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Marx and the “law of value”: Critical appraisal on the occasion of his 200th birth anniversary

https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2018-11-27-49

Abstract

The paper celebrates Karl Marx’ 200th birthday in terms of a critical discussion of the “law of value” and the idea that “abstract labour”, and not any use value, is the common third of any two commodities that exchange for one another in a given proportion. It is argued that this view is difficult to sustain. It is also the source of the wretched and unnecessary “transformation problem”. Ironically, as Piero Sraffa has shown, prices of production and the general rate of profits are fully determined in terms of the same set of data from which Marx started his analysis.

Keywords


JEL: B12; B14; B24; B31

About the Author

H. D. Kurz
University of Graz
Austria

Heinz D. Kurz

Graz



References

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Review

For citations:


Kurz H.D. Marx and the “law of value”: Critical appraisal on the occasion of his 200th birth anniversary. Voprosy Ekonomiki. 2018;(11):27-49. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2018-11-27-49

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ISSN 0042-8736 (Print)