Modern Imperialism, Monopoly Finance Capital, and Marx's Law of Value. Samir Amin
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Название: Modern Imperialism, Monopoly Finance Capital, and Marx's Law of Value
Автор: Samir Amin
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Зарубежная деловая литература
isbn: 9781583676578
isbn:
The first term of each equation stands for the value of constant capital consumed in the production process, reduced to a physical unit of equipment E, estimated at the unit value e (e1 ≠ e2 ≠ e3, etc.) The second term represents the physical quantity a, b, aδ, bρ, etc., of total direct labor (necessary labor and surplus labor) employed by one unit of E in each Department and each phase. The parameter h measures the value product of one hour of labor (not to be confused with hourly wage). The physical product of each department, p and q respectively, is estimated at its unit value e and c (similarly c1 ≠ c2 ≠ c3, etc.).
The system comprises three pairs of parameters (a, b, p, q, δ, and ρ) and two unknowns (e and c) for each pair of equations that describe one phase. Parameters a and b measure the physical labor intensity in the productive process (their reciprocals are related to the organic compositions), parameters p and q represent the physical product of the productive processes using one unit of equipment E in each Department, and parameter t.
Obviously δ and ρ are less than 1 since technical progress enables us to obtain, with less direct labor, a higher physical product per unit of equipment.
2. DETERMINATION OF UNIT PRICES E AND C
If we assume h = 1, the equations supply the pairs e and c:
etc.
As the first set of equations shows, as we produce the capital equipment from capital equipment and direct labor, the unit prices of e fall from one phase to the next at the rate of growth of productivity in Department I. On the other hand, consumer goods being produced from capital equipment and direct labor, the unit prices c fall at a rate that is a combination of δ and ρ.
3. EQUATIONS OF EXTENDED REPRODUCTION
If the capital equipment E is distributed between Departments I and II in the ratios n1 and 1-n1, for phase 1, n2 and 1–n2 for the next phase, the equations for the production in value terms are as follows:
K is a neutral factor of proportionality.
The dynamic equilibrium of the extended reproduction requires that two conditions be fulfilled:
1. that the wages distributed for each phase (in both Departments) enable the entire output of consumer goods produced during that phase to be bought;
2. that the surplus-value generated during one phase (in both Departments) makes it possible to purchase the entire output of Department I during the next phase.
(a) Equations of supply/demand of consumer goods:
(b) Equations of supply/demand of equipment:
Nominal Wages S are determined as follows:
And Real Wages S′1 = S1/c1 and S′2 = S2/c2 are:
S′2 > S′1 since the numerator remains unchanged while the denominator decreases from Phase 1 to Phase 2.
4. NUMERICAL EXAMPLES
Case 1: Equal organic compositions, equal improvement in productivity in the two Departments.
Case 2: Unequal organic compositions, equal improvement in productivity in the two Departments.
Case 3: Equal organic compositions, unequal improvement in productivity (here δ > ρ).
Case 4: The reverse assumption to the preceding case (δ < ρ).
Case 5: Case 3 tending to be limiting, improvement in productivity being confined to Department I (ρ = 1/2 while δ = 1).
Case 6: Limiting case of 4—improvement in productivity is confined to Department II (δ = 1/2 while ρ = 1).
CHAPTER TWO
Interest, Money, and the State
1.
In Volume III of Capital we find that Marx’s language undergoes a sudden change. It is no longer a question of commodity fetishism and alienation, or of the value of labor-power and surplus-value. Marx speaks to us now of social classes as they appear in concrete reality—of workers, industrial capitalists, moneylenders, landowners, peasants, and so on—just as he speaks to us of incomes as they can be perceived directly, through statistics—such as wages, the industrialist’s and the merchant’s profit, the rate of interest, ground-rent, and so on. It is the moment when he begins to go beyond political economy and to develop his argument in terms of historical materialism.
2.
What Marx has to say about money and interest is scattered through various parts of his work. In the drafts for Capital (especially the Grundrisse) Marx gives us a series of reflections that are as concrete as can be: observations on the policy regarding discount rates followed by the Bank of England or the Banque de France at particular moments of history, critical thoughts relating to the commentaries of the principal economists of the time on these policies, and so on. No explicit theory is expounded in Volume III, however. Marx puts before us a theory of the rate of interest that runs like this: (a) interest is the reward of money capital (not of productive capital); (b) it is therefore a category of distribution; (c) the rate of interest is determined by the interplay of supply and demand for money capital, in which two subclasses, lenders and borrowers, confront each other; and (d) this rate is indeterminate and can be situated at any point between a floor (zero interest) and a ceiling (a rate of interest equal to the rate of profit).
This theory seems to me inadequate. Indeed, Marx does not show any particular fondness for resorting to “supply and demand,” and when he does so he usually raises at the outset the question: what real forces determine this supply and this demand? Here, however, we find nothing of the sort. The theory is inadequate, in the first place, because the floor and the ceiling in question are too low and too high, respectively. The rate of interest cannot be zero because, if it were, there would be no lenders. It cannot be equal to the rate of profit, for then the productive capitalists would cease to produce, and so they would not borrow.
Above all, however, it is inadequate because the resort to postulating two subclasses of capitalists, imagined as being СКАЧАТЬ