capitalism in the production process as noted by Marx. According to Marx, a system like capitalism, where people are coerced or forced to sell their labour in order to survive is unjust and that in the modern capitalist economy, the rate of profitability or success in production is determined by the ability to produce surplus value. In contemporary capitalist economy, during the production process, the worker uses his/her labour to produce adequate goods and services, but only receive wages enough for subsistence, hence making a surplus for the capitalist. However, the question still remains whether the labourers/workers/proletariats have a choice of selling their labour or not in order to survive in the contemporary capitalist economy as it were in orthodox capitalism?
An Analysis of Karl Marx's Theory of Value on the Contemporary Capitalist Economy
The paper examines Karl Marx's theory of value and its implications on the contemporary capitalist economy. By doing this, the paper critically reviews the principles of Marx's value analysis by extrapolating from the writings of Karl Marx and Neo -Marxists which fits into the Marxian theory of value. The study indicates that capitalism does have an overall tendency to extract surplus value from labour provided by the workers, since it is the most malleable (influenced) of things within the confines of capitalism in the production process as noted by Marx. According to Marx, a system like capitalism, where people are coerced or forced to sell their labour in order to survive is unjust and that in the modern capitalist economy, the rate of profitability or success in production is determined by the ability to produce surplus value. In contemporary capitalist economy, during the production process, the worker uses his/her labour to produce adequate goods and services, but only receive wages enough for subsistence, hence making a surplus for the capitalist. However, the question still remains whether the labourers/workers/proletariats have a choice of selling their labour or not in order to survive in the contemporary capitalist economy as it were in orthodox capitalism?
Towards a Renewal of the Marxist Theory of Value. Recent Debates
Social Science Research Network, 2020
This text is inscribed in the debates raised by the new and growing interest in the economic theses of Karl Marx and, especially, in his Labor Theory of Value. The notion that animates this text argues that the multiple objections that have been raised about it actually point to versions and formalizations that correspond more to Ricardo's elaborations. Marx considered that his own version on the theory of value was not only different, but much more advanced and rigorous than that of his predecessor. In this text it is proposed that the new explorations on the theory of value, very promising for a critical interpretation of capitalism, rely decisively on reinterpretations of Marx in which elements of his reflection that have been eliminated by later thinkers, both supporters and contradictors, are rescued, and are developed and adapted for present times. The text consists of a succinct reconstruction of the main milestones of the development of the Theory of Labor Value, interpreted from this perspective, which raises versions that are different to the most widespread ones. Thus the formulations of this theory elaborated by Smith, Ricardo and Marx are examined. From a current perspective, the questions raised around the debate on the Transformation of Values in Prices are analyzed mainly those developed by Bortkiewicz and later by Sraffa and the Neoricardian School. It includes also a reflection on the conceptions in this regard of the " 20th-century Marxism", dominant in the mainstream of Marxism during a long tima, which here is argued that they are de facto closer to Ricardo than Marx. Two contemporary neo-Marxist currents are examined, the "New Approach" and the "sequentialists" (of the Temporal Single System analysts) that are intended precisely to present new developments from reinterpretations of Marx's theses. The text ends with the presentation of some original pieces of analysis that have this same perspective, which are partially supported by neo-Marxist formulations, but also consist in reelaborations of different moments of this tradition. It points to contribute to the formulation of an Abstract Labor Theory of Value.
The Origins, Nature, and Content of the Right to Property: Five Economic Solitudes
The thesis of this article is that the now extensive contemporary literature on the economics of property rights has generated more heat than light. Economists have invoked at least five distinct theories of ownership or property rights in their work. Unfortunately, authors frequently fail to acknowledge the existence of competing theories of property rights that stand as conceptual rivals to the theory that they, often implicitly, invoke. Nowhere is this problem more evident than in the literature on regulatory takings, a literature that has a justifiable reputation for its inconsistent conclusions. Other fields in which theories of property rights play an important role include intellectual property, the economics of contracts, competition analysis and policy, externalities, and the economics of information. This article compares and evaluates five competing theories of property rights that have been advanced and used by economists: classical liberalism, utilitarianism, legal positivism, pragmatism, and modern libertarianism. These theories present divergent accounts of the origin and the nature of ownership claims. They also conceptualize the evolution of ownership institutions as well as ownership patterns quite differently. There are also important differences in incentives that exist under institutional regimes based on each theory.
1994
This thesis is a contribution to recent debates on the labour theory of value (LTV). It builds upon two distinctive features of the LTV; first, the categories used in the inquiry are historically determined modes of existence of capitalist social relations; second, it rejects equilibrium as the organizing principle of the investigation. Six issues are analysed in the light of these elements and the previous literature. First, the relationship between dialectical logic and the LTV is addressed through an evaluation of the 'new dialectics'. This approach to Marx's method understands the LTV as a systematic dialectical theory, whose aim is the reconstruction in thought of the main characteristics of capitalism. Second, the relationship between labour and value is assessed through the real processes that determine value and price, the normalization, synchronization and homogenization (NSH) of labour. Three well-known views of the LTV are assessed in this light; the tradition...
Structure and Practice in the Labor Theory of Value
Review of Radical Political Economics, 1981
The Marxian labor theory of value has been criticized in recent years by neoclassical and Sraffian economists as superfluous to the analysis of capitalist economies. It is argued in this paper the usual presentations and defenses of the labor theory of value are indeed faulty, but the theory itself is nevertheless indispensable. We develop a defense of the labor theory of value based on the proposition that both labor and labor-power fail to reduce to generalized commodity relations.
The search for a consistent understanding of term 'value' has been central to the debates of economic theory. Scholars engaged in such debates have described 'value' in a manner that has shaped the ideological paradigms of modern political economy. In general understanding, 'value' is understood as the quantum that defines the relative price of a good. However, delving into the deeper theoretical underpinnings of term 'value' brings to the fore much detailed and relational aspects surrounding it. Classical Economists like Adam Smith argued that the value of commodity is equivalent to the amount of labour that can be saved or commanded by exchanging it for other commodities. Thus, "labour is the true measure of determining the value of any commodity". 1 This gave rise to the foundations of the labour theory of value. David Ricardo furthers that the value of a commodity depends on the "relative quantity of the labour necessary to produce the commodity." 2 On the other hand, Marxist Political Economy frameworks departed from the earlier classical traditions and adopted a more radical approach towards defining value. For Marx, value is embedded in the process of production itself. It is the "average socially-necessary labour time" required to produce a commodity. 3 He distinguishes between the use-value of the commodity and its exchange-value. Where use-value fulfills the utility of the owner, the exchange-value is the value at which the product can be exchanged visa -vis the relative labour placed into it. 4 Marxian framework, however, also underlines how commodity circulation in a capitalist system leads to accumulation, and gives way to exploitation of the working class. 5 In the light of the above-mentioned philosophies which laid the foundations of the Labour theory of value, this paper will also look at some of the contemporary critiques of these philosophies and therefore attempt to understand the different interpretations of the term 'value' itself. Understanding 'Value': Addressing Trichotomy of Value, Price and Profit While understanding the varied interpretations of value across different philosophies, it is imperative to, firstly, distinguish among certain concepts which are often used interchangeably in general parlance such as price and profit among others. Price of a commodity is its money-value at which it is exchanged in the market. Profit, on the other hand, occurs when the enterprise sells a good for a price higher than its cost of production. Price and Profit has therefore become the tenet of modern-day mainstream microeconomics. For K.S. Taylor, price of a commodity is temporary in nature and can rise or fall based on the forces of demand and supply. 6 Adam Smith calls it the 'Equilibrium price' or the "Market Price'. For Smith: