モーリス・ドッブ
モーリス・ハーバート・ドッブ(Maurice Herbert Dobb、1900年9月3日 - 1976年8月17日)は、イギリスの経済学者。主な活動分野は、マルクス経済学、社会主義経済、開発途上国の研究であった。
略歴
- 1900年 ロンドン生まれ。
- ペンブロークカレッジで歴史学を専攻するも、その後経済学に転向。
- 1922年 ケンブリッジ大学でBAを取得。
- 1922年 イギリス共産党に入党。
- 1924年 ケンブリッジ大学の講師に奉職。以後、終生教鞭を取り続ける。
- 1925年 ロンドン・スクール・オブ・エコノミクスで博士号を取得。
- リーダーになる。
- 1951年 ピエロ・スラッファと共同で『リカード全集』を編纂。
- 1967年 ケンブリッジ大学を退職。
- 1976年 永眠(75歳)。
研究・主張
- イギリス共産党に入党し、スターリン時代のソビエト連邦で行われていた中央集権的な計画経済を支持していたが、必ずしも教条的なマルクス主義に囚われることなくハンガリー動乱やポズナン暴動についてはソ連の強圧的政策に批判的な態度を取った。また、資本主義発達史の研究において、ポール・スウィージーらとも論争している。
- 一方で、古典派経済学や近代経済学にも批判を加え、ジョーン・ロビンソンやピエロ・スラッファにマルクス主義的立場から示唆を与えている。
- 経済学に対する彼の見解は次のようなものである。すなわち、真の経済学はリカードから始まる。また、経済学の歴史全体は2系統に分けられる。一つは、「経済的剰余」の決定に関するリカード-マルクス-スラッファといった分析の系統であり、もう一つは、価格決定の一般均衡分析というスミス-ワルラス-アロー-ドゥブリューといった系統である。絶筆となった『価値と分配の理論』(1973年)は、この見解を文書で証明しようとしたものである。しかしながら、異論も多い。
- ケンブリッジ大学での教え子にアマルティア・センがいる。
著書
- 『賃金論入門』、氏原正治郎訳、新評論社、1954年
- 『ソヴェート経済史――1917年以後のソヴェート経済の発展』(上)、野々村一雄訳、日本評論社、1956年
- 『後進国の経済発展と経済機構』(京都大学総合経済研究所研究叢書2)、小野一一郎訳、有斐閣、1956年
- 『ドッブ経済学教程』、塚谷晃弘・鈴木宗太郎共訳、関書院出版、1957年
- 『資本主義――昨日と今日』(合同新書)、玉井竜象訳、合同出版社、1959年
- 『賃金論』(改訂版)、氏原正治郎訳、新評論、1962年
- 『経済成長と経済計画』、石川滋・宮本義男共訳、岩波書店、1965年
- 『現代経済体制論――経済発展と計画経済』、玉井竜象]・藤田整共訳、新評論、1970年
- 『七十年代の資本主義――国際シンポジウム』、中村達也・永井進・渡会勝義共訳、新評論、1972年
- 『厚生経済学と社会主義経済学――常識的な批判』、中村達也訳、岩波書店、1973年
- 『価値と分配の理論』、岸本重陳訳、新評論、1976年
【原書】
- 『政治経済学と資本主義』(Political Economy and Capitalism), 1937年
- 『資本主義発展の研究』(Studies in the Development of Capitalism), 1946年
- 『経済理論と社会主義』(On Economic Theory abd Socialism), 1955年
- 『価値と分配の理論』(Theories of Value and Distribution since Adam Smith), 1973年
レイ1999が以下を引用Dobb, Maurice. 1945. Political Economy and Capitalism . New York: International Publishers.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE
vii
СHАРТER
I. THE REQUIREMENTS OF A THEORY OF VALUE
II. CLASSICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
34
III. ČLASSICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND MARX
55
IV. ECONOMIC CRISES
79
V. THE TREND OF MODERN ECONOMICS
130
VI. CONCERNING FRICTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS: CERTAIN
RECENT TENDENCIES IN ECONOMIC THEORY
188
VII. IMPERIALISM
226
VIII. THE QUESTION OF ECONOMIC LAW IN A SOCIALIST
ECONOMY
273
A NOTE TO CHAPTER EIGHT ON STORED-UP LABOUR AND
INVESTMENT THROUGH TIME
342
INDEX
354
関恒義(https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%96%A2%E6%81%92%E7%BE%A9)論考
http://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/3971/ronso0370200460.pdf
レイ1999が以下を引用
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE
vii
СHАРТER
I. THE REQUIREMENTS OF A THEORY OF VALUE
II. CLASSICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
34
III. ČLASSICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND MARX
55
IV. ECONOMIC CRISES
79
V. THE TREND OF MODERN ECONOMICS
130
VI. CONCERNING FRICTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS: CERTAIN
RECENT TENDENCIES IN ECONOMIC THEORY
188
VII. IMPERIALISM
226
VIII. THE QUESTION OF ECONOMIC LAW IN A SOCIALIST
ECONOMY
273
A NOTE TO CHAPTER EIGHT ON STORED-UP LABOUR AND
INVESTMENT THROUGH TIME
342
INDEX
354
関恒義(https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%96%A2%E6%81%92%E7%BE%A9)論考
http://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/3971/ronso0370200460.pdf
政治経済学と資本主義 (1952年) (岩波現代叢書) - – 古書, 1952/1/1
~~~
Theories of Value and the Monetary Theory of Production Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 261 35 Pages Posted: 6 May 1999 L. Randall Wray
https://twitter.com/ishizuka_r/status/1442664659287347203?s=21
もしかしたら労働本位制と労働価値説とをなにか似たものと勘違いしているのではないか。労働価値説と比較すべきはケインズの労働単位だろう。これについては、レイの興味深い論文があるのだが、半分ほど読んで放置したままになっている。Theories of Value and the Monetary Theory of Production、
後半、q − c + lが出てきて、あぁ、ケインズの自己利子率か、もう一度勉強しなおさなければ、というところで、自己利子率についてあれこれ考えていて、わからなくなって、そのまま、レイの論文も放置したという次第です。レイの論文のURL、以下でした。
http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp261.pdf
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=150497
ケインズ1936#17《…ある資産を一期間にわたって所有することから得られると期待される全収穫は資産の収益マイナス持越費用プラス流動性プレミアム、すなわち、q - c +l ということになる。換言すれば、q - c +l こそは~~ただしq 、c 、l はみずからを標準として測られている~~どのような商品ももつところの自己利子率にほかならない。》
マルクス資本論河出2:17:1
さらに、つぎのようにもいうことができよう、──流動的可変資本のうち、Aが労働者にたえず前払する部分は、たえず流通から彼の手に還流して、その一部分だけが、たえず代わる代わる役じしんの手もとに労賃支払分としてとどまる。しかし、支出と還流とのあいだには或る時間が経過するのであって、その時間中は、労賃に払出された貨幣が、なかんずく剰余価値の貨幣化のためにも役だちうる、と。──だが、われわれの知るごとく、第一に、この時間が長ければ長いほど、資本家Aがたえず用意しておかねばならぬ貨幣準備の分量も大きくなければならない。第二に、労働者は貨幣を支出して諸商品を買うのであり、したがってその限りにおいて、これらの商品に含まれている剰余価値を貨幣化する。だから可変資本の形態で投下される同じ貨幣は、そのかぎりにおいて、剰余価値を貨幣化するためにも役だつ。ここでは、この問題に深入りしないで、ただつぎのことだけをいっ
河出2:17:1
さらに、つぎのようにもいうことができよう、──流動的可変資本のうち、Aが労働者にたえず前払する部分は、たえず流通から彼の手に還流して、その一部分だけが、たえず代わる代わる役じしんの手もとに労賃支払分としてとどまる。しかし、支出と還流とのあいだには或る時間が経過するのであって、その時間中は、労賃に払出された貨幣が、なかんずく剰余価値の貨幣化のためにも役だちうる、と。──だが、われわれの知るごとく、第一に、この時間が長ければ長いほど、資本家Aがたえず用意しておかねばならぬ貨幣準備の分量も大きくなければならない。第二に、労働者は貨幣を支出して諸商品を買うのであり、したがってその限りにおいて、これらの商品に含まれている剰余価値を貨幣化する。だから可変資本の形態で投下される同じ貨幣は、そのかぎりにおいて、剰余価値を貨幣化するためにも役だつ。ここでは、この問題に深入りしないで、ただつぎのことだけをいっ
Theories of Value and the Monetary Theory of Production
Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 26135 PagesPosted: 6 May 1999
L. Randall Wray
University of Missouri at Kansas City; Bard College - The Levy Economics InstituteDate Written: January 1999
Abstract
This paper extends earlier work (Wray 1991; see also Wray 1992b) that argued that liquidity preference theory should be interpreted as a theory of value. Here I will argue that two theories of value are needed for analysis of a monetary production economy: the labor theory of value and the liquidity preference theory of value. Both Keynes and Marx were trying to develop a monetary theory of production; Marx, of course, adopted a labor theory of value in his analysis, and it was previously argued that Keynes adopted a liquidity preference theory in his. A monetary theory of production should adopt both, however, and I will argue that Keynes seems to have recognized this. Further, Keynes did adopt labor hours as the measure of value and said he agreed that labor produces all value. I admit it is still a leap to claim that Keynes accepted both theories of value. Instead, I argue he should have adopted both and will show that this is consistent with the purposes of the General Theory.
Theories of Value and the Monetary Theory of Production by L. Randall Wray
Working Paper No. 261
Theories of Value and the Monetary Theory of Production
by
L. Randall Wray
http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp261.pdf ★
ワーキングペーパーNo.261
価値理論と貨幣生産理論
に
L.ランダルレイ
http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp261.pdf
ジェロームレビーエコノミックスインスティテュート「貨幣生産理論」(MTP)の簡単な定義が必要です。資本主義社会の理論について簡単に話すかもしれません。ただし、MTPはより具体的であり、特定の伝統、つまり、分析の対象が自己意識的に貨幣経済である伝統に関連付けられています。ケインズは、将来への期待が今日行われる決定に影響を与えるものとして貨幣経済を特定しました。または、お金が現在と未来をつなぐための微妙な装置であるもの。または、後でより多くのお金で終わることを期待して生産がお金で始まるもの:1930年代初頭の彼の講義で、彼が一般理論(GT)の研究を始めたばかりのときに、ケインズはマルクスの有名なMCに言及しました- NS'。最後に、貨幣経済学は、「■購買力の生産されていない陥没穴が存在するため、法律が成立する必要はありません。生産されていないということは、生産に労働力が必要ないことを意味します。MTPは、マルクスからヴェブレンとケインズを経て、ダドリーディラード、ポールデビッドソン、ハイマンミンスキーなどのケインズの作品の解説にまでさかのぼることができると私が思う伝統を表しています。多くの著者がマルクスとケインズの作品を統合することが有用であると感じていますが、ディラードはケインズ自身のMTP1へのアプローチにおける労働価値説(LTV)の重要性を十分に認識した数少ない人の一人だったと思います。対照的に、タウンゼント(1937)は、ケインズが流動性選好価値理論(LPTV)を採用したことをすぐに指摘しました。Boulding(1944)は有用な拡張を提供しましたが、他の説明(Kregel 1988、Rotheim 1981、Wray 1991、1992b)同様の解釈に依存しました。2私は価値理論の機能についての簡単な議論から始めましょう。最もよく知られているのは新古典派効用理論(UTV)です。これは、ケインズが物々交換または実質賃金経済と呼んだものの研究に対する新古典派アプローチと一致していますが、金融経済または起業家経済の研究には適していません。むしろ、貨幣経済学は分析の基礎としてLTVとLPTVを必要とします。見落とされた一節、またはユニットでは、価値理論の選択に関連するものとして標準の選択に関する彼の議論を適切に解釈することができれば、これはまさにケインズが主張したことです。このアプローチは、通常の状況としてフルキャパシティー未満で稼働していると特徴付けることができる現実世界の資本主義経済の研究に適しています。対照的に、新古典派の価値理論は、セイの法則が成り立ち、柔軟な相対価格がすべての資源の完全雇用を保証する、希少性が支配的な経済の研究と一致しています。価値理論ディラードが主張したように、「経済学における価値理論は、一般に、市場の表面現象の下を調査して、本質的な特性と関係を発見する試みでした」。(Dillard 1984、p。430)Hunt(1983)は、価値理論は人間的または社会的行動に関する「分析前のビジョン」から派生していると主張しています。価値理論は価格形成を説明する必要があるという強い感覚もありますが、説明する価格が市場価格であるか供給価格であるかについては意見の相違があるかもしれません。さらに、価値は価格3の価格、または長期に直接マッピングする必要があります。 。LTVの場合、これは、Desai(1990)が何も解決せずに何度も「解決」されてきたため、解決可能な技術的問題にはなり得ないと主張する、明らかに手に負えない「変換問題」につながりました。しかし、明らかにマルクス主義の議論でのみ「価値理論」が非常に狭く、価値を価格にマッピングすることに焦点を当てていることは、いくぶん驚くべきことです。これは特に皮肉なことです。マルクスはLTVを使用して、利益の源泉、蓄積、搾取、労働の二重性、そして実際、階級社会の興隆、変容、衰退を説明しています。さらに、彼は、個々の価格が具体化された労働価値を反映することを明確に否定した。変換の問題についての議論を最小限に抑えるつもりです。しかし、マルクス自身の目から見れば、LTVが全体の基本であったことは間違いありません。何も解決せずに何度も「解決」されたためです。しかし、明らかにマルクス主義の議論でのみ「価値理論」が非常に狭く、価値を価格にマッピングすることに焦点を当てていることは、いくぶん驚くべきことです。これは特に皮肉なことです。マルクスはLTVを使用して、利益の源泉、蓄積、搾取、労働の二重性、そして実際、階級社会の興隆、変容、衰退を説明しています。さらに、彼は、個々の価格が具体化された労働価値を反映することを明確に否定した。変換の問題についての議論を最小限に抑えるつもりです。しかし、マルクス自身の目から見れば、LTVが全体の基本であったことは間違いありません。何も解決せずに何度も「解決」されたためです。しかし、明らかにマルクス主義の議論でのみ「価値理論」が非常に狭く、価値を価格にマッピングすることに焦点を当てていることは、いくぶん驚くべきことです。これは特に皮肉なことです。マルクスはLTVを使用して、利益の源泉、蓄積、搾取、労働の二重性、そして実際、階級社会の興隆、変容、衰退を説明しています。さらに、彼は、個々の価格が具体化された労働価値を反映することを明確に否定した。変換の問題についての議論を最小限に抑えるつもりです。しかし、マルクス自身の目から見れば、LTVが全体の基本であったことは間違いありません。値を価格にマッピングすることに焦点を絞っています。これは特に皮肉なことです。マルクスはLTVを使用して、利益の源泉、蓄積、搾取、労働の二重性、そして実際、階級社会の興隆、変容、衰退を説明しています。さらに、彼は、個々の価格が具体化された労働価値を反映することを明確に否定した。変換の問題についての議論を最小限に抑えるつもりです。しかし、マルクス自身の目から見れば、LTVが全体の基本であったことは間違いありません。値を価格にマッピングすることに焦点を絞っています。これは特に皮肉なことです。マルクスはLTVを使用して、利益の源泉、蓄積、搾取、労働の二重性、そして実際、階級社会の興隆、変容、衰退を説明しています。さらに、彼は、個々の価格が具体化された労働価値を反映することを明確に否定した。変換の問題についての議論を最小限に抑えるつもりです。しかし、マルクス自身の目から見れば、LTVが全体の基本であったことは間違いありません。彼は、個々の価格が具体化された労働価値を反映することを明確に否定した。変換の問題についての議論を最小限に抑えるつもりです。しかし、マルクス自身の目から見れば、LTVが全体の基本であったことは間違いありません。彼は、個々の価格が具体化された労働価値を反映することを明確に否定した。変換の問題についての議論を最小限に抑えるつもりです。しかし、マルクス自身の目から見れば、LTVが全体の基本であったことは間違いありません。
ブルジョア社会の分析。それは単に価格形成の過程に入るという意味ではありませんでした。マルクス変換問題分析以外では、「価値理論」はしばしば広く定義されてきました。ケインズは、価格と分布に対する限界主義的アプローチの需給構造全体で「古典的」(新古典派)価値理論を特定しました。彼はこれを、「古典派」(新古典派)の貨幣数量説の別個の「貨幣と価格の理論」と対比させた。ロットハイム(1981)は、ケインズ自身のアプローチを「貨幣価値理論」と名付け、ケインズはそれを全体としての産出と雇用の理論と呼んでいたが、序文では「私たちの基本的価値理論」にも言及していた。すべての一般的な視点は、基礎となる標準または価値理論を反映しています。(Henry 1990)資本主義の別の見方は、別の価値理論に基づいています。封建的価値理論は、価格だけであり、封建社会を再現するために価格を設定すべきであるという見解を反映しています。明らかな理由で、異なる社会的視点を持つ商人クラスの台頭は、代替の価値理論、つまり価格が商品の有用性によって決定される価値を反映していると主張できるUTVを生み出しました。分析の焦点は個々の消費者と希望する商品との関係にあったため、生産は無視することができます(ここでも、商人クラスの観点を反映しています)。商人は望ましい商品を供給しますが、競争力のために価格に影響を与えません。価格は個人の好みと固定供給の非人格的な力によって決定されます。しかし、資本主義の進化に伴い、焦点は生産、特に資本蓄積(生産拡大の鍵と見なされる)に向けられました。別の見方、つまり商品生産経済の見方と一致する価値理論。生産の社会的関係は、消費者と蓄積者の間の社会的産出の分配の影響を含む多くの理由で分析的に重要であり、生産と雇用の決定は、影響を与える社会的文脈の中で個別に行われ、そのような決定に影響されます。さらに、価値理論の選択が、科学的客観性を強調した当時の知的風土に影響されたことは疑いの余地がありません。主観的なUTVは、客観的なLTVを支持して削除されました。原則として、労働力の値を測定することができます。同じ測定単位を採用している2人のオブザーバーは、同様の結論に達するでしょう。最初にUTVを調べてから、LTVに移りましょう。新古典的分析では、効用理論は価格の分析だけでなく、効用または期待効用を最大化し、効用を生み出す活動(仕事など)を回避する経済主体の動機を定義する行動公理の基本でもあります。この意味で、価値理論は「市場の表面現象の下で調査する」べきであるというディラーズの主張は、価格が「市場によって決定される」と言われる新古典派理論にも当てはまります。商品は消費時に効用を生成するので望ましいですが、エージェントは余暇(効用を生成する)と仕事(効用を生成する)のどちらかを選択します。しかし、ユーティリティを生成する商品を購入するために使用できる収入も提供します)。最後に、エージェントはアトミックです。他のアトミックエージェントの状況からutilsもdisutilsも受け取りません。希少な資源と予算の制約(または寄付)、および市場形態に関する特定の仮定が与えられると、相対価格のシステムが生成され、任意の2つの商品の価格の比率が(予想される)限界の比率に等しくなります。各エージェントの消費における2つの商品の効用。それでも、特定の商品の(相対)価格が、消費において提供する効用の量を示すという示唆はありません。重要なのは、各個人が受け取ると予想される限界効用であり、主観的な量です。相対的な希少性が決定されました。確かに、価格は、無制限の欲求の間の希少な資源の配分の研究としてのロビンズの経済学の定義から直接続く、ユーティリティではなく反映であると考えられています。つまり、均衡価格は、資源、商品、および収入を配給、配分、および分配するときに正または負の過剰需要を排除するために形成され、数量は完全雇用レベルで与えられます。この伝統に反対する人々は、UTVの代替案を頻繁に探してきました。最初に、少なくとも原則として観察可能で測定可能な-客観的な値を使用します。第二に、それは「市場前」の商品の価格決定と一致するか、または市場の需要とは無関係です。新古典派経済学者に関係するこれらの力は、生産価格から逸脱するため、短期市場価格の決定に役割を果たす可能性があります。ただし、エコノミストは、市場の力の下で、より深く調査して、
より長い期間の価格の決定要因。さらに、特にマルクスにとっては、単に市場の力に基づく価値の循環の理論ではなく、価値の生産の理論を持つ必要があった4。Meek(1956)はまた、価値理論の2つの論理的要件をリストしています。1つは、量的な用語で表現できる共通の品質がなければならないため、単に相対的なものにすることはできません。第二に、その共通の品質は商品と区別可能でなければなりません(言い換えれば、それ自体は価値ではない測定可能な量がなければなりません)5。したがって、Meekによれば、効用は直接測定できないため、価値理論を提供できません。そしてそれは独立した決定要因ではないからです。古典派およびマルクス主義の労働価値説古典派経済学者は、「生産価格」を示したかった。「需要と供給」を参照せずに説明することができます。(Cohen 1989)これらの長期的または生産的な価格が生産の「難しさ」にまでさかのぼることができれば、「政治経済学」は効用に依存しない価格形成の科学理論、または評価理論を持つことになります。 、好み、または一時的な市場の力。さらに、少なくとも一部の人は、クラス間の分布の変化など、特定の変化に対して不変である値の尺度を見つけることが重要であると考えました。(Kregel 1973)この「科学的」価値理論をコスト原理理論で特定し、これを効用需要ベースの理論と対比することができます。コスト原理理論は生産に関係し、生産における社会的関係に関係し、階級の収入を区別することができます。(Dobb 1945)価格がコストを超える可能性がある場合、コスト原則理論は余剰の作成と処分を説明することもできます。資本蓄積の分析に関する古典派経済学者の懸念を考えると、そのような問題は重要であると見なされました。需要ベースの理論が因子所得と分配を説明する際に抱える問題を除けば6、そのようなアプローチでの余剰の創出について真剣に分析することはできません。価格は個人の好みと与えられた寄付金との関係によって決定されるだけなので、余剰の概念はありません。かつては、限界生産性理論は、要素所得が製品を使い果たしてしまうため、余剰がないことを「証明」したとさえ考えられていました(ケンブリッジ論争がなくても、結論は一般的に間違っていることが示されています)。これらの要件を満たすことができる価値の尺度を見つけるための初期の試みは、完全には成功しませんでした。複数の入力と出力を持つモデルの最小公分母として労働力を使用すると、生産の難しさの明らかな尺度が提供されるように見えましたが、生産と循環の両方の領域を分析するために使用できる不変の価値の尺度の検索は本質的に証明されました古典派経済学者にとっては行き詰まりでしたが、マルクスの「変容問題」とスラフィアンの「標準商品」の探求を生み出す役割を果たしました。最終的には、労働価値を価格にマッピングするため、またはシステムの他のすべての商品の生産プロセスへの入力として入力されるすべての商品の組み合わせで構成される測定値を形成するための手法が開発されました。また、これらのトピックはここでは関係ありません。7マルクスは別のルートを取りました。彼は労働の二重の性質を強調しました:最初は生産の基本要素として、そして次に交換価値のある商品として。労働時間は、価値の不変測度として役立ちます。技術を変えると特定の商品を生産するのに必要な時間数が変わりますが、必要な時間数は常に生産の「難しさ」を測定するのに役立ちます。これは、「資本主義の発展過程のある時点での特定の生産と社会的関係の決定によって」決定される価格の商品としての労働とは区別されます。(Kregel 1973、p。115)社会的に必要な量に短縮された労働時間は、すべての商品の価値の独自の尺度として役立つ可能性があります。進行中の賃金で交換される商品労働力を含みます。最後に、社会によって一定レベルの技術が達成されると、労働力はそれ自体を再現するために必要なものを超える価値を生み出すことができます。つまり、余剰価値を生み出すことができます。剰余価値の割合は、無給労働時間と有給労働時間の比率によって決定されます。それはこの論文の範囲を超えていますが、マルクスによる価値の尺度としての労働時間の使用は、マルクスの思考にとってのLTVの完全な重要性を完全に網羅しているわけではありません。Engels(1966)は、LTVには論理だけでなく歴史にも基礎があることを強調しました。論理的な声明として、LTVは「しかし、経済的存在の基礎としての労働の社会的生産力の事実の経済的表現」ですが、マルクスはさらに進んでいます:「
しかし、私たちの目的にとって最も重要なことは、商人資本の増加に伴い、投資資本の利益率を等しくするために価格が形成されるため、価格は労働価値を反映できないと主張した。前資本主義社会(またはケインズの中立経済)では、交換はCMCの形をとり、価格は労働価値を反映する可能性があります。しかし、エンゲルスによれば、資本家の生産は労働価値での交換と一致していません。なぜなら、利益率は投資された資本で平準化されなければならないからです。このシステムはMC-M 'として表される必要があり、商品は金銭的価値の拡大が見込まれる範囲でのみ生産されます。資本主義システムでは労働価値は観察されておらず、システムの機能はこれらの労働価値を価格に反映するようなものではありませんが、労働価値の価格への変換は、依然として「参加者の意識や意図なしに、客観的な法律に従って進行する」。(Engels 1966、p。907)この議論はよく知られています。生産プロセスには、固定資本と原材料(「デッドレイバー」)と「ライブ」レイバーの適用が含まれます。商品労働力の価値を再現するために必要な労働時間を超えて無給の時間を働かせることによって余剰を生み出すことができるのは、生きている労働だけです。しかし、資本家は、流通で実現される貨幣価格と貨幣利益のみに関心があり、生み出される価値や剰余価値の量には関心がありません。総計で、お金の利益の質量が、お金の観点から測定された剰余価値の質量に等しいことも同じように真実ですが、この結果は、一般的に個人レベルでは成り立たない8。これは、同じ金額の資本を使用するさまざまな手法に対して、同じコスト価格が必要なためです。言い換えれば、ある手法は他の手法よりも死んだ労働に比べてより多くの生きた労働を使用する可能性があります。生きた労働が多い企業は余剰価値も生み出します。これは、資本の有機的構成が低い手法から循環の領域で再分配する必要があります。有機組成が高いもの。ケインズがロビンソンに指摘したように、利潤率がゼロの場合にのみ、価格は労働価値を直接反映することができた。(Robinson 1967、p。x)マルクスのこの解釈における「変換」は、労働価値の価格への変換ではなく、利益率を平準化するために余剰を移転するプロセスです。生産価格の形成によって達成されるプロセス。明らかに、独占力の存在を含め、利益率の平準化を妨げる可能性のあるいくつかの要因があります(以下で別の要因を扱います)。Shaikh(1981)が主張するように、価格は価値よりも複雑に決定されます。それらは、生産的な領域の状態に加えて、循環の領域の状態を反映する必要があります。流通分野は、利益率を等しくするために価値を再分配するだけでなく、供給と需要を等しくし、不足と余剰に対処し、市場支配力、参入障壁、およびその他の制度的要因を反映する必要があります。ある程度、「市場価格」(必然的にいくつかの「それは、彼の労働の二重の性質と、資本を生産された善良で具体化された死んだ労働としての彼の見方の基礎を提供します。第五に、マルクスは流通ではなく生産における価値の創造と剰余価値(したがって利益)を説明することができます10。価値理論は実際の労働時間、基準に基づいていますが、マルクスの分析が一貫して金銭的であることは興味深いです。マルクスは、労働価値が決定の基礎になることを明確に否定し、経済プロセスは、たとえば、お金の利益を平準化するだろうと主張します。マルクスが希少性に依存していないことも興味深いです。賃金は社会的に決定されており、余剰労働力があっても、賃金はゼロに向かう傾向はありません。失業は賃金に圧力をかけ続ける重要な要因の1つですが、賃金の低下がその失業をなくすというヒントはありません。マルクスが主張したように、(資本主義社会の)経済過程は、人と乏しい資源との関係としてではなく、商品の生産における男性と男性の間の社会関係の観点から分析されなければならない。(Meek 1956)製品の交換はなく、労働の交換のみであり、価値は男性間の生産関係の表現として現れます。
お金は、価値を生み出す抽象的な労働の制度化された象徴です。交換価値の外部指標として機能するのは媒体です。交換は、抽象的な労働に基づいて直接行うことはできません。生産コストを反映する価格は、利益率を平準化する代わりに、余剰労働力を再分配しなければなりません。論文と単位の選択メイナードは、金本位制に代わる新しい通貨基準の開発に関心を持っていました。実際、Kregel(1993)が指摘しているように、TOMの最初の草案には「価値の基準」というタイトルが付けられていましたが、その後「通貨基準」に変更されました。議論は特に価値理論の選択に関係していませんでしたが、それでもケインズの手がかりとして興味深いものです。彼のMTPへのやや伝統的なアプローチからの思考の移行11。ケインズが新しい基準を提案したとき、彼は単に金に代わる国際的な貨幣単位の選択よりも多くのことを念頭に置いていました。経済の機能についての彼の理解と一致するであろう基準の選択に関心を持っている。つまり、政策目的で選択された基準は、彼の理論的分析で使用される基準と同じです。TOMでは、ケインズは2つの基準を採用しました。労働力基準(または、購入できる労働力に関するお金の購買力、または「お金によって命令される労働力」)と商品の購買力基準(または、購入できる商品の観点からのお金)。(ケインズ1976; Kregel 1993)ケインズは、これらの選択について2つの正当化を提供しました。1つは、それぞれが経済主体のグループの意思決定の基礎であるという意味で「客観的」であり、労働力基準は起業家の意思決定の基礎です。商品電力基準は、消費者の決定の基礎です。第二に、これらの基準は、「総金額」を「消費財と投資財の生産によって得られた部分」と「消費に費やされた部分」に2つに分割することと一致している。 -それぞれ商品と節約について」。(Keynes 1976a、p。134)これらの区分は、ケインズが貨幣数量説の代替として提起した、総収入と総支出の現代的な区別として認識できます。TOMは、生産の貨幣理論の開発に向けて動く、または少なくとも、貨幣価格に基づくアプローチで量理論を置き換える試みとして完全に成功したわけではないと見なされるべきです。これには新しい価値理論が必要であり、2つの標準の彼の選択は、GTで最終的に採用された2つの標準に向かって進んでいると見なされるべきです。最も重要なことは、ケインズが希少性と相対価格に基づいて新古典派システムを捨てたため、TOMで使用されている両方の基準が金銭面であるということです。TOMケインズの古代の金銭に関する以前の調査での議論の一部は、間違いなく彼の見解に影響を与えました12。さらに、彼の基本的な方程式は、需給市場アプローチに依存せずに価格を説明する試みと見なされるべきです。GTはこの流れを続け、マクロ現象とコストの結果としての価格の説明-これについては以下で詳しく説明します。ケインズは、TOMが公開される前に、「すでに」不満を持っていたことに注意することが重要です。GTはほぼ即座に開始され、初期の草案では、生産の貨幣理論を提供することの1つとして彼の目標を明確に認めていました。GTの分析は、TOMの分析とは大きく異なる2つの点で異なります。1つは期待の明示的な扱い、もう1つは全体としての雇用と生産量の決定の明示的な扱いです。多くの人が主張しているように13、与えられたTOMの生産量を主張するのはおそらく誇張ですが、ケインズのコメントは、TOMが全体としての生産量の決定を適切に扱っているとは信じていなかったことを明らかにしています。14は、2つの作品で採用された「基準」の違いを説明しています。これは部分的にケインズの目的を考えると、UTVでは不十分だと思います。ケインズは、生産量が変動する場合の価格形成のプロセスを説明する価値理論を必要としていました。分布は限界生産性の結果としてではなく、生産の社会的関係の結果として説明されるでしょう。価格も流通も技術的関係の結果ではあり得ません。むしろ、ケインズは、生産の目的が当初よりも多くのお金で終わること、つまり金銭的余剰の生成であるという金銭的生産と一致するコストベースの理論を採用しました。ケインズと労働価値説 ケインズは、生産量が変動する場合の価格形成のプロセスを説明する価値理論を必要としていました。分布は限界生産性の結果としてではなく、生産の社会的関係の結果として説明されるでしょう。価格も流通も技術的関係の結果ではあり得ません。むしろ、ケインズは、生産の目的が当初よりも多くのお金で終わること、つまり金銭的余剰の生成であるという金銭的生産と一致するコストベースの理論を採用しました。ケインズと労働価値説 ケインズは、生産量が変動する場合の価格形成のプロセスを説明する価値理論を必要としていました。分布は限界生産性の結果としてではなく、生産の社会的関係の結果として説明されるでしょう。価格も流通も技術的関係の結果ではあり得ません。むしろ、ケインズは、生産の目的が当初よりも多くのお金で終わること、つまり金銭的余剰の生成であるという金銭的生産と一致するコストベースの理論を採用しました。ケインズと労働価値説 価格も流通も技術的関係の結果ではあり得ません。むしろ、ケインズは、生産の目的が当初よりも多くのお金で終わること、つまり金銭的余剰の生成であるという金銭的生産と一致するコストベースの理論を採用しました。ケインズと労働価値説 価格も流通も技術的関係の結果ではあり得ません。むしろ、ケインズは、生産の目的が当初よりも多くのお金で終わること、つまり金銭的余剰の生成であるという金銭的生産と一致するコストベースの理論を採用しました。ケインズと労働価値説
マルクス(およびクラシカル)のように、ケインズは生産における価格を決定するための合理的な根拠を見つけたいと考えていました。これは、オーソドックスであろうと非オーソドックスであろうと、ほとんどの現代的なアプローチとはまったく異なります。新古典派理論では、相対価格は技術と好みと引き換えに決定されます。名目価格は必須ではありません。競争は、消費における限界効用が均等化され、生産において通常の利益が実現されるように相対価格が決定されることを保証します。制度主義理論では、価格は権力関係、ヒステリシス、および事故によって任意に決定されます。ポストケインズ派のアプローチでは、コストとマークアップによって決定される価格を採用するのが一般的です15。ポストケインズ派が価値や測定単位について話し合うこともまれです。流通圏からの価格から適切に開始し、名目値のみを扱うことができると想定されているだけです16。しかし、これはGTにおけるケインズのアプローチではありませんでした。ケインズは、「2つの基本的な量の単位、つまり、貨幣価値の量と雇用の量のみを利用する」ことを提案しました。(1964年、41ページ)さらに、「雇用量を測定する単位を労働単位と呼び、労働単位の賃金を賃金単位と呼ぶ」17(1964)。 、p。41)労働単位は、「通常の労働の1時間の雇用を私たちの単位とし、その報酬に比例して1時間の特別労働の雇用を重み付けすることによって、均質な単位に減らすことができます。通常の2倍の料金は2単位としてカウントされます。」(1964、p。41)さらに、労働単位は生産量の明確な尺度を提供します:「与えられた資本設備に関連する雇用の量は結果として生じる生産量の量の満足のいく指標になるでしょう」(1964、p.41) ; 「既存の資本設備に支払われた労働時間数(消費者を満足させるか、新しい資本設備を生産するかどうか)を参照して、現在の生産量の変化を測定します。熟練労働時間は、報酬に比例して加重されます。」(1964、p。44)ケインズは、他の測定単位は、入力と出力の不均一性のために「不必要な困惑」につながると主張しました。ケインズの総供給曲線(企業または業界)は、「意思決定の責任者による意思決定の対象となるもの。起業家は雇用の決定に責任があり、生産計画を達成できるかどうかを決定するために、雇用された労働時間数(タイプに合わせて調整)に関心があります。ケインズはまた、賃金の二重の性質を認識しました–コスト生産としてだけでなく、家計収入の源泉として、したがって収入源としても。では、測定単位として労働時間ではなくを使用してみませんか?これは結果として生じる産出量の十分な指標を与えないため(名目賃金は期間ごとに変化する可能性があるため、時間ではなく賃金を使用して時系列で産出を比較することはできません。これは、使用できないというマルクスの信念と同様でした。価値の単位としての商品労働力、むしろ社会的に必要な労働時間を使わなければならない)。少なくとも一部のポストケインズ派にとって厄介でなければならない一節で、ケインズは次のように主張した。 したがって、私は、すべてが...技術、天然資源...、および過去の労働の結果によって支援されて生産されるという前古典的な教義に共感します。もちろん、生産要素としての起業家とその助手の個人的なサービス…。これは、私たちが経済システムで必要とする唯一の物理的単位として労働単位をとることができた理由の一部を説明しています。お金と時間の単位から。(Keynes 1964、pp。213-4)、Joan Robinson(general18)はLTVの重要性を拒否しましたが、彼女は「マルクス主義者への手紙」の中で、「不変資本は労働力の具体化であるという考えに応えて」と述べました。過去に費やされた..私は言う(私はそのような豪華な用語を使用していませんが): ' 当然のことながら、他に何ができると思いますか?」(ロビンソンCW 4p。265)彼女は続けて、ケインズのシステムで採用できる価値の単位は何かという質問に答えます。「工数の労働時間。それは最も便利で賢明な価値の尺度なので、当然あなたはそれを取ります。(ロビンソンCW 4p。268)彼女はまた、スラッファが「変容問題」を解決したと何度も主張し、労働価値を価格にどのように変容させることができるかを示した19。彼女は、最初に価格を値に変換し、次に再び値から価格に変換する必要があると主張しました。したがって、分析に値は必要ありませんでした。彼女の見解では、労働単位ではなく賃金単位を使用するだけで十分です。 –彼女は、これは労働価値説と呼ばれるべきだと主張しました。それでも、彼女は、賃金単位が資本と労働の間の産出の分配を計算する際に問題を引き起こす可能性があることを認識した。労働への利益は相対的な価格によって異なります。労働者が消費したいものが比較的安い場合、実質賃金は高くなります。」(CW 2、p。52)この「指数番号の問題」を考えると、ロビンソンが労働(時間)単位を使用するというケインズの提案よりも賃金単位を好んだのは不思議です。多数の出版物で、彼女はリカルドからケインズへの思想の進化をたどりました。これは、LTVの重要性を認識すべきものです。ロビンソンによれば、リカルドは資本家間の総生産量の分割に関して「大きな問題」を提起した。家主と労働者は、分配が蓄積にどのように影響したのか疑問に思います。LTVは、所得分配を研究し、家主が寄生虫であることを示すために採用されました。リカルドは、資本の有機的構成が均一でない限り、それぞれの異なる利益率が異なる価格パターン(したがって、分配)につながることに気付いたため、「迷子になりました」。(ロビンソンCW 4p。59)マルクスの目的は似ていたが、彼の革新は労働力と労働力の区別であった。マルクスの後、「マーシャルは価値の意味を小さな質問に変えました。なぜ卵はお茶よりも高いのですか?」(CW 4、p。267)しかし、問題は、マーシャルも新古典派も利益の理論を提供できなかったことです。利益は資本を評価するために知られている必要があるので、どちらも資本の理論を提供することはできません。結果は、固定出力が与えられた場合の相対価格の理論にすぎませんでした。しかし、スラッファは、需要と供給は価格とは何の関係もなく、搾取率が与えられると、相対価格は面白くないことを示しました。(ロビンソンCW 3、p。175; 1967p。x)ケインズは質問を再び元に戻しました。彼はリカルドの言葉で考え始めました:全体としての出力となぜお茶を心配するのですか?全体としての生産量について考えるとき、相対価格は、お金と労働の相対価格を含めて、洗い流されて出てきます。(ロビンソンCW 4p。267-8)(ロビンソンCW 4p。268)彼女は次のように結論づけています。20このように、TOMとGTケインズの間で、労働力基準(購入できる労働力の観点からのお金の購買力)から労働単位に切り替わりました。これは、本のさまざまな目的と一致しています。GTでは、期待の変化から生じた2つの異なる時点での出力を比較したいと考えていました。明らかに、名目賃金が変更された可能性があるため、彼は労働力基準を測定単位として使用できませんでした。通常の「ろくでなしのケインズ派」アプローチとは対照的に、ケインズは賃金を固定としてとらえませんでした。これは彼の目的と一致していなかったでしょう(批評家が指摘したように、非自発的失業が柔軟性のない賃金から生じることに異議を唱える新古典派経済学者はいないでしょう)。したがって、労働単位の使用により、彼は固定名目賃金の仮定を回避することができました。
変更は本の主な目的ではありませんでした。2つの出力レベルを比較する必要がない場合は、レイバーユニットを使用する必要はありません。TOMは基本方程式による総価格の決定に関心を持っていたため、適切な分析単位は労働力基準です。これを変更すると、コストと収益の両方が変化します。原子論的で個人主義的な効用価値理論も、ケインズの目標と一致していなかったでしょう。彼は特に、数量と価格を決定するための個々の市場、需給アプローチを拒否しました(実際には両方の本で)。少なくとも消費財の商品の価格(投資財の場合の完全な議論は待たなければならない)は、限界効用と希少性によって決定される希少性の指標ではありません。それよりも、それらは部分的に人件費によって決定されます(後で説明するように、ユーザーのコストによっても決定されます)。したがって、価格は生産価格です。賃金はそれから収入になる収入を生み出します。さらに、消費財の売り手が利用できる総収入は、コスト要素と粗利益要素に分解することができます。後者は、投資部門の賃金、コスト、または生産価格に依存します。これは当然、分布の理論と分布の変化が出力にどのように影響するかを分析することにつながります。「ユーザーコスト」の概念がないことに対するケインズの「古典派」分析に対する批判を、不変資本を無視したことに対するマルクスの古典派経済学者に対する批判と比較することは有用である21。ユーザーコストは、私が思うに、金融資産の保有から予想されるリスク調整後リターン); 将来の販売のために商品を保管するのではなく販売するためのユーザーコストは、将来の販売のために取得されたであろう過去の将来の収益(割引)です(価格が上昇すると予想される場合、ユーザーコストは正です)。将来の価格の予想は、今日の価格に含まれている必要があります。将来の価格は、予想される限り、所与の現物価格と先渡価格に関連する運送費とその間の生産機会のさまざまな考慮を考慮した後、すでに現在の価格に反映されていることを覚えておく必要があります商品....起業家は、彼が得る製品の量ではなく、導かれます、しかし、全体としてのスポットおよび先渡価格構造を考慮して、お金を使用するための代替の機会によって。(Keynes 1979、pp。82-83)ケインズの「再生産」スキームは、分析の開始時に期待を含み、減価償却の概念にもマルクスの社会的再生産の概念にも相当しません。ケインズの分析では、機器を同一の機器に交換する場合でも、そのユーザーコストは、価格の予想と、将来の収益の現在価値を取得するために使用される割引率に大きく依存します。この上、■分析によると、機器を同一の機器に交換する場合でも、そのユーザーコストは、価格の予想と、将来の収益の現在価値を取得するために使用される割引率に大きく依存します。この上、■分析によると、機器を同一の機器に交換する場合でも、そのユーザーコストは、価格の予想と、将来の収益の現在価値を取得するために使用される割引率に大きく依存します。この上、
将来の期待は現在の供給価格に直接入ります。供給価格は、限界要因コストや具体化された労働力だけで決定することはできません。供給価格からの労働価値のこの「偏差」は、資本の有機的構成の違いとは何の関係もありません。ただし、資本の有機的構成の違いの場合と同様に、供給価格の労働単位値からの偏差は体系的であり、将来の期待の影響の役割を含むものの、合理的な政治経済学によって扱うことができます。今日行われた決定について。したがって、期待は供給価格を労働価値から体系的に逸脱させます。たとえば、将来価格が高くなると予想される場合、今日の商品を供給するために生産手段を使用することの推定犠牲はより高く、今日は上昇します。■名目上測定された労働価値を超える供給価格。価格が大幅に下がると予想される場合、スポット市場で購入する投機家が在庫を保持することで通常の利益を得るには供給価格が十分に下がらなければならないため、今日の限界ユーザーコストはゼロに近づく可能性があります。流動性選好説の価値理論ケインズは、ユーザーコストが「現在と未来の間のリンクの1つを構成する」と主張したことを思い出してください。また、ケインズが「現実の」または「協力的」または「バーター」経済と貨幣生産または「起業家」経済:貨幣経済は本質的に、「将来についての見方の変化が、単にその方向性だけでなく、雇用の量に影響を与えることができる経済である」23(同上p。vii)ケインズは、「価値理論」(ミクロレベルでの価格決定を意味する)と「お金と価格の理論」(貨幣数量、収入の総量を扱う)の間の二分法について「古典派」経済学者を非難し続けた。速度、および総価格レベル); 彼は、適切な区分は、一方では「個々の産業または企業の理論」と他方では「全体としての産出と雇用の理論」の間、または「定常均衡の理論とシフトの理論」の間であると主張している。均衡」とは、「均衡の変化」とは、「未来に対する見方の変化が現在の状況に影響を与えることができるシステムの理論」を指します。そして、金銭的な観点を除いて、現在の活動に対する期待の変化の影響について議論し始めることさえできません。(ibidpp。294)他の人々は、商品生産への進化には普遍的な同等物が必要であると強調している24。資本主義の生産形態では、労働価値に基づいて商品を交換することは不可能である。為替レートは、利益率の平準化を可能にするために、別の基準に基づいて計算する必要があります。ロビンソンが言ったように、お金は具体的な労働の具体的な産物を抽象的な言葉で比較するために使用されます:お金は「アルファベットに匹敵する社会的慣習です...お金は社会の創造であり、購買力の最も重要な要素ですお金のは、隣人の時間に対するその購買力です」(賃金単位)。(ロビンソンCW 2、p。18)交換価値の表現は、具体的で異質な生産が分業と専門化の結果であり、生産の決定が個別に行われる抽象的な用語でなければなりません。交換価値は抽象的な用語で計算する必要があるため、ニュメレールとして使用する1つの商品の選択(新古典主義のエコノミストが想像するように)は、商品の生産と一致しません。ゲームのルール」、いわば、市場向けの商品を生産することを要求する); b)ニュメレールの需要の増加は、常に労働力の需要を生み出し、その生産に向けて資源を向ける(決して観察されない「セイの法則」経済を生み出す)。c)ニュメレールの生産の技術的条件の変化は、他のすべての商品のニュメレール建ての価値に影響を及ぼします(「相対価格」がより安定している別のニュメレールを見つけるよう圧力がかかります)。d)そのようなシステムでは、商品生産がすでに存在している必要があります(そのため、いくつかのうちの1つをニュメレールとして選択できます)。これは、「市場向け」(生産者が以前に生産していたもの)を生産するという最初の決定の問題を提起します。ニュメレールは
発明された?)。議論したように、ケインズは、可能な測定単位は労働時間とお金の2つだけであると主張していました。トピックが現在の活動に対する期待の変化の影響に移ったら、測定の単位はお金でなければなりません。ケインズが示唆したように、最初にお金なしで「価値と分配の理論」を構築し、次に別の「お金の理論」を追加して名目値を取得することはできません。貨幣経済学の理論は、「価値と分配」に対する期待の影響を最初から考慮に入れなければなりません。ケインズは「自身の利率」(例:小麦の利率)の観点から期待収益の分析を行いましたが、これらは金銭の利率に変換されます。これは偶然でも恣意的でもありません。お金自身の金利が、ケインズがお金の特別な特性と呼んだものと関係して、すべての自分の金利(お金の観点から計算された)によって達成されなければならない基準を設定する理由があります。簡潔にするために、読者にGTの第17章を参照します。ここで、ケインズは、理論的には任意の商品の独自のレートを標準として選択することも、複合商品の独自のレートを次のように使用することもできると主張しました。基準としては、「独自の価値基準を設定するのと同じ障害」が残ります。(1964p。225)価値の基準としてお金を選択することは、これらの問題を回避するだけでなく(労働単位の選択が問題を回避するのと同じように)、より「密接に結びついた」特定の自身の金利を分析のために選び出します。「生産量と雇用量」で。(ibidp。225)さらに、第17章で提示された金利理論は、実際にはユーザーコストの概念をお金に拡張したものであり、そのユーザーコストは保有者を非流動的にするよう説得するために必要なプレミアムです。(Kregel 1994)は期待される収量です。c読者は、ケインズが3つの要素の観点からさまざまな商品金利を分析したことを覚えているでしょう。qは運送費です。lは商品の流動性です。リターンの構成はさまざまです。流動性の高い資産のリターンは主に(想定)流動性へのリターンで構成され、物的資本のリターンは主に生産の分野で生み出されると予想される利回りで構成されます。流動資産の場合、運送費は重要ではありません。一方、穀物の貯蔵庫や、時間の経過とともに減価する物的資本にとっては重要です。最後に、収益を金銭で測定したら、商品の金銭的価値の予想される上昇(減価償却)を時間の経過とともに含める必要があります。平衡状態では、期待収益(q —c + l + a)は等しくなければなりません。したがって、自己金利アプローチは、資産の需要価格の決定に直接つながります。資産は、物的資本、他の商品、または金銭建ての金融資産、言い換えれば、時間の経過とともに持ち運べるものであれば何でもかまいません。「したがって、均衡状態では、家と小麦の金銭面での需要価格は、代替案の間で有利な方法で選択するものが何もないようなものになるでしょう」。(1965p。228)生産可能な資産は、供給価格が需要価格と等しくなるまで供給されます。「通常の供給価格が需要価格よりも低い資産が新たに生産されます。これらの資産は、その資産になります。限界効率は(通常の供給価格に基づいて)金利よりも大きくなるだろう」と語った。(ibidp。228)ケインズは、多くの理由で(ただし、物理的リターンの減少によるものではありません!)、ほとんどの種類の資産の量が増えると、自己金利が下がり、需要価格が下がると主張しました。需要価格が供給価格を下回ると、それ以上生産されなくなります。その特殊な特性により、これはお金には当てはまりません。お金の量が増えても収益は減少しません。少なくとも、他の資産よりもはるかにゆっくりと収益が減少します。同様に、流動性選好が高まると、流動性資産に対する主観的なリターンが非流動性資産に比べて上昇し、流動性資産の需要価格が上昇し、非流動性資産の需要価格が比較的低下します。繰り返しになりますが、ある時点を超えて、流動性選好の上昇は、リターンが主にq、特に物的資本の関数である資産の生産を停止します。Townshend(1937)と後にBoulding(1944)によって設定された例に従って、流動性選好は資産の価値理論として解釈できると他の場所で議論されています(Wray 1991、1992b)。2つの資産が同じ期待されるq— c + aリターンの流れを持っている場合、それらの需要価格の発散は流動性の違いによって一意に決定されます。予想されるq— c + l + aが与えられると、流動性選好の程度がすべての資産の需要価格を決定します。これは、順番に、生産可能な資産の生産レベルへの影響を通じて、雇用と生産のレベルの決定に入ります。将来についての見方の変化は、質疑応答や流動性選好への影響を通じて資産の需要価格に影響を与えます。私はこれを、運賃を超えて最大の流動性への回帰の存在を果たした特別な役割のために、価値の選好理論のために、お金によるaqではなく流動性選好の価値理論と呼ぶことにしました。ケインズが言うように、「失業は発展します。つまり、人々は月を欲しがるからです。–欲望の対象(つまりお金)が生産できず、需要が生産できないものである場合、男性は雇用できません。将来についての見方の変化は、質疑応答や流動性選好への影響を通じて資産の需要価格に影響を与えます。私はこれを、運賃を超えて最大の流動性への回帰の存在を果たした特別な役割のために、価値の選好理論のために、お金によるaqではなく流動性選好の価値理論と呼ぶことにしました。ケインズが言うように、「失業は発展します。つまり、人々は月を欲しがるからです。–欲望の対象(つまりお金)が生産できず、需要が生産できないものである場合、男性は雇用できません。将来についての見方の変化は、質疑応答や流動性選好への影響を通じて資産の需要価格に影響を与えます。私はこれを、運賃を超えて最大の流動性への回帰の存在を果たした特別な役割のために、価値の選好理論のために、お金によるaqではなく流動性選好の価値理論と呼ぶことにしました。ケインズが言うように、「失業は発展します。つまり、人々は月を欲しがるからです。–欲望の対象(つまりお金)が生産できず、需要が生産できないものである場合、男性は雇用できません。私はこれを、運賃を超えて最大の流動性への回帰の存在を果たした特別な役割のために、価値の選好理論のために、お金によるaqではなく流動性選好の価値理論と呼ぶことにしました。ケインズが言うように、「失業は発展します。つまり、人々は月を欲しがるからです。–欲望の対象(つまりお金)が生産できず、需要が生産できないものである場合、男性は雇用できません。私はこれを、運賃を超えて最大の流動性への回帰の存在を果たした特別な役割のために、価値の選好理論のために、お金によるaqではなく流動性選好の価値理論と呼ぶことにしました。ケインズが言うように、「失業は発展します。つまり、人々は月を欲しがるからです。–欲望の対象(つまりお金)が生産できず、需要が生産できないものである場合、男性は雇用できません。
2つの価格システムは、投資商品セクターで最も重要に適合します。投資出力の供給価格は、現在の出力の価格システムで決定され、需要価格は資産価格システムで決定されます。需要価格が供給価格を下回ると、投資生産量が低下し、雇用と総需要が低下します。これにより、現在の出力で実現できる総マークアップが低下し、個々の企業のレベルで目的のマークアップを達成できなくなる可能性があります。したがって、ケインズやマルクスのようなミンスキーの価格理論は、集約的なアプローチを取ります。マルクスのLTVは、利益率を平準化し、剰余価値を再分配するために必要な商品の供給価格の形成を理解するのに役立ちます。同様に、ケインズの ■LPTVは、資産需要価格がq — c + l + aを等しくするように設定されている方法を理解するのに役立ちます。最初の概算として、LTVは現在の出力の価格システムに適用され、LPTVは資産価格システムに適用されると言えます。しかし、これは単純すぎます。ミンスキーの2つの価格アプローチは、ユーザーのコストに関するケインズの議論を考慮に入れるように変更できます。将来の期待は、時間の経過とともに運ばれる可能性のある商品の現在の生産物の供給価格の決定に直接入ります。資本の有機的構成がすべての産業で均一であったとしても、ユーザーのコストの違いにより、現在の生産量の供給価格が労働価値から逸脱することは明らかです。言い換えれば、期待は供給価格を決定する上で役割を果たす必要があるため、現在の生産量であっても、労働力の価値を供給価格に直接マッピングすることはできません。さらに、投資財には二重の性質があるため、第一にさらなる生産の手段として役立つ具体化された死者労働として、第二にq — c + l + aを生成できる資産として–投資財の価格は具体化された労働を反映することは期待できません。値。投資財(および実際に一定期間以上続く財)の供給価格は、「要素コスト」(労働が唯一の「要素」であり、労働時間(死者と生存)に賃金単位を掛けたものであるため)によって決定されます。ユーザーコストによる。このような商品の需要価格は、LPTVが示すように、q — c + l + a–に等しくなるように決定されます。期待は需要価格と供給価格の両方の形成に入るので、投資生産の価格を労働価値にマッピングすることはできません。期待と「長期的」についての脇ケインズの信者の中には、彼の有効需要理論を「長期的」理論として解釈している人もいます。これら(および他のいくつか)は、流動性選好の理論を(せいぜい)「短期的」であり、有効需要の理論と矛盾しているとして拒否します。前述の分析は、有効需要の理論を流動性選好の理論から分離できないことを明確にする必要があります。Kregel(1988)が主張しているように、有効需要の理論は流動性選好説の「裏返し」である27。流動性選好は資産の評価と関係があり、資産の評価は投資財の生産も決定する(与えられた供給価格)。支出乗数による全体としての生産量のレベルとして。他の人々は、ケインズ派のシステムにおける主観的な期待に起因する重要な役割に不快感を覚えています。ドブは、経済学の範囲から主観的な期待を追放したい人々の恐れをうまく要約しています。「主観的な経済学は、個人の心理的行動の観点から経済イベントを解釈しようとする試みと同じように休んでいますが、不確定性、ほとんど何でも可能です。期待を冠したので、それ自体が彼らによって支配されていることに気づきます。期待が王である場合、彼のすべての気分は法律です。」(Dobb 1945p。219)この見解によると、「長期」法の利点の1つは、期待をなんとか無視できることです。「基本」または「実変数」のみが重要です。より高度な決定論が達成されると考えられています。これも、
金銭的生産経済の際立った特徴は、生産手段の私有、賃金労働、そして生産に関する個人の意思決定(「生産の無秩序」)です。Dobb(1945)が主張したように、「個人の(社会的とは異なる)生産の社会に特徴的な特定のタイプの不確実性があります。それは、市場の個人生産のシステムの下での経済的決定の原子的拡散です。彼らの抑制を期待して」(Dobb 1945p。220)彼は、個人が直面するこの不確実性は、経済学者や科学者が直面する状況とはまったく別のものであり、いわばシステムの外に立って、全体としてそれを観察することができると強調した。将来を見積もる。そのような科学的オブザーバーが結果を予言できたとしても、関連するデータを考えると、起業家がそうすることができるということにはなりません。個人主義経済における後者の本質的な性質であるため、彼はライバルの現在の行動について必然的に無知である状況にあります。(Dobb 1945p。221)さらに、それは、個々の起業家が、外部のオブザーバーとしての私たちが彼らの行動を(私たちができる範囲で)予測できるかどうか確信が持てないからです!起業家がライバルの行動を予見できれば、競争理論が彼の行動を想定するような行動をとることはなく、伝統的な形の政治経済学の法則は成り立たなくなるだろう。しかし、期待の影響に範囲を与えるのは、この本質的な盲目の存在です。この影響が引き起こす平衡からの逸脱とそれがもたらす不確定性の要素を伴う。すべての行動に関するそれぞれの不確実性のおかげでのみ、市場の伝統的な法律が支配します。自由の出現によってのみ、経済的必要性と自動化が普及します。各起業家の本質的な無知のためにのみ、全体的な状況を予測するエコノミストの力が現れます。(Dobb 1945、pp。221-222)客観的な状況に適合しない期待は、これらの期待に基づく行動が引き起こす変化によって自動的に修正されるため、期待は一時的な効果しか持たないはずであるという信念もあります。(Dobb 1945、p。205)しかし、Dobbが主張するように、そのような信念は誤った方向に進んでいます。間違っていることが判明した期待のみが修正されます。誤った期待は一時的に経済を別の道に動かしますが、経験がそれらが間違っていることを証明すると、経済は元の道に戻ります。正しいことが証明された期待は(自己達成的であるという理由だけでさえ)新しい道を生み出し、経済を元の道に戻す力はありません。したがって、「長期的」の適切な理論では、期待は重要です。これらの期待は客観的に形成される必要はありません。事後的に正しいことが重要です。自己達成的な期待は(定義上)正しく、経済に永続的な影響を及ぼします。ケインズがこれを明確に認識したのは興味深いことです。彼は、分析を通じて、結論を変えることなく常に期待が満たされると仮定できたと述べたからです。流動性選好と期待は長期的にも重要です。ケインズの流動性選好効果のある需要フレームワークは引き続き有効です。ケインズの理論が短期的にはより適切に適用されると考える理由はまだあるかもしれませんが(最も重要なのは、彼は一般に容量への投資の影響を脇に置いているためです)、これは期待に応じた顕著な役割によるものではありません。最後に、不確実性と期待が重要であるため(「長期的」であっても)、お金が中立になることは決してありません。多くの人が(ヒックスを含めて)強調しているように、これは「高理論」を行うときに重要な機関から抽象化することを不可能にします。金銭契約、賃金労働(および一般的な階級関係)、生産手段の私有、および経済的意思決定の原子的拡散は無視できません。流動性選好、または流動性を維持する動機は、無視できない原子的意思決定に基づく経済の性質の結果です。貨幣生産理論における価値理論同情的な読者でさえ、上記の議論のほとんどは価値理論を参照せずに行うことができると主張したくなるかもしれません。他の人はマルクスの分析に対するLTVの重要性を受け入れるかもしれませんが、ケインズの分析はLTVもLPTVも必要としないと主張します。疑問が生じるかもしれません:ケインズの労働単位と会計のお金の単位の使用は、有用な「物差し」を見つける試みを単に表しているのでしょうか?貨幣生産理論における価値理論同情的な読者でさえ、上記の議論のほとんどは価値理論を参照せずに行うことができると主張したくなるかもしれません。他の人はマルクスの分析に対するLTVの重要性を受け入れるかもしれませんが、ケインズの分析はLTVもLPTVも必要としないと主張します。疑問が生じるかもしれません:ケインズの労働単位と会計のお金の単位の使用は、有用な「物差し」を見つける試みを単に表しているのでしょうか?貨幣生産理論における価値理論同情的な読者でさえ、上記の議論のほとんどは価値理論を参照せずに行うことができると主張したくなるかもしれません。他の人はマルクスの分析に対するLTVの重要性を受け入れるかもしれませんが、ケインズの分析はLTVもLPTVも必要としないと主張します。疑問が生じるかもしれません:ケインズの労働単位と会計のお金の単位の使用は、有用な「物差し」を見つける試みを単に表しているのでしょうか?
アグリゲートアップ?それとも、基本的に重要な単位の選択ですか?ディラードが主張したように、ケインズの選択は、「市場の表面現象の下を調査して、本質的な特性と関係を発見する」試みとして特徴付けることができるでしょうか。そう信じる; 確かに、ケインズの労働単位と流動性選好の使用は、マルクスの労働単位の使用と同様の目的を果たし、為替外の価格決定のプロセスを見つけ、単純な「需要と供給」の説明を超えていると主張しました。実際、マルクスとケインズはどちらも、価格の決定において、「部門」(マルクス版)間、または消費節約または消費投資(ケインズ版)間での総雇用と雇用の分配の基本的な重要性を認識していました。複製の集約スキーム(マルクス)または有効需要(ケインズ)を強調します。2つのアプローチの主な違いは、期待が価格形成に入る方法に関係します。将来の期待が今日の決定に直接影響することを考慮に入れると、単一の労働価値説では不十分です。さらに、資本主義経済が「2つの価格システム」として特徴付けられる場合、マルクスの分析は不十分です。労働単位の選択と流動性選好に応じた役割の両方が、金融生産経済の根底にある社会的勢力を反映しています。マルクスの分析の主な目的の1つは、生産の社会的関係、つまり搾取率(無給労働力と有給労働力の比率)における利益の源泉を特定することでした。ケインジアン版は、総利益(または総資本所得)の源泉を、投資部門の労働者の賃金請求書と消費部門の労働者の賃金請求書の比率で特定します。これも、消費部門の労働者は低すぎてすべての生産物を購入できず、他の労働者が「利用できない」生産物を生産しているためです。これは、部門1(生産部門の手段)に生産がなければ、創出された剰余価値を実現できないというマルクスの分析とまったく同じです。マルクス分析では、この剰余価値の総計は、利益を平準化するために資本間で再分配されます。ケインズ分析では、再分配は、すべての資産でq — c + l + aの均等化を保証するようなものです。金融資産を含みます。ケインズ分析では、2つの理由から、事態ははるかに複雑になります。1つは、これらのリターンが期待され、少なくとも部分的に主観的であるということです。第二に、投資部門の労働者の賃金だけが総資本収入の源ではありません(たとえば、資産価格の上昇は、生産分野にリンクする必要のないキャピタルゲインを生み出します)。したがって、ケインズ派のアプローチでは、測定された利益率を平準化する力が存在すると予想する理由はありません。マルクスの分析では、余剰価値を生み出すことができるのは生きている労働者だけです。デッドレイバーは使い果たされたときにのみ価値をもたらしますが、この価値は悪化しているデッドレイバーを交換した場合にのみ実現されます。これをケインズ派の解釈にするのは簡単です。実際、減債基金が蓄積されている場合、物的資本の減価は総需要に追加することはできません。ケインズが主張したように、これは、代替投資支出と一致しない限り、総需要を押し下げるでしょう。これは、個々の企業が供給価格で回収したいユーザーコストの構成要素の1つです。企業は、将来の収益の割引損失によって測定される資本の減価償却コストを比較検討する必要があります。減価償却された資本が置き換えられるかどうかは、将来に関する期待に依存します28。これは、交換されない生産で使用される不変資本は、(代替の生産手段を生産するために)生きた労働力を動かさないためです。言い換えれば、それは生産部門(「投資」部門)の手段で(それが減価する期間に)賃金請求書を生成しません。取り替えられた死んだ労働だけが、賃金を生み出し、消費財に支出することによって価値の実現につながることができます。死んだ労働者を購入して所有しているため、減価償却された死んだ労働者を取り替えないと実現されない価値である、消耗した場合を除いて生産に価値を提供することはできません。デッドレイバーを購入すると、完全な価値は総計レベルですぐに実現されますが、個々の企業レベルでは実現されません。それは、他の死んだ労働者の購入が発生するにつれて、将来にわたって徐々にのみ個人レベルで実現することができます。資本家は商品労働力しか購入できない一方、生きた労働は定期的な賃金支払いによって購入することはできません。生労働の利用は、それを動かすために毎期賃金の支払いが必要であるため、実現できる生産に常に価値をもたらします。賃金は(古典的な仮定によれば)消費財に費やされるため、常に流通価値の実現につながります。これは、死んだ労働には必ずしも当てはまらない特性です30。LTVは「形而上学的」であるとよく言われます(ロビンソン1967、p。xi)でも採用された議論、または資本がすべての価値を生み出す、またはガソリンが生み出すなどと主張することもできます31。これには、金融生産経済の根本的な誤解が含まれます。を生み出すことができる経済では、そして (Robinson 1967、p。xiでも採用された議論)、または資本がすべての価値を生み出す、またはガソリンが生み出すなどと主張することもできます31。これには、金融生産経済の根本的な誤解が含まれます。を生み出すことができる経済では、そして (Robinson 1967、p。xiでも採用された議論)、または資本がすべての価値を生み出す、またはガソリンが生み出すなどと主張することもできます31。これには、金融生産経済の根本的な誤解が含まれます。を生み出すことができる経済では、そして
ほとんどの生産が金銭賃金での雇用労働に基づいて行われる場合、賃金は同時に主要な生産コストであり、生産を検証する収入源でもあります。労働は同時に物理的な生産を生み出しますが、さらに重要なことに、労働は生産の目的である金銭の流れを動かします。労働者の収入の大部分は生活必需品の購入に使われるため、賃金手形は資本家の領収書として返還されますが、資本家の活動の目的は必需品ではなくお金であるため、資本家の収入と支出の関係は異なります。カレツキの用語では、労働者は彼らが得たものを使い、資本家は彼らが費やしたものを手に入れます。マルクスの同等の表現は「労働への焦点は、動物を使用する道具としての人間が自然の制御を高めるための器具を製造していることは明らかであるという観察と一致しています。第三に、労働と生産関係への焦点は、男性と男性の関係の産物としての資本主義的生産の見方と一致している。価値は物事の属性ではありませんが、男性間の社会的関係です。(Dobb 1945、p。59)ただし、他の「生産要素」が技術的な意味で「生産的」ではないという主張はなされていないことに注意する必要があります。マルクスでさえ、資本は富を生み出すと主張しました。また、商品に共通しているのは具体化された労働だけであるという主張もありません。労働は価値理論の要件を満たしているが、他の「要因」は満たしていない、と主張されているだけです。そして、LTVはケインズの分析と一致していること。同様に、ケインズのシステムにおける貨幣単位(賃金単位)の選択は、流動性選好と期待に与えられた顕著な役割によるものです。これは、意思決定の原子的拡散と個人の福祉に対する個人の責任に基づく経済に特有の一種の不確実性に個人が直面する資本主義社会の基本的な特徴を反映しています。これは、「長期的」または「基本的」についてのハンドウェーブによって却下することはできません。この意味で、流動性選好は、労働価値が生産における社会的関係を反映する方法と類似しているが異なる方法で、生産の社会的関係を反映している。注1.Fan-Hung 1939も参照してください。2。ただし、時間が経つにつれて、タウンゼントとロトハイムが「価値理論」という用語を私が使用している方法で使用したことを確信できなくなってきたことに注意する必要があります。3. Dobbの例に従ったHunt1983は、より有用な見方を提供します。各商品の価格は他の多くの価格に基づいて形成されるため、価格のすべての理論は循環的です。したがって、プライス方程式を解くには「値定数」が必要です。価値理論はこのアンカーを提供します。4.反対派はまた、新古典派のアプローチがアドホックな方法以外でお金と名目上の価値を扱うことができないことを批判しました。前述のように、効用理論と希少性は相対価格しか生み出せません。物々交換に基づいて機能することができる、明確に指定された新古典主義の一般均衡経済では、お金は必要ありません。ケインズはこれを物々交換または実質賃金経済と呼んだ。あるいは、行動が変わらないようにお金を追加することもできます。お金は単に交換を促進するだけです。ケインズは、「あたかも」取引が物々交換の結果であるかのように機能する中立経済と呼んでいます。(このスキームにお金を導入すると、短期間の不均衡により、市場価格と長期均衡価格の間に差が生じる可能性があります。)5。Dobb 1945は、同様の要件を提供します。価値理論は、実際の次元に表現できる必要があります。事実上理解され、知られていること、そして交換価値を表現できるという点で、それ自体は価値ではない一定の量がなければなりません。6.つまり、私はケンブリッジ論争で特定されたよく知られた問題を無視します。お金は、行動が変わらないように非本質的な方法で追加できます。お金は単に交換を促進するだけです。ケインズは、「あたかも」取引が実際に物々交換の結果であるかのように機能する中立経済と呼んでいます。(このスキームにお金を導入すると、短期間の不均衡により、市場価格と長期均衡価格の間に差が生じる可能性があります。)5。Dobb 1945は、同様の要件を提供します。価値理論は、実際の次元に表現できる必要があります。事実上理解され、知られていること、そして交換価値を表現できるという点で、それ自体は価値ではない一定の量がなければなりません。6.つまり、私はケンブリッジ論争で特定されたよく知られた問題を無視します。お金は、行動が変わらないように非本質的な方法で追加できます。お金は単に交換を促進するだけです。ケインズは、「あたかも」取引が実際に物々交換の結果であるかのように機能する中立経済と呼んでいます。(このスキームにお金を導入すると、短期間の不均衡により、市場価格と長期均衡価格の間に差が生じる可能性があります。)5。Dobb 1945は、同様の要件を提供します。価値理論は、実際の次元に表現できる必要があります。事実上理解され、知られていること、そして交換価値を表現できるという点で、それ自体は価値ではない一定の量がなければなりません。6.つまり、私はケンブリッジ論争で特定されたよく知られた問題を無視します。お金は単に交換を容易にするだけで、ケインズは中立経済と呼んでおり、「あたかも」取引が実際には物々交換の結果であるかのように機能します。(このスキームにお金を導入すると、短期間の不均衡により、市場価格と長期均衡価格の間に差が生じる可能性があります。)5。Dobb 1945は、同様の要件を提供します。価値理論は、実際の次元に表現できる必要があります。事実上理解され、知られていること、そして交換価値を表現できるという点で、それ自体は価値ではない一定の量がなければなりません。6.つまり、私はケンブリッジ論争で特定されたよく知られた問題を無視します。お金は単に交換を容易にするだけで、ケインズは中立経済と呼んでおり、「あたかも」取引が実際には物々交換の結果であるかのように機能します。(このスキームにお金を導入すると、短期間の不均衡により、市場価格と長期均衡価格の間に差が生じる可能性があります。)5。Dobb 1945は、同様の要件を提供します。価値理論は、実際の次元に表現できる必要があります。事実上理解され、知られていること、そして交換価値を表現できるという点で、それ自体は価値ではない一定の量がなければなりません。6.つまり、私はケンブリッジ論争で特定されたよく知られた問題を無視します。(このスキームにお金を導入すると、短期間の不均衡により、市場価格と長期均衡価格の間に差が生じる可能性があります。)5。Dobb 1945は、同様の要件を提供します。価値理論は、実際の次元に表現できる必要があります。事実上理解され、知られていること、そして交換価値を表現できるという点で、それ自体は価値ではない一定の量がなければなりません。6.つまり、私はケンブリッジ論争で特定されたよく知られた問題を無視します。(このスキームにお金を導入すると、短期間の不均衡により、市場価格と長期均衡価格の間に差が生じる可能性があります。)5。Dobb 1945は、同様の要件を提供します。価値理論は、実際の次元に表現できる必要があります。事実上理解され、知られていること、そして交換価値を表現できるという点で、それ自体は価値ではない一定の量がなければなりません。6.つまり、私はケンブリッジ論争で特定されたよく知られた問題を無視します。価値理論は、実際に把握して知ることができる実際の次元に表現できる必要があり、交換価値を表現できるという点で、それ自体は価値ではない一定の量が存在する必要があります。6.つまり、私はケンブリッジ論争で特定されたよく知られた問題を無視します。価値理論は、実際に把握して知ることができる実際の次元に表現できる必要があり、交換価値を表現できるという点で、それ自体は価値ではない一定の量が存在する必要があります。6.つまり、私はケンブリッジ論争で特定されたよく知られた問題を無視します。
7.議論については、Desai1990およびVianello1990を参照してください。8.確かに、価格は労働価値に比例しませんが、それらの体系的な機能になります。Desai1990を参照してください。9。Shaikh1994を参照してください。10。これは、一部のマルクス主義者が流通で利益を生み出すことができないと主張していることを意味するものではありません。11.ケインズが新古典派の命題を持っていたとは思わないので、彼が実際にそのような移行を行ったというケインズ自身の主張を強調しすぎるべきではないと思います。むしろ、移行はおそらく彼の考えの明確化と説明の1つです。12.これらの議論は、アカウントの単位としてのお金を強調しました。これは必然的に標準の1993cです。13. Rotheim1981を参照してください。Joan Robinsonは、TOMでそれを主張しました。レイ、ケインズを参照してください。価値理論」とは、相対価格の理論を意味します。ロビンソンCWI、p。138)15。フレッド・リーはこのアプローチを拒否し、価格は恣意的に決定され、したがって科学的調査の対象にはなり得ないと主張する制度主義者に最も近いようです。16.ここでは、ネオリカーディアンのアプローチを無視しています。17.これは、特別労働を生産するために必要な追加の価値で重み付けするというマルクスの方法とは異なりますが、これは重要な違いではありません。18. Hunt 1983は、LTVに関するロビンソンの「アンビバレンス」を調べ、彼女は本当に「同盟国」であると主張しました。19.ロビンソンCW3、pを参照してください。175; CW 4p。48; 1967 px 20. LTVに対するロビンソンの敵意は、LTVが相対価格の理論であるという仮定に部分的に基づいているようです。また、金の価値は金で具現化された労働によって決定されるというマルクス主義の主張も部分的にあります。「一般理論をマルクスとリカルドから分けた 『ケインズ革命』は、労働価値説を会計単位として採用したことでした。お金の労働価値は純粋に神話的な概念です。お金には生産コストがないからです。」(CW 2p。18)ロビンソンは速すぎて相対価格を捨てることができなかったと思います。ケインズは、総生産量と価格の両方の理論を提供します。しかし、ロビンソンがよく知っていた理由のために、労働価値だけでは価格を生み出すことはできません。さらに、ロビンソンは労働者が具体化したお金の理論を疑うのは正しいことでした。これはケインズの理論と一致させることはできませんでした。21。マルクスによれば、古典派経済学者は資本家による利益計算に不変資本を含める必要性を無視したことを怠っていたが、スミスは生産された総労働価値は変動資本と剰余労働に等しいと信じていたが、マルクスは不変部分も全体として複製されなければなりません。これは、複製の社会的性質、または単に社会的生産に移されるだけの社会資本の部分の回復の必要性を強調します。22.もちろん、ケインズの「古典理論」という用語の使用はやや曖昧ですが、彼は一般的に、リカルドにたどる新古典派のアプローチを意味します。23. Rotheim 1991によると、ケインズはマルクスに関する本の中でHLMcCrakenによってなされたこの区別を借りました。24.たとえば、Rotheim1991を参照してください。25。ここではこのトピックに立ち入ることはできませんが、他の場所では(ケインズの例に従って)、お金が実際に既存の商品生産であることを示しています。最初の貨幣単位が物理的(小麦と大麦の穀物の重量の単位)であったことは事実ですが、商品の生産が始まるまでに、貨幣単位は理想化された小麦または大麦の単位になり、純粋に抽象的な「ポンド」の貨幣単位に変換されました。起源を示唆する名前(リラ、シェケル、ポンド)だけで。Wray1993cを参照してください。26.他の場所で、そして多種多様な問題に関して、ケインズはタウンゼントの鋭い観察とGTの鋭い理解を祝福します。27.私は、「3つの側面」があり、内生的お金の理論が3番目の側面であると主張しました。(レイ1992b)28。
概念はマルクスの複製計画とほぼ同じでした。実際、彼はケインズの一般理論をマルクスの複製スキームにほぼ1対1でマッピングできることを示しました。彼らが同じ金融生産経済を研究したと考えるとき、そのような対応は驚くべきことではありません。29.ミンスキーの用語では、今日行われる決定を検証するために必要となる総資本収入を生み出すために、将来投資が行われることを期待してのみ、今日投資が行われます。30.賃金を節約することは、分析をほんのわずかに複雑にします。31. Hunt 1983は、価値理論はすべて、証明または反証できないという意味で「形而上学的」であると主張することにより、「形而上学的」批判を却下します。それらは定義上「真」です。LTVは定義的ですが、資本主義の社会的相互依存の本質的な性質の根底にある実際のプロセスを特定するため、恣意的に選択されるわけではありません。ボルディング、ケネスを参照します。1944年。「市場価格の流動性選好理論」。Economica 11:42(5月)。コーエン、アビ。1989年。「新古典主義と古典主義の理論における価格、資本、および一商品モデル」。政治経済学史21:2(夏):231-252。デサイ、メグナッド。1990年。「価値と価格」。イートウェルでは、ジョン、マレーミルゲート、ピーターニューマン編、マルクス経済学:新しいパルグレイブ。ロンドン、ニューヨーク:MacMillan、365-372。ディラード、ダドリー。1960年。ジョンメイナードケインズの経済学:貨幣経済学の理論イングルウッドクリフ、ニュージャージー州:プレンティスホール社(第9印刷)。.–––。1980年。「生産の貨幣理論:雇用、利害、および金銭のブレースの一般理論、Jovanovich .–––。1976aおよび1976b。お金の扱い7:3/4、。ニューヨーク:ハーコート、第1巻および第2巻、ニューヨーク:ハーコート、ブレースアンドカンパニー(AMS再版)。–––。1979年。収集された作品、巻。XXIX。モグリッジ、ドナルド、編 ロンドン:マクミラン。クレーゲル、1973年1月。政治経済の再建。ニューヨーク:ワイリーとサンズ。
–––。1993年。「ケインズの論文と一般理論における「基準」に関するいくつかの注記。」原稿。。 "原稿。–––。1994。"価値理論、期待、および雇用、利害、およびお金の一般理論の第17章マルクス、カール。1976年、1978年、1981年。キャピタル、第I〜III巻。ニューヨーク:ペンギンブックスUSA。ミーク、ロナルド。1956年。労働価値説の研究。ニューヨーク:国際出版社。ロビンソン、ジョアン。1969年、1964年、1965年、1973年。収集された経済論文、第1巻から第4巻。オックスフォード:バジルブラックウェル。–––。1967年。マルクス経済学に関するエッセイ。ニューヨーク:マクミラン、セントマーチンズプレス。Rotheim、Roy J. 1981.「ケインズの貨幣価値理論(1933)」、Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 4(夏)。3:–––。1991年。「マルクス、ケインズ、そして貨幣経済学の理論」。カラヴァーレでは、GA、ed。マルクスと現代経済分析。アルダーショット、ハンツ、イギリス; 米国バーモント州ブルックフィールド:エドワードエルガー。シェイク、アンワル。1981年。「代数の貧困」。スティードマンでは、イアン、編。価値論争。ロンドン:Verso Editions .–––。1994年。マルクスの第3巻の資本に関する会議で発表された無題の原稿:1894-1994、ベルガモ。Townshend、H.1937。「流動性プレミアムと価値理論」。経済ジャーナル47、185。ヴィアネッロ、フェルナンド。1990年。「労働価値説」。イートウェルでは、ジョン、マレーミルゲート、ピーターニューマン編、マルクス経済学:新しいパルグレイブ。ロンドン、ニューヨーク:MacMillan、pp。233—246。レイ、L。ランダル。1991年。「内生マネーと資産価格の流動性選好理論」。急進的な政治経済学1/2、春/夏、pp。118-125のレビュー。–––。1992a。「」
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The Jerome Levy Economics Institute A quick definition of the "monetary theory of production" (MTP) is in order. One might simply speak of a theory of a capitalist society. However, MTP is more specific and is associated with a particular tradition–that is, one whose subject of analysis is self-consciously a monetary economy. Keynes identified a monetary economy as one in which expectations of the future influence decisions taken today; or, one in which money is a subtle device for linking the present and future; or one in which production begins with money on the expectation of ending with more money later: in his lectures in the early 1930s, at the time that he was just beginning work on the General Theory (GT ), Keynes referred to Marx's famous M-C-M'. Finally, a monetary economy can also be described as one in which Say's Law need not hold because of the existence of a non-produced sink-hole of purchasing power, where non-produced means that labor is not required in its production. The MTP represents the tradition that I think can be traced from Marx, through Veblen and Keynes, and to expositions of Keynes's work such as those of Dudley Dillard, Paul Davidson, and Hyman Minsky. Many authors have found it useful to synthesize the works of Marx and Keynes, but I believe Dillard was among the few who fully recognized the importance of the labor theory of value (LTV) for Keynes's own approach to the MTP1 . In contrast, Townshend (1937) was quick to point out that Keynes had adopted a liquidity preference theory of value (LPTV); Boulding (1944) provided useful extensions, while other expositions (Kregel 1988, Rotheim 1981, Wray 1991, 1992b) relied on similar interpretations.2 I shall begin with a brief discussion of the function of a theory of value. The best known is the neoclassical utility theory (UTV); it is consistent with the neoclassical approach to the study of what Keynes called the barter or real wage economy but it is not appropriate for the study of a monetary, or entrepreneur, economy. Rather, the monetary economy requires a LTV and a LPTV as the bases of analysis. In overlooked passages, or units this is precisely what Keynes argued, if we can properly interpret his discussion concerning choice of standards as related to the choice of theories of value. This approach is suited to the study of real world capitalist economies that can be characterized as operating at less than full capacity as the normal situation. In contrast, the neoclassical value theory is consistent with the study of the economy dominated by scarcity, in which Say's Law holds and flexible relative prices ensure full employment of all resources. Value Theory As Dillard argued, "theories of value in economics have generally been attempts to probe beneath the surface phenomena of the market to discover essential properties and relations". (Dillard 1984, p. 430) Hunt (1983) argues that value theory derives from a "pre-analytic vision" concerning human or social behavior. There is also a strong sense that a theory of value should explain price formation–although there may be some disagreement regarding whether the prices to be explained are market prices, supply prices–and even that values must map directly to prices3 prices, or long period . In the case of the LTV, this has led to the apparently intractable "transformation problem" that Desai (1990) argues cannot be a resolvable technical problem, as it has been "solved" many times while resolving nothing. It is somewhat surprising, however, that apparently only in Marxian debates is "value theory" so narrowly focused on mapping value to price. This is particularly ironic as the LTV is used by Marx to explain the source of profits and accumulation, exploitation and the dual nature of labor, and, indeed, the rise, transformation, and fall of class society; further, he specifically denied that individual prices would reflect embodied labor values. I intend to minimize discussion of the transformation problem. However, there can be no doubt that the LTV, in Marx's own eyes, was fundamental to the whole
analysis of bourgeois society. It was not meant to be merely into the process of price formation. Outside Marxian transformation problem analysis, "value theory" has often been broadly defined. Keynes identified "classical" (neoclassical) value theory with the entire supply-demand edifice of the marginalist approach to prices and distribution. He contrasted this with the separate "theory of money and prices" of "classical" (neoclassical) quantity of money approaches. Rotheim (1981) labeled Keynes's own approach a "monetary theory of value", while Keynes had called it a theory of output and employment as a whole–although in the preface he had also referred to "our fundamental theory of value". All general perspectives reflect an underlying standard or theory of value. (Henry 1990) Alternative views of capitalism are based on alternative theories of value. The feudal value theory, just price, reflected the view that prices should be set so as to reproduce feudal society; for obvious reasons, the rise of the merchant class, with a different social perspective, gave rise to an alternative value theory–the UTV which could assert that prices reflect values that are determined by the usefulness of commodities. Production could be ignored (again, reflecting the point of view of the merchant class), as the focus of analysis was on the relation of an individual consumer with the commodities desired. The merchant supplies desired commodities but due to competitive forces has no influence over price, which is determined by the impersonal forces of individual preferences and fixed supplies. However, with the evolution of capitalism, the focus turned to production and in particular capital accumulation (viewed as the key to expansion of production). A value theory that would be consistent with an alternative view, that of a commodity-producing economy. The social relations of production are analytically important for a number of reasons, including the impact of distribution of social output between those who consume and those who accumulate, where decisions to produce and to employ are individually undertaken within a social context that both influences, and is influenced by, such decisions. Further, there is little doubt that the choice of the theory of value was influenced by the intellectual climate of the time, which emphasized scientific objectivity. The subjective UTV was dropped in favor of the objective LTV–in principle, labor values could be measured. Two observers adopting the same measurement unit would reach similar conclusions. Let's examine first the UTV, and then move to the LTV. In neoclassical analysis, utility theory is fundamental not only to analysis of price, but also to the behavioral axioms that define motivations of economic agents, who maximize utility or expected utility, and avoid activity–such as work–that generates disutility. In this sense, Dillard's claim that a theory of value should "probe beneath the surface phenomena of the market" applies even to neoclassical theory, in which prices are said to be "market determined". Commodities are desired because they will generate utils on consumption, while agents choose between leisure (which generates utility) and work (which generates disutility, but also provides income that can be used to purchase commodities that generate utility). Finally, agents are atomistic–they receive neither utils nor disutils from the situation of other atomistic agents. Given scarce resources and budget constraints (or endowments), as well as certain assumptions about market form, a system of relative prices will be generated such that the ratio of prices for any two commodities will be equal to the ratio of the (expected) marginal utilities of the two commodities in consumption for each agent. Still, there is no suggestion that the (relative) price of any particular commodity gives any indication of the quantity of utils it will provide in consumption–what is important is the marginal utility expected to be received by each individual , a quantity which is subjectively relative scarcity determined. Indeed, prices are thought to be reflections of rather than of utils, which follows directly from the Robbins definition of economics as the study of the allocation of scarce resources among unlimited wants. That is, equilibrium prices are formed to eliminate positive or negative excess demand as they ration, allocate, and distribute resources, commodities, and incomes, while quantities are given at the full employment level. Dissenters from this tradition have frequently searched for alternatives to the UTV that would first, use values that are at least in principle observable and measurable–objective ; and second, that would be consistent with price determination of commodities "pre-market", or, independently of market demand. Those forces that concern neoclassical economists might play a role in determination of short period market price as it deviates from production-price. However, the economist has to probe deeper, below market forces, to discover the
determinants of longer period prices. Further, for Marx, in particular, it was necessary to have a theory of production of value and not merely a theory of circulation of value based on market forces4 . Meek (1956) also lists two logical requirements of a theory of value: first it cannot be merely relative , as there must be a common quality capable of being expressed in quantitative terms; second, that common quality must be distinguishable from the commodity (in other words, there must be a measurable quantity that is not itself a value).5 Thus, according to Meek, utility cannot provide a theory of value because it is not directly measurable and because it is not an independent determining factor. The Classical and Marxian Labor Theories of Value Classical economists wanted to show that "prices of production" could be explained without reference to "supply and demand". (Cohen 1989) If these long run, or production, prices could be traced to the "difficulty" of production, then "political economy" would have a scientific theory of price formation–or a theory of valuation–that did not rely on utility, preferences, or transitory market forces. Further, at least some thought it important to find a measure of value that would be invariant to certain changes, such as a change of distribution between classes. (Kregel 1973) One could identify this "scientific" theory of value with a cost-principle theory and contrast this with the utility demand-based theory. The cost-principle theory is concerned with production, it can concern social relations in production, and it can differentiate between class incomes. (Dobb 1945) If prices can exceed costs, then the cost-principle theory is also capable of explaining the creation and disposal of a surplus. Given the concern of classical economists with analysis of capital accumulation, such matters were deemed important. Leaving aside the problems the demand-based theory has in explaining factor incomes and distribution6 , there can be no serious analysis of the creation of surplus in such an approach. As prices are merely determined by the relation between individual preferences and given endowments, there is no concept of surplus; at one time, it was even thought that the marginal productivity theory "proved" there could be no surplus since factor incomes would exhaust the product (a conclusion shown to be generally false even without the Cambridge Controversy). Early attempts to find a measure of value that could fulfill these requirements were not wholly successful. Use of labor as the common denominator in a model with multiple inputs and outputs appeared to offer an obvious measure of difficulty of production, however, the search for an invariant measure of value that could be used to analyze both the production and circulation spheres essentially proved to be a deadend for Classical economists, but played a role in creating the Marxian "transformation problem" and the Sraffian search for the "standard commodity". Techniques were eventually developed to map labor values into prices, or to form a measure comprised of a combination of all commodities that enter as inputs into the production processes of all other commodities of the system. Again, these topics will not concern us here.7 Marx took a different route. He emphasized the dual nature of labor: first as the basic element of production, and second as a commodity with exchange value. Labor hours can serve as an invariant measure of value; changes of technique would change the number of hours required to produce a particular commodity, but the number of hours required could always serve to measure the "difficulty" of production. This is distinguished from labor as a commodity with a price determined "by the specific production and social relations ruling at a given point in the process of the development of capitalism". (Kregel 1973, p. 115) Labor time, reduced to its socially necessary amount could serve as a unique measure of the value of all commodities, including the commodity labor power that is exchanged at the going wage. Finally, once a certain level of technique has been achieved by society, labor power is able to produce value beyond what is necessary to reproduce itself; that is, surplus value can be created. The rate of surplus value is determined by the ratio of unpaid to paid labor time. While it is beyond the scope of this paper, the use of labor time as the measure of value by Marx does not exhaust the full importance of the LTV for Marx's thought. Engels (1966) emphasized that the LTV has a basis not only in logic but also in history. As a logical statement, the LTV is "but the economic expression for the fact of the social productive power of labour as the basis of economic existence", but Marx goes much further: "the value of commodities is the specific and historical form in which the productive power of labour, in the last analysis dominating all economic processes, asserts itself as a determining factor". (Engels 1966, p. 894)
Most importantly for our purposes, however, he insisted that with the rise of merchant capital, prices cannot reflect labor values because prices are formed to equalize profit rates on invested capital. In a pre-capitalist society (or, Keynes's neutral economy), exchange would take the form of C-M-C' and prices could reflect labor values. However, according to Engels, capitalist production is not consistent with exchange at labor values because profit rates must be equalized on invested capital. This system must be represented as M-C-M', where commodities are produced only to the extent that money values are expected to expand. While labor values are not observed in a capitalist system, and while the functioning of the system is not such as to reflect these labor values in prices, the conversion of labor values into prices still "proceeds according to objective laws, without the consciousness or intent of the participants." (Engels 1966, p. 907) The argument is well-known: the production process involves the application of fixed capital and raw materials ("dead labor") and "live" labor; only live labor can produce a surplus by working unpaid hours in excess of the hours of labor required to reproduce the value of the commodity labor power. Capitalists, however, are concerned only with the money prices and money profits realized in circulation and not with the amount of value or surplus value produced. While it is identically true that in the aggregate, the mass of money profit is equal to the mass of surplus value as measured in terms of money, this result would not generally hold at the individual level.8 This is because of the necessity of equal cost-prices for different techniques that use the same amount of capital. In other words, one technique might use more live labor relative to dead labor than another–the firm with more live labor will also produce more surplus value, which must be redistributed in the sphere of circulation from the techniques with lower organic composition of capital to those with higher organic composition. As Keynes pointed out to Robinson, only in the case in which the rate of profit is zero could prices directly reflect labor values. (Robinson 1967, p. x) "Transformation" in this interpretation of Marx is not one of labor values into prices, but is a process of transferring surplus to equalize profits rates, a process accomplished by the formation of production prices. Clearly, there are a number of factors that could prevent equalization of profit rates, including the existence of monopoly power (I'll deal with another factor below). As Shaikh (1981) argues, prices are more complexly determined than values; they must reflect conditions in the sphere of circulation in addition to those of the productive sphere. The field of circulation must not only redistribute value to equalize the rate of profit, but also must equate supplies and demands, deal with shortages and surpluses, and reflect market power, barriers to entry, and other institutional factors. To some extent, one can reduce the complexity by first theorizing about "production prices" before looking at "market prices" (which necessarily include some "arbitrary" components). It is not expected that labor embodied would by itself provide any indication of market price or even cost price; the LTV does not provide a theory of price, rather, it provides insights into a process of price formation. What does the LTV accomplish for Marx? First, it provides an objective measure of value–socially necessary labor time–which can be used theoretically , and, in principle, empirically9 to measure output, accumulation, and exploitation. Second, this measure is consistent with an aggregate analysis, avoiding heterogeneity problems of adding across different types of output. Third, with it Marx can explain the source of profit, accumulation, and exploitation, and it is important for his discussion of competition (through which surplus labor is redistributed). Fourth, it provides the basis for his dual nature of labor, and for his view of capital as a produced good and embodied dead labor. Fifth, Marx can explain the creation of value and surplus value (thus, profit) in production rather than circulation.10 While the theory of value is based on a real, labor time, standard, it is interesting that Marx's analysis is consistently monetary ; Marx explicitly denies that labor values would be the basis of decisions, and argues that economic processes would, for example, equalize money profits–and so on. It is also interesting that Marx does not rely on scarcity; the wage is socially determined and even with redundant labor, wages would not tend toward zero–although unemployment is one important factor that keeps pressure on wages, there is no hint that falling wages would eliminate that unemployment. As Marx argued, the economic process (of capitalist society) must be analyzed in terms of the social relations between men and men in the production of commodities–rather than as the relation of man with scarce resources. (Meek 1956) There is no exchange of products, only exchange of labor–with value appearing as the expression of a production relation between men.
Money is an institutionalized symbol of the abstract labor that produces value; it is the medium that acts as the external measure of exchange value. Exchange cannot take place on the basis of abstract labor directly; the money prices that reflect production costs must redistribute surplus labor in exchange to equalize profit rates. The Treatise and the Choice of Units In the Treatise on Money (TOM ), Keynes was concerned with the development of a new monetary standard to replace the gold standard. Indeed, as Kregel (1993) notes, the first draft of the TOM carried the title "The Standard of Value", which was subsequently changed to "The Monetary Standard". The discussion did not specifically concern the choice of a theory of value, but is still interesting as a clue to Keynes's transition of thought away from a somewhat more traditional approach to his MTP.11 When Keynes proposed a new standard he had more in mind than simply the choice of an international money unit to replace gold–it is clear from his discussion that he was also concerned with the choice of a standard that would be consistent with his understanding of the functioning of the economy; that is, the standard chosen for policy purposes is the same as that to be used in his theoretical analysis. In the TOM , Keynes adopted two standards–the labor power standard (or, the purchasing power of money in terms of the labor it can buy, or "labor commanded by money") and the commodity power standard (or, the purchasing power of money in terms of the commodities it can buy). (Keynes 1976; Kregel 1993) Keynes provided two justifications for these choices: first, they are "objective" in the sense that each is the basis for decision-making for a group of economic agents–the labor power standard is the basis of decisions of entrepreneurs, while the commodity power standard is the basis of decisions of consumers; second, these standards are consistent with a two-fold division of "the total quantity of money" into "the parts which have been earned by the production of consumption-goods and of investment-goods" and "the parts which are expended on consumption-goods and on savings respectively". (Keynes 1976a, p. 134) These divisions can be recognized as the modern distinction between aggregate income and aggregate spending, which Keynes posed as an alternative to the quantity theory of money. The TOM should be seen as a not entirely successful attempt to move toward the development of a monetary theory of production, or, at least, to replace the quantity theory with an approach based on money prices. This would require a new theory of value, and his choice of the two standards should be seen as moving toward the two standards finally adopted in the GT . Most importantly, both of the standards used in the TOM are in money terms as Keynes threw out the neoclassical system based on scarcity and relative prices. Some of the discussion in the TOM Keynes's earlier examination of ancient monies, which no doubt influenced his views.12 is based on Further, his fundamental equations should be seen as an attempt to explain prices without relying on a supply-demand market approach. The GT continues in this vein, explaining prices as a result of macro phenomena and costs–more on this below. It is important to note that Keynes was "already" dissatisfied with the TOM before it was published; the GT was begun almost immediately, with early drafts explicitly acknowledging his goal as one of providing a monetary theory of production. The analysis of the GT differs in two major respects from that of the TOM : first, in explicit treatment of expectations, and second, in explicit treatment of the determination of the quantity of employment and output as a whole . While it is probably an overstatement to claim that the TOM quantity of output as given–as many have claimed13 took the–Keynes's comments make it clear that he did not believe the TOM provided an adequate treatment of the determination of output as a whole.14 explains the difference of "standards" adopted in the two works. I think this partially Given Keynes's purposes, the UTV would not suffice; Keynes required a value theory that would explain the process of price formation when output is variable. Distribution would be explained not as a result of marginal productivity, but as an outcome of social relations of production. Neither prices nor distribution could be the result of a technical relation. Rather, Keynes adopted a cost-based theory that would be consistent with monetary production in which the object of production is to end with more money than it started with–that is, generation of a monetary surplus. Keynes and the Labor Theory of Value
Like Marx (and the Classicals), Keynes wanted to find a rational basis for the determination of prices in production–this is quite different from most modern approaches, whether orthodox or nonorthodox. In Neoclassical theory, relative prices are determined in exchange by techniques and tastes; nominal prices are nonessential; and competition ensures that relative prices are determined such that marginal utilities in consumption are equalized and that normal profits are realized in production. In Institutionalist theory, prices are arbitrarily determined by power relations, hysteresis, and accident. It is common in Post Keynesian approaches to take prices as determined by cost plus a markup.15 It is also rare for Post Keynesians to discuss value or even units of measurement. It is merely assumed that one can properly begin with prices from the sphere of circulation and deal exclusively with nominal values.16 However, this was not Keynes's approach in the GT. Keynes proposed "to make use of only two fundamental units of quantity, namely, quantities of money-value and quantities of employment". (1964, p. 41) Further, "We shall call the unit in which the quantity of employment is measured the labour-unit; and the money-wage of a labour-unit we shall call the wage-unit."17 (1964, p. 41) The labor-unit can be reduced to a homogenous unit by "taking an hour's employment of ordinary labour as our unit and weighting an hour's employment of special labour in proportion to its remuneration; i.e. an hour of special labour remunerated at double ordinary rates will count as two units." (1964, p. 41) Further, the labor-unit provides an unambiguous measure of output: "the amount of employment associated with a given capital equipment will be a satisfactory index of the amount of resultant output" (1964, p. 41); "we shall measure changes in current output by reference to the number of hours of labour paid for (whether to satisfy consumers or to produce fresh capital equipment) on the existing capital equipment, hours of skilled labour being weighted in proportion to their remuneration". (1964, p. 44) Keynes argued that any other units of measurement lead to "unnecessary perplexity" due to heterogeneity of inputs and outputs. Keynes's aggregate supply curves (whether for a firm or for an industry) are given as a function of "the proceeds (net of user cost) the expectation of which will induce a level of employment Nr." (1964, p. 44) His "ordinary supply curve" is then stated as a price which is determined by several functions of the quantity of labor (Nr), including the user cost corresponding to that level of employment and the "technical" relation between that level of employment and the resulting level of output. Even Keynes's multiplier theory is stated in terms of the amount of employment that will result from a given increase of employment in the investment sector. Obviously, Keynes's reasons for use of the labor unit were not identical to Marx's reasons. Keynes had a much narrower purpose–to find a consistent unit of measurement to "predict how entrepreneurs possessing a given equipment will respond to a shift in the aggregate demand function". (1964 p. 44) Certainly, he was not trying to provide a general theory of history, but rather to provide a "theory of shifting equilibrium". In order to do so, it was necessary to find a unit of measurement that–given the "standard of life", technology, and relative rates of remuneration of different types of labor–could be used to "aggregate the Nr's in a way which we cannot aggregate the Or's" (where Or stands for physical output). (1964, p. 45) However, the problem of heterogeneity was not the only reason for choosing a labor unit. For one thing, as Kregel (1993) argues, Keynes wanted to use an objective standard–that is, one that would actually be the subject of decision-making by those responsible for making the decisions. The entrepreneur is responsible for the hiring decision, and is concerned with the number of hours of labor hired–adjusted for type–for that will determine whether production plans can be met. Keynes also recognized the dual nature of wages–as a cost production, but also as a source wages of household income, thus, as a source of revenue. But why not then use of rather than labor hours as the unit of measurement? Because this would not give a satisfactory index of the amount of resultant output (as nominal wages might change between periods it would not be possible to compare output across time by using wages rather than hours–which was similar to Marx's belief that one could not use the commodity labor power as the unit of value, but rather must use socially necessary labor time). In passage that must be bothersome for at least some Post Keynesians, Keynes argued:
I sympathise, therefore, with the pre-classical doctrine that everything is produced aided by...technique, by natural resources..., and by the results of past labour.... It is preferable to regard labour, including, of course, the personal services of the entrepreneur and his assistants, as the sole factor of production.... This partly explains why we have been able to take the unit of labour as the sole physical unit which we require in our economic system, apart from units of money and of time. (Keynes 1964, pp. 213-4) , While Joan Robinson (generally18 ) rejected the importance of the LTV, she noted in her "letter to a Marxist" that in response to "the idea that constant capital is an embodiment of labour power expended in the past..I say (though I do not use such pompous terminology): 'Naturally–what else do you think it could be?'" (Robinson CW 4 p. 265) She goes on to answer the question, what unit of value could be adopted in Keynes's system?: "A man hour of labour time. It is the most handy and sensible measure of value, so naturally you take it. You do not have to prove anything, you just do it." (Robinson CW 4 p. 268) She also argued many times that Sraffa had solved the "transformation problem", showing how labor values could be transformed to prices.19 However, she argued that one must first transform prices to values, then transform back again from values to prices; thus, one did not need values for the analysis. In her view, it would be sufficient to use the wage-unit rather than the labor unit–she argued that this should be called the labor theory of value. Still, she recognized that the wage-unit could lead to problems in calculating distribution of output between capital and labor: "[W]hen the share of labour in money national income is constant, and the total money value of national income is constant, yet the benefit to labour varies with relative prices–real wages are higher when the things that the workers are interested in consuming are relatively cheap." (CW 2, p. 52) Given this "index number problem" it is curious that Robinson preferred the wage unit over Keynes's proposal to use the labor (hour) unit. In a large number of publications, she traced an evolution of thought from Ricardo to Keynes–one that should recognize the importance of the LTV. According to Robinson, Ricardo posed the "big question", concerning the division of aggregate output among capitalists, landlords, and workers, wondering how distribution affected accumulation. The LTV was adopted to study income distribution–and to show that landlords were parasites. Ricardo "got lost" because he realized that each different rate of profit would lead to a different pattern of prices (thus, of distribution) unless the organic composition of capital were uniform. (Robinson CW 4 p. 59) Marx's purpose was similar, but his innovation was the distinction between labor and labor power. After Marx, "Marshall turned the meaning of Value into a little question: Why does an egg cost more than a cup of tea?" (CW 4, p. 267) The problem, however, is that neither Marshall nor the neoclassical school was able to provide a theory of profits; since profits must be known to value capital, neither could they provide a theory of capital. The result was merely a theory of relative prices given fixed output. Sraffa showed, however, that supply and demand have nothing to do with price and that once the rate of exploitation is given, relative prices are not interesting. (Robinson CW 3, p. 175; 1967 p. x) Keynes changed the question back again. He started thinking in Ricardo's terms: output as a whole and why worry about a cup of tea? When you are thinking about output as a whole, relative prices come out in the wash–including the relative price of money and labour. (Robinson CW 4 p. 267-8) (Robinson CW 4 p. 268) She concludes: "Well there you are–we are back on Ricardo's large questions and we are using Marx's unit of value."20 Between the TOM and the GT Keynes thus switched from the labor power standard (purchasing power of money in terms of the labor it can buy) to the labor unit. This is consistent with the different purposes of the books. In the GT , he wanted to compare output at two different times, resulting from a change of expectations. Clearly, he could not use the labor power standard as the unit of measurement, for nominal wages might have changed. In contrast to the normal "bastard Keynesian" approach, Keynes did not take the wage as fixed–this would not have been consistent with his purposes (as critics pointed out, no neoclassical economist would disagree that involuntary unemployment results from inflexible wages). Thus, use of the labor unit allowed him to avoid the assumption of fixed nominal wages. While output can change in the TOM , analysis of such
changes was not the primary purpose of the book; if there is no need to compare two output levels, there is no need of using the labor unit. As the TOM was more concerned with determination of aggregate prices through the fundamental equations, the appropriate unit of analysis is the labor power standard, as a change of this will change both costs and revenues. The atomistic, individualistic utility theory of value would not have been consistent with Keynes's goals, either; he specifically rejected the individual market, supply-demand approach to determination of quantity and price (actually in both books). Prices of commodities–at least, of consumption goods (full discussion of the case of investment goods will have to wait)–are not indices of scarcity, determined by marginal utilities and scarcities. Rather, they are determined partially by labor costs (also by user costs, as discussed in a moment); prices are thus production prices. Wages then generate the incomes that become revenues. Further, the total revenues available to sellers of consumer goods can be decomposed into a cost component and a gross profit component. The latter depends on wages, costs, or production prices in the investment sector. This naturally leads to a theory of distribution and an analysis of how changes of distribution can affect output. It is useful to compare Keynes's criticism of "Classical" analysis over the absence of the notion of "user cost" with Marx's criticism of Classical economists for ignoring constant capital.21 In an often overlooked Appendix to Chapter 6 of the GT, Keynes argued "User cost has, I think, an importance for the classical theory of value which has been overlooked".22 (1964 p. 66) He goes on to criticize this "classical" theory in which "it has been a usual practice to equate the short-period supply price to the marginal factor cost alone" (ibid p. 67), leading to an erroneous conception of "supply price" for a firm or industry. He argued that even if one were to include "marginal cost of purchases from other firms" ("constant capital"), this still "deprives our analysis of all reality" because "we still have to allow for the marginal disinvestment in the firm's own equipment involved in producing the marginal output". (ibid p. 67) Further, "even if all production is carried on by a completely integrated firm, it is still illegitimate to suppose that the marginal user cost is zero". (ibid p. 67) Now, of course this seems to be a small addendum and no one would find the argument that depreciation of fixed capital should be included in supply prices controversial. However, it is remarkable on the one hand that Keynes's version of "reproduction" is frequently ignored. Further, in Keynes's hands, the user cost concept not only "enables us...to give a clearer definition than that usually adopted of the short-period supply price of a unit of a firm's saleable output" (ibid p. 67), but also "user cost constitutes one of the links between the present and the future." (ibid p. 69) This is because "it is the expected sacrifice of future benefit involved in present use which determines the amount of the user cost, and it is the marginal amount of this sacrifice which, together with the marginal factor cost and the expectation of the marginal proceeds, determines his scale of production". (ibid p. 70) Or, "to-day's user cost is equal to the maximum of the discounted values of the potential yields of all the to-morrow's." (Ibid p. 70) The user cost of utilizing capital today is the foregone expected revenue from saving the capital for future use (this includes costs of "moth-balling" the capital); the user cost of hiring labor (variable capital) today is the foregone interest on money that could be obtained from lending money capital (or, more generally, an expected risk-adjusted return from holding financial assets); the user cost of selling a commodity rather than storing it for future sale is the foregone future revenue (discounted) that would have been obtained for sale at the future date (user cost is positive if the price is expected to rise). Expectations of future prices must be included in today's price. It must be remembered that future prices, in so far as they are anticipated, are already reflected in current prices, after allowing for the various considerations of carrying costs and of opportunities of production in the meantime which relate the spot and forward prices of a given commodity.... For the entrepreneur is guided, not by the amount of product he will gain, but by the alternative opportunities for using money having regard to the spot and forward price structure taken as a whole. (Keynes 1979, pp. 82-83) Keynes's "reproduction" scheme involves expectations at the beginning of the analysis and is equivalent to neither a depreciation concept nor a Marxian concept of social reproduction. In Keynes's analysis, even if the equipment is to be replaced by identical equipment, its user cost depends critically on expectations of the course of prices as well as the rate of discount used to obtain the present value of future revenues. In this way,
expectations of the future enter directly into current supply prices–supply prices cannot be determined merely by marginal factor costs nor by embodied labor. This "deviation" of labor values from supply prices has nothing to do with differences of organic composition of capital. However, as in the case of differences of organic composition of capital, deviations of supply prices from labor-unit values are systematic and can be treated by a rational political economy–albeit, one that includes a role for the impact of expectations of the future on decisions taken today. Accordingly, expectations cause supply prices to systematically deviate from labor values–for example, if prices are expected to be higher in the future, then the estimated sacrifice of using means of production to supply commodities today is higher, raising today's supply price above nominally measured labor values. If prices are expected to be considerably lower, then today's marginal user cost could approach zero, as supply prices must fall sufficiently that speculators purchasing in spot markets earn a normal return by holding inventory. The Liquidity Preference Theory of Value Recall that Keynes argued that user cost "constitutes one of the links between the present and the future" also recall the famous distinction made by Keynes between a "real" or "cooperative" or "barter" economy and a monetary production or "entrepreneur" economy: a monetary economy "is essentially one in which changing views about the future are capable of influencing the quantity of employment and not merely its direction".23 (ibid p. vii) Keynes went on to chastise "classical" economists for their dichotomy between the "Theory of Value" (meaning, price determination at the micro level) and the "Theory of Money and Prices" (dealing with aggregate quantities of money, income-velocity, and aggregate price levels); he argues that the proper division is between the "Theory of Individual Industry or Firm" on the one hand and the "Theory of Output and Employment as a whole " on the other–or between "the theory of stationary equilibrium and the theory of shifting equilibrium", in which shifting equilibrium refers to "the theory of a system in which changing views about the future are capable of influencing the present situation. For the importance of money essentially flows from its being a link between the present and the future ." (Ibid, pp 292-3, emphasis in original) If we admit the possibility that "our previous expectations are liable to disappointment" and allow that "expectations concerning the future affect what we do to-day", then the peculiar properties of money as a link between the present and the future must enter into our calculations. But, although the theory of shifting equilibrium must necessarily be pursued in terms of a monetary economy, it remains a theory of value and distribution and not a separate 'theory of money'. Money in its significant attributes is, above all, a subtle device for linking the present to the future; and we cannot even begin to discuss the effect of changing expectations on current activities except in monetary terms. (ibid pp. 294) Others have stressed that the evolution to commodity production requires a universal equivalent.24 Under a capitalist form of production, it is not possible for commodities to exchange on the basis of labor values; exchange rates must be calculated in terms of another standard to allow equalization of profit rates. Money is, as Robinson said, used to compare in abstract terms the concrete products of concrete labor: money "is a social convention, comparable to an alphabet... Money is a creation of society, and the most essential element in the purchasing power of money is its purchasing power over one's neighbours' time" (the wage unit). (Robinson CW 2, p. 18) Expression of exchange value must be in abstract terms where concrete and heterogenous production is the result of division of labor and specialization, and where production decisions are individually made. As exchange value must be calculated in abstract terms, choice of one commodity for use as numeraire (as neoclassical economists imagine) is not consistent with commodity production because a) one could always choose to produce the numeraire rather than produce for market (violating the "rules of the game", so to speak, which require that one produce commodities for market); b) an increase of demand for the numeraire would always generate demand for labor and direct resources toward its production (generating a "Say's Law" economy that is never observed); c) changes of technical conditions of production of the numeraire would affect the numeraire-denominated values of all other commodities (leading to pressures to find another numeraire whose "relative price" were more stable); and d) such a system would require the pre-existence of commodity production (so that one among several could be chosen as numeraire)–which begs the question of the initial decision to produce "for market" (for what were producers producing before the numeraire was
invented?). As discussed, Keynes had argued that there are only two possible measuring units–labor time and money. Once the topic shifts to the effect of changing expectations on current activity, the unit of measurement must be money. As Keynes implied, one cannot first construct "a theory of value and distribution" without money and then add a separate "theory of money" to obtain nominal values; a theory of a monetary economy must allow from the start for the influence of expectations on "value and distribution". While Keynes did conduct his analysis of expected returns in terms of "own rates of interest" (eg: the wheat rate of interest), these are converted to money rates. This is not a coincidence or arbitrary; there are reasons why the money own rate of interest sets the standard that must be achieved by all own rates (calculated in money terms), having to do with what Keynes called the special properties of money. In the interest of brevity, I will refer readers to Chapter 17 of the GT, where Keynes argued that while one could in theory either arbitrarily choose the own rate of any commodity as a standard, or could use the own rate of a composite commodity as a standard, there would remain "the same obstacles in the way of this as there are to setting up a unique standard of value". (1964 p. 225) Choosing money as the standard of value not only avoids these problems (just as the choice of the labor unit avoids problems), but also singles out for analysis the particular own rate of interest that is more "intimately bound" with the "volume of output and employment". (ibid p. 225) Further, the interest rate theory presented in Chapter 17 is really an extension of the user cost concept to money, whose user cost is the premium required to convince holders to become illiquid. (Kregel 1994) is the expected yield; c Readers will remember that Keynes analyzed the various commodity rates of interest in terms of three components: q is the carrying cost; and l is the liquidity of the commodity. The composition of return will vary: highly liquid assets will have a return comprised mainly of (notional) return to liquidity, while physical capital will have a return comprised mainly of the yield it is expected to generate in the sphere of production. Carrying cost would be insignificant for liquid assets, while it would be significant for stores of grain or for physical capital that depreciates over time. Finally, once we measure returns in terms of money, we must include a–the expected appreciation (depreciation) of the money value of the commodity over time. In equilibrium, expected returns (q —c + l + a) must be equal. Thus, the own-rate approach leads directly to the determination of demand prices for assets–where an asset can be physical capital, other commodities, or money-denominated financial assets, in other words, anything which can be carried through time. "Thus in equilibrium the demand-prices of houses and wheat in terms of money will be such that there is nothing to choose in the way of advantage between the alternative". (1965 p. 228) Producible assets will be supplied up to the point where the supply price equals the demand price: "those assets of which the normal supply-price is less than the demand-price will be newly produced; and these will be those assets of which the marginal efficiency would be greater (on the basis of their normal supply-price) than the rate of interest". (ibid p. 228) Keynes argued that for a number of reasons (but not due to diminishing physical returns!), as the quantity of most types of assets is increased, own rates fall, lowering demand prices. When demand prices fall below supply prices, no more will be produced. Due to its special characteristics, this is not true of money, whose return does not fall as its quantity increases–at least, its return would fall much more slowly than would that of any other asset. Similarly, if liquidity preference rises, this will raise the subjective return to liquid assets relative to illiquid assets–raising the demand price of liquid assets and lowering that of illiquid assets, relatively. Again, beyond some point, a rise of liquidity preference will halt production of assets whose return is primarily a function of q–in particular, physical capital. It has elsewhere been argued (Wray 1991, 1992b) that liquidity preference can be interpreted as a theory of value for assets, following the example set by Townshend (1937) and later by Boulding (1944). If two assets have the same stream of expected q — c + a returns, divergence of their demand prices will be uniquely determined by differences of liquidity. Given expected q — c + l + a , the degree of liquidity preference will determine demand prices for all assets. This, in turn, will go into the determination of the levels of employment and output through impact on the levels of production of producible assets. Changing views about the future affect the demand prices of assets through impact on the q's and on liquidity preference. I choose to call this a liquidity preference theory of value rather than a q by money due to preference theory of value because of the special role played the existence of a return to liquidity that is greatest in excess of carrying cost. As Keynes says, "unemployment develops, that is to say, because people want the moon; –men cannot be employed when the object of desire (i.e. money) is something which cannot be produced and the demand for which cannot be
readily choked off". (1964 p. 235) This interpretation does seem to be what Keynes had in mind. In particular, in correspondence with Townshend, Keynes expressed his general approval of Townshend's interpretation of liquidity preference theory as a theory of value.26 Minsky has presented Keynes's approach in terms of the "two price systems"–one price system concerns current output while the other concerns assets. Current output prices are determined by cost plus markup; at the individual firm level, the markup represents gross capital income and is at least partially a function of market power; the aggregate markup of prices of current output depends on the level of aggregate demand. On the other hand, the prices of assets are determined by q — c + l as discussed above. The two price systems meet most importantly in the investment goods sector: supply prices of investment output are determined in the price system for current output while demand prices are determined in the asset price system. When demand prices fall below supply prices, investment output falls, lowering employment and aggregate demand; this, in turn, lowers the aggregate markup that can be realized by current output and can make it impossible to achieve desired markups at the level of individual firms. Thus, Minsky's pricing theory, like Keynes's and Marx's, takes an aggregate approach. Marx's LTV helps us to understand the formation of supply prices of commodities as required to equalize profit rates and redistribute surplus value. Similarly, Keynes's LPTV helps us to understand how asset demand prices are set to equalize q — c + l + a . As a first approximation, we can say that the LTV applies to the price system of current output, while the LPTV applies to the asset price system. But this is too simple. Minsky's two price approach can be modified to take account of Keynes's discussion regarding user cost–expectations of the future enter directly into determination of supply prices of current output for any goods that can be carried through time. It is clear that even if the organic composition of capital were uniform across all industries, supply prices of current output would deviate from labor values due to differences of user costs. In other words, because expectations must play a role in determining supply prices, labor values cannot be directly mapped into supply prices even of current output. Further, because investment goods have a dual nature–first as embodied dead labor that can serve as means of further production and second as an asset that can generate q — c + l + a –prices of investment goods cannot be expected to reflect embodied labor values. Supply prices of investment goods (and indeed of any goods that last more than a period) are determined by "factor costs" (as labor is the only "factor", labor hours–dead and live–multiplied by the wage unit) but also by user costs. Demand prices for such goods are determined to equalize q — c + l + a–as the LPTV shows. Because expectations enter into formation of both demand prices and supply prices, prices of investment output cannot be mapped to labor values. An Aside on Expectations and the "Long Run" Some followers of Keynes have interpreted his theory of effective demand as a "long run" theory; these (as well as some others) reject his theory of liquidity preference as being "short run" (at best) and inconsistent with his theory of effective demand. The preceding analysis should make clear that the theory of effective demand cannot be separated from the theory of liquidity preference; as Kregel (1988) has argued, the theory of effective demand is the "flip side" of the liquidity preference theory.27 Liquidity preference has to do with valuation of assets, which then determines (given supply prices) production of investment goods as well as the level of output as a whole through the spending multiplier. Others are uncomfortable with the important role attributed to subjective expectations in the Keynesian system. Dobb nicely summarizes the fears of those who wish to banish subjective expectations from the purview of economics: "Subjective economics, resting as it does on an attempt to interpret economic events in terms of the psychological behaviour of individuals, finds itself faced with a chaos of indeterminacy, where almost anything is possible. Having crowned expectations, it finds itself ruled by them; and where expectation is king, his every mood is law." (Dobb 1945 p. 219) One advantage of the "long run" method, according to this view, is that expectations can somehow be ignored. Only "fundamentals" or "real variables" will matter; a higher degree of determinism is thought to be achieved. This, too, is mistaken.
The distinguishing characteristics of a monetary production economy are: private ownership of the means of production, wage labor, and individual decision-making regarding production ("anarchy of production"). As Dobb (1945) argued, there is a "particular type of uncertainty that is characteristic of a society of individual (as distinct from social) production. It is the atomistic diffusion of economic decisions under a system of individual production for a market that gives to expectations their rein." (Dobb 1945 p. 220) He emphasized that this uncertainty faced by the individual is quite separate from the situation faced by the economist or the scientist, standing outside the system, as it were, and observing it as a whole, [who] can estimate the future. Even if such a scientific observer could foretell the outcome, given the relevant data, it does not follow that the entrepreneur could do so; since it is the essential nature of the latter in an individualist economy that he is in a situation where he is of necessity ignorant as to the current actions of his rivals. (Dobb 1945 p. 221) Further, it is precisely because individual entrepreneurs are uncertain that we as outside observers are able to predict their actions (to the extent that we can do so)! If the entrepreneur could foresee the actions of his rivals, he would not act in the manner in which the theory of competition assumes him to act, and the laws of Political Economy in their traditional form would cease to hold true. Yet it is the existence of this essential blindness which gives scope to the influence of expectations, with the departures from equilibrium which this influence engenders and the element of indeterminateness which it introduces. Only by virtue of the uncertainty of each as to the actions of all do the traditional laws of the market rule; only by the appearance of freedom does economic necessity and automatism prevail; only by reason of the essential ignorance of each entrepreneur does the economist's power of forecasting the total situation emerge. (Dobb 1945, pp. 221-222) There is also the belief that expectations must have only a temporary effect, because expectations that do not conform to the objective situation will be automatically revised by the changes which actions based on these expectations provoke. (Dobb 1945, p. 205) However, as Dobb argues, such belief is misguided. Only expectations that turn out to be wrong would be revised; incorrect expectations would temporarily move the economy to a different path, but as experience proves them to be wrong, the economy would move back to the original path. Expectations that prove to be correct (even if only because they are self-fulfilling) would generate a new path and there would be no forces to move the economy back to the original path. In a proper theory of the "long run", then, expectations do matter. These expectations need not be objectively formed–it is only essential that they are correct ex post . Any self- fulfilling expectations are (by definition) correct and will exert permanent influences on the economy. It is interesting that Keynes explicitly recognized this as he said he could have assumed throughout the analysis that expectations are always fulfilled without changing any of his conclusions. Liquidity preference and expectations matter even in the long run; Keynes's liquidity preference-effective demand framework remains valid. There may still be reasons to suppose that Keynes's theory is more properly applied to the short run (most importantly, because he generally sets aside the impact of investment on capacity), but this is not due to the prominent role accorded to expectations. Finally, because uncertainty and expectations are important (even in the "long run"), money can never be neutral. As many have stressed (including Hicks) this makes it impossible to abstract from important institutions when one does "high theory". Money contracts, wage labor (and class relations in general), private ownership of the means of production, and atomistic diffusion of economic decision-making cannot be ignored. Liquidity preference, or the motive to remain liquid, is a result of the nature of an economy based on atomistic decision making that cannot be ignored. Theories of Value in a Monetary Theory of Production Even sympathetic readers might be tempted to argue that most of the discussion above could be made without reference to a theory of value. Others might accept the importance of the LTV to Marx's analysis, but argue that Keynes's analysis does not require either a LTV or a LPTV. The question might arise: does Keynes's use of the labor-unit and the money unit of account merely represent an attempt to find useful "measuring rods" to
aggregate-up? Or is the choice of units of fundamental importance? Could Keynes's choices be characterized, as Dillard argued, as an attempt "to probe beneath the surface phenomena of the market to discover essential properties and relations"? I believe so; indeed, I have argued that Keynes's use of the labor-unit and liquidity preference serve purposes similar to Marx's use of the labor-unit–to locate the process of price determination outside exchange and to go beyond simple "supply and demand" explanations. In fact, both Marx and Keynes recognized the fundamental importance of aggregate employment and distribution of employment between "departments" (in Marx's version) or between consumption-saving or consumption-investment (in Keynes's version) in determination of prices, emphasizing aggregate schemes of reproduction (Marx) or effective demand (Keynes). The primary difference between the two approaches involves the way in which expectations enter into price formation–once we allow for a direct influence of expectations of the future on decisions made today, a single, labor theory of value is not sufficient. Further, if capitalist economies can be characterized as "two price systems", then Marx's analysis is inadequate. Both the choice of the labor unit and the role accorded to liquidity preference reflect underlying social forces of the monetary production economy. One of the primary purposes of Marx's analysis was to locate the source of profits in the social relations of production, that is, in the rate of exploitation (the ratio of unpaid to paid labor power); the Keynesian version locates the source of aggregate profits (or gross capital income) in the ratio of the wage bill of investment sector workers to the wage bill of consumption sector workers–again, this reflects the social nature of profits which exist only because wages of workers in the consumption sector are too low to purchase all their output and because there are other workers producing "nonavailable" output. This is really no different from Marx's analysis, in which created surplus value cannot be realized unless there is production in department 1 (the means of production department). In Marxian analysis, this aggregate of surplus value is then redistributed among capitals to equalize profits; in Keynesian analysis, the redistribution is such as to ensure equalization of q — c + l + a on all assets, including financial assets. Things are much more complicated in Keynesian analysis for two reasons: first, these returns are expected and at least partially subjective; second, wages of investment sector workers are not the only source of gross capital income (for example, rising asset prices generate capital gains that need not be linked to the productive sphere). Thus, in the Keynesian approach there is no reason to expect that forces would exist to equalize measured profit rates. In Marx's analysis, only live labor can produce surplus value; dead labor only contributes value as it is used-up, however, this value is only realized if the deteriorating dead labor is replaced. It is easy to give this a Keynesian interpretation: depreciation of physical capital cannot add to aggregate demand, indeed, if sinking funds are accumulated, as Keynes argued, this will depress aggregate demand unless they are matched by replacement investment spending. This is one of the components of user costs that individual firms want to recover in supply prices–firms must weigh the cost of depreciating the capital as measured by the discounted loss of future revenue. Whether depreciated capital will be replaced will depend on expectations regarding the future.28 The Marxian attribution of surplus creation to live labor alone can also be given a Keynesian interpretation. This is because constant capital used in production that is not replaced does not set any live labor in motion (to produce replacement means of production); in other words, it does not generate a wage bill (in the period it depreciates) in the means of production department ("investment" sector). Only replaced dead labor can lead to the realization of value by creating wages and spending on consumption goods. It is because dead labor is bought and owned that it cannot contribute value to production except when it wears out, a value that is not realized unless the depreciated dead labor is replaced. When dead labor is purchased, the full value is realized immediately at the aggregate level, but not at the individual firm level. It can be realized at the individual level only gradually over the future as other purchases of dead labor occur.29 owned; the capitalist can only purchase the commodity labor power On the other hand, live labor cannot be by making periodic wage payments; use of live labor always contributes value to production that can be realized because payment of wages is necessary in every period to set it in motion. Since wages will (according to the classical assumption) be spent on consumption goods, they always lead to realization of value in circulation–a characteristic that is not necessarily true for dead labor.30 It is frequently argued that the LTV is "metaphysical" (an argument also adopted by Robinson 1967, p. xi), or that one could just as well argue that capital produces all value, or that petrol does, and so on.31 This involves a fundamental misunderstanding of a monetary production economy. In an economy that is able to produce , and
in which most production occurs on the basis of hiring labor at a money wage, wages are simultaneously the major cost of production and the source of the revenues that validate production. Labor simultaneously produces the physical output–but, more importantly, it sets in motion the monetary flows that are the purpose of production. Because the majority of worker income will be used to purchase the necessities of life, the wage bill returns as capitalist receipts, while the link between capitalist income and spending is different because the goal of capitalist activity is money and not necessities. In Kalecki's terminology, workers spend what they get and capitalists get what they spend; Marx's equivalent expression is "the part of the variable capital that A advances at any one time to his workers constantly flows back to him from the circulation sphere". (Marx Vol 2, p. 406). There are other reasons why adoption of some other "factor" of production as the source of value would be mistaken. First, of course, there is the problem of adoption of a measure of value that is not itself a value. The separation of labor (not a value) from labor power (a commodity with value) provides the external measure of value. The problem with trying to use capital as the source of value is that it is itself a value, a value that depends on other values (for example, prospective profits); further, the heterogeneity problems with capital are surely much greater than those encountered in the case of labor. (Dobb 1945) Second, the focus on labor is consistent with the observation that it is obvious that man as a tool using animal manufactures instruments to increase control over nature. Third, the focus on labor and relations of production is consistent with the view of capitalist production as the product of relations of men with men. Value is not an attribute of things, but is a social relation between men. (Dobb 1945, p. 59) It should be noted, however, that no claim is made that other "factors of production" are not "productive" in a technical sense; even Marx argued that capital produces wealth. Nor is there any claim that embodied labor is the only thing commodities have in common. It is merely claimed that labor fulfills the requirements of a theory of value while other "factors" do not, and that the LTV is consistent with Keynes's analysis. Similarly, the choice of the money-unit (wage unit) in Keynes's system is due to the prominent role given to liquidity preference and expectations. This in turn reflects a fundamental characteristic of a capitalist society in which the individual faces a type of uncertainty that is unique to an economy based on atomistic diffusion of decision making and individual responsibility for one's own welfare. This cannot be dismissed by handwaves about the "long run" or "fundamentals". In this sense, liquidity preference reflects social relations of production in a manner similar to but distinct from the way labor values reflect social relations in production. Notes 1. See also Fan-Hung 1939. 2. However, I should note that over time I have become less convinced that Townshend–and Rotheim–used the term "value theory" in the manner in which I am using the term. 3. Hunt 1983, following Dobb's example, provides a more useful view: all theories of price are circular because the price of each commodity is formed on the basis of many other prices. Thus, a "value-constant" is required to solve price equations. The theory of value provides this anchor. 4. Dissenters have also criticized the inability of the neoclassical approach to deal with money and nominal values in anything but an ad hoc manner. As mentioned, utility theory and scarcity can only generate relative prices; money is not required in a well-specified neoclassical general equilibrium economy, which can function on the basis of barter. Keynes called this a barter or real wage economy. Alternatively, money can be added in a nonessential manner such that no behavior is altered, with money merely facilitating exchange–what Keynes called the neutral economy, which operates "as if" transactions were actually the result of barter. (Introduction of money into this scheme can generate a difference between the market price and the long run equilibrium price due to short run disequilibrium.) 5. Dobb 1945 provides similar requirements: the theory of value should be capable of expression into actual dimensions which can be factually apprehended and known, and there must be some uniform quantity–that is not itself a value–in terms of which exchange value can be expressed. 6. That is, I will ignore the well-known problems identified in the Cambridge Controversy.
7. See Desai 1990 and Vianello 1990 for discussions. 8. Indeed, prices would not be proportional to labor values, but would be systematic functions of them. See Desai 1990. 9. See Shaikh 1994. 10. This does not mean as some Marxists argue that no profits can be created in circulation. 11. I don't think one should overemphasize Keynes's own claims that he actually made such a transition as I don't think he ever held the neoclassical propositions, rather, the transition is probably more one of clarification and exposition of his thinking. 12. These discussions emphasized money as a unit of account , which is necessarily a standard 1993c. 13. See Rotheim 1981; Joan Robinson argued that in the TOM . See Wray , Keynes "had no very clear perception of the fact that the subject with which he was dealing was the Analysis of Output". (Rotheim 1981, p. 574) 14. Rotheim argues that it is clear from the materials that would be collected and published as Volume 29 of the Collected Works , "Keynes intended to construct a new microfoundation for macroeconomics, what we might call a monetary theory of value ." (Rotheim 1981, p. 574) I would rather argue that Keynes's construction was a monetary theory of production, with the term value reserved for the underlying base(s) on which it is constructed. However, Rotheim's use of the term value is more consistent with the way Keynes used it, and, presumably, with the way the term was used at the time. (This is reflected in Robinson's claim that "to the academic economist, the "theory of value" means the theory of relative price". Robinson CW I, p. 138) 15. Fred Lee rejects this approach and seems to come closest to Institutionalists who argue that prices are arbitrarily determined and thus cannot be the subject of scientific investigation. 16. Here I am ignoring Neo-Ricardian approaches. 17. This differs from Marx's method, which was to weight special labor by the extra value required to produce it, but this is not an important difference. 18. Hunt 1983 examines Robinson's "ambivalence" regarding the LTV, arguing that she really was an "ally". 19. See Robinson CW 3, p. 175; CW 4 p. 48; 1967 p. x. 20. Robinson's hostility to the LTV seems to be based partially on the supposition that the LTV is a theory of relative prices. It is also partially due to the occasional Marxist claim that the value of money is determined by labor embodied in gold. "The 'Keynesian Revolution', which divides the General Theory as much from Marx as from Ricardo, was the adoption of the money-value of labour (the wage rate) in place of the labour-value of money as the unit of account. The labour-value of money is a purely mythical conception, for money has no cost of production." (CW 2 p. 18) I think Robinson was too quick to throw out relative prices; Keynes provides a theory of both aggregate output and of prices. However, for reasons of which Robinson was well aware, labor values alone cannot generate prices. Further, Robinson was right to be suspicious of the labor-embodied theory of money–this could not be made consistent with Keynes's theory. 21. According to Marx, the Classical economists had been remiss for ignoring the necessity of including constant capital in the profit calculation made by capitalists–while Smith had believed that total labor value produced was only equal to the variable capital and surplus labor, Marx emphasized that the constant portion must also be reproduced in the aggregate–this emphasizes the social nature of reproduction, or the necessity of restoration of the part of social capital that is merely transferred to social output. 22. Of course, Keynes's use of the term "classical theory" is somewhat ambiguous–but he generally means the neoclassical approach that he traces to Ricardo. 23. According to Rotheim 1991, Keynes borrowed this distinction made by H.L. McCraken in a book on Marx. 24. See Rotheim 1991, for example. 25. While I cannot go into the topic here, elsewhere I show (following Keynes's example) that money actually pre-existed commodity production; while it is true that the first money units were physical (units of weight of wheat and barley grain), by the time commodity production began, the money units had become idealized wheat or barley units that were transformed into purely abstract "pound" money units with nothing but the name (lira, shekel, pound) to hint at the origins. See Wray 1993c. 26. Elsewhere, and on a wide variety of matters, Keynes congratulates Townshend for his astute observations and keen understanding of the GT . 27. I have argued that there are "three sides", with the endogenous theory of money serving as the third. (Wray 1992b) 28. Fan-Hung (1939) realized very early that the Keynesian theory of effective demand and his user cost
concept were nearly identical to Marx's schemes of reproduction; indeed, he showed that Keynes's general theory could be mapped almost one-to-one to Marx's reproduction schemes. Such correspondence should not be surprising when one considers they studied the same monetary production economy. 29. In Minsky's terminology, investment is made today only on the expectation that investment will occur in the future in order to generate the gross capital income that will be required to validate the decisions made today. 30. Saving out of wages complicates the analysis only marginally. 31. Hunt 1983 dismisses the "metaphysical" critique by arguing that all theories of value are "metaphysical" in the sense that they cannot be proved or disproved; they are "true" by definition. The LTV is definitional , but not arbitrarily chosen because it identifies a real process that underlies the essential nature of social interdependence of capitalism. References Boulding, Kenneth. 1944. "A Liquidity Preference Theory of Market Prices." Economica 11: 42 (May). Cohen, Avi. 1989. "Prices, Capital, and the One-commodity Model in Neoclassical and Classical Theories." History of Political Economy 21: 2 (Summer): 231—252. Desai, Meghnad. 1990. "Value and Price." In Eatwell, John, Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman, eds., Marxian Economics: The New Palgrave . London, New York: MacMillan, 365—372. Dillard, Dudley. 1960. The Economics of John Maynard Keynes: The Theory of a Monetary Economy Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc. (Ninth Printing). .–––. 1980. "A Monetary Theory of Production: Keynes and the Institutionalists." Journal of Economic Issues 24, June, 255–273.–––. 1984. "Keynes and Marx: A Centennial Appraisal." Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 421—432. Dobb, Maurice. 1945. Political Economy and Capitalism . New York: International Publishers. 6, Spring, Engels, Frederick. 1966. "Supplement to Capital, Volume Three: Law of Value and Rate of Profit." In Marx, Karl. 1966. Capital , Vol 3. Moscow: Progress Publishers. VII, 28. Fan-Hung. 1939. "Keynes and Marx on the Theory of Capital Accumulation, Money, and Interest," Review of Economics Studies Henry, John. 1990. The Making of Neoclassical Economics . Boston: Unwin Hyman. Hunt, E.K. 1983. "Joan Robinson and the Labour Theory of Value." Cambridge Journal of Economics 331—342. Keynes, John Maynard. 1964. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money Brace, Jovanovich.–––. 1976a and 1976b. A Treatise on Money 7: 3/4, . New York: Harcourt, , Vols I and II, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company (AMS Reprint).–––. 1979. Collected Works, Vol. XXIX . Moggridge, Donald, ed. London: Macmillan. Kregel, Jan. 1973. The Reconstruction of Political Economy . New York: Wiley and Sons.
–––. 1993. "Some Notes on 'Standards' in Keynes' Treatise & General Theory ." Manuscript. ." Manuscript.–––. 1994. "The Theory of Value, Expectations and Chapter 17 of the General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money Marx, Karl. 1976, 1978, 1981. Capital , Vols I-III. New York: Penguin Books USA. Meek, Ronald. 1956. Studies in the Labour Theory of Value . New York: International Publishers. Robinson, Joan. 1969, 1964, 1965, 1973. Collected Economic Papers , Volumes one—four. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.–––. 1967. An Essay on Marxian Economics . New York: MacMillan, St. Martin's Press. Rotheim, Roy J. 1981. "Keynes' Monetary Theory of Value (1933)," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 4 (Summer). 3:–––. 1991. "Marx, Keynes, and the Theory of a Monetary Economy." In Caravale, G.A., ed. Marx and Modern Economic Analysis . Aldershot, Hants, England; Brookfield, Vt., USA: Edward Elgar. Shaikh, Anwar. 1981. "The Poverty of Algebra." In Steedman, Ian, ed. The Value Controversy . London: Verso Editions.–––. 1994. Untitled manuscript presented at Conference on Marx's Third Volume of Capital: 1894-1994, Bergamo. Townshend, H. 1937. "Liquidity-premium and the Theory of Value." The Economic Journal 47, 185. Vianello, Fernando. 1990. "Labour Theory of Value." In Eatwell, John, Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman, eds., Marxian Economics: The New Palgrave. London, New York: MacMillan , pp. 233—246. Wray, L. Randall. 1991. "Endogenous Money and a Liquidity Preference Theory of Asset Prices." Review of Radical Political Economy 1/2, Spring/Summer, pp. 118-125.–––. 1992a. "Alternative Approaches to Money and Interest Rates." Journal of Economic Issues 1145-1178.–––. 1992b. "Alternative Theories of the Rate of Interest." Cambridge Journal of Economics 4, December, 16, 69-89.
Working Paper No. 261
Theories of Value and the Monetary Theory of Production
by
L. Randall Wray
http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp261.pdf ★
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The Jerome Levy Economics Institute A quick definition of the "monetary theory of production" (MTP) is in order. One might simply speak of a theory of a capitalist society. However, MTP is more specific and is associated with a particular tradition–that is, one whose subject of analysis is self-consciously a monetary economy. Keynes identified a monetary economy as one in which expectations of the future influence decisions taken today; or, one in which money is a subtle device for linking the present and future; or one in which production begins with money on the expectation of ending with more money later: in his lectures in the early 1930s, at the time that he was just beginning work on the General Theory (GT ), Keynes referred to Marx's famous M-C-M'. Finally, a monetary economy can also be described as one in which Say's Law need not hold because of the existence of a non-produced sink-hole of purchasing power, where non-produced means that labor is not required in its production. The MTP represents the tradition that I think can be traced from Marx, through Veblen and Keynes, and to expositions of Keynes's work such as those of Dudley Dillard, Paul Davidson, and Hyman Minsky. Many authors have found it useful to synthesize the works of Marx and Keynes, but I believe Dillard was among the few who fully recognized the importance of the labor theory of value (LTV) for Keynes's own approach to the MTP1 . In contrast, Townshend (1937) was quick to point out that Keynes had adopted a liquidity preference theory of value (LPTV); Boulding (1944) provided useful extensions, while other expositions (Kregel 1988, Rotheim 1981, Wray 1991, 1992b) relied on similar interpretations.2 I shall begin with a brief discussion of the function of a theory of value. The best known is the neoclassical utility theory (UTV); it is consistent with the neoclassical approach to the study of what Keynes called the barter or real wage economy but it is not appropriate for the study of a monetary, or entrepreneur, economy. Rather, the monetary economy requires a LTV and a LPTV as the bases of analysis. In overlooked passages, or units this is precisely what Keynes argued, if we can properly interpret his discussion concerning choice of standards as related to the choice of theories of value. This approach is suited to the study of real world capitalist economies that can be characterized as operating at less than full capacity as the normal situation. In contrast, the neoclassical value theory is consistent with the study of the economy dominated by scarcity, in which Say's Law holds and flexible relative prices ensure full employment of all resources. Value Theory As Dillard argued, "theories of value in economics have generally been attempts to probe beneath the surface phenomena of the market to discover essential properties and relations". (Dillard 1984, p. 430) Hunt (1983) argues that value theory derives from a "pre-analytic vision" concerning human or social behavior. There is also a strong sense that a theory of value should explain price formation–although there may be some disagreement regarding whether the prices to be explained are market prices, supply prices–and even that values must map directly to prices3 prices, or long period . In the case of the LTV, this has led to the apparently intractable "transformation problem" that Desai (1990) argues cannot be a resolvable technical problem, as it has been "solved" many times while resolving nothing. It is somewhat surprising, however, that apparently only in Marxian debates is "value theory" so narrowly focused on mapping value to price. This is particularly ironic as the LTV is used by Marx to explain the source of profits and accumulation, exploitation and the dual nature of labor, and, indeed, the rise, transformation, and fall of class society; further, he specifically denied that individual prices would reflect embodied labor values. I intend to minimize discussion of the transformation problem. However, there can be no doubt that the LTV, in Marx's own eyes, was fundamental to the whole
analysis of bourgeois society. It was not meant to be merely into the process of price formation. Outside Marxian transformation problem analysis, "value theory" has often been broadly defined. Keynes identified "classical" (neoclassical) value theory with the entire supply-demand edifice of the marginalist approach to prices and distribution. He contrasted this with the separate "theory of money and prices" of "classical" (neoclassical) quantity of money approaches. Rotheim (1981) labeled Keynes's own approach a "monetary theory of value", while Keynes had called it a theory of output and employment as a whole–although in the preface he had also referred to "our fundamental theory of value". All general perspectives reflect an underlying standard or theory of value. (Henry 1990) Alternative views of capitalism are based on alternative theories of value. The feudal value theory, just price, reflected the view that prices should be set so as to reproduce feudal society; for obvious reasons, the rise of the merchant class, with a different social perspective, gave rise to an alternative value theory–the UTV which could assert that prices reflect values that are determined by the usefulness of commodities. Production could be ignored (again, reflecting the point of view of the merchant class), as the focus of analysis was on the relation of an individual consumer with the commodities desired. The merchant supplies desired commodities but due to competitive forces has no influence over price, which is determined by the impersonal forces of individual preferences and fixed supplies. However, with the evolution of capitalism, the focus turned to production and in particular capital accumulation (viewed as the key to expansion of production). A value theory that would be consistent with an alternative view, that of a commodity-producing economy. The social relations of production are analytically important for a number of reasons, including the impact of distribution of social output between those who consume and those who accumulate, where decisions to produce and to employ are individually undertaken within a social context that both influences, and is influenced by, such decisions. Further, there is little doubt that the choice of the theory of value was influenced by the intellectual climate of the time, which emphasized scientific objectivity. The subjective UTV was dropped in favor of the objective LTV–in principle, labor values could be measured. Two observers adopting the same measurement unit would reach similar conclusions. Let's examine first the UTV, and then move to the LTV. In neoclassical analysis, utility theory is fundamental not only to analysis of price, but also to the behavioral axioms that define motivations of economic agents, who maximize utility or expected utility, and avoid activity–such as work–that generates disutility. In this sense, Dillard's claim that a theory of value should "probe beneath the surface phenomena of the market" applies even to neoclassical theory, in which prices are said to be "market determined". Commodities are desired because they will generate utils on consumption, while agents choose between leisure (which generates utility) and work (which generates disutility, but also provides income that can be used to purchase commodities that generate utility). Finally, agents are atomistic–they receive neither utils nor disutils from the situation of other atomistic agents. Given scarce resources and budget constraints (or endowments), as well as certain assumptions about market form, a system of relative prices will be generated such that the ratio of prices for any two commodities will be equal to the ratio of the (expected) marginal utilities of the two commodities in consumption for each agent. Still, there is no suggestion that the (relative) price of any particular commodity gives any indication of the quantity of utils it will provide in consumption–what is important is the marginal utility expected to be received by each individual , a quantity which is subjectively relative scarcity determined. Indeed, prices are thought to be reflections of rather than of utils, which follows directly from the Robbins definition of economics as the study of the allocation of scarce resources among unlimited wants. That is, equilibrium prices are formed to eliminate positive or negative excess demand as they ration, allocate, and distribute resources, commodities, and incomes, while quantities are given at the full employment level. Dissenters from this tradition have frequently searched for alternatives to the UTV that would first, use values that are at least in principle observable and measurable–objective ; and second, that would be consistent with price determination of commodities "pre-market", or, independently of market demand. Those forces that concern neoclassical economists might play a role in determination of short period market price as it deviates from production-price. However, the economist has to probe deeper, below market forces, to discover the
determinants of longer period prices. Further, for Marx, in particular, it was necessary to have a theory of production of value and not merely a theory of circulation of value based on market forces4 . Meek (1956) also lists two logical requirements of a theory of value: first it cannot be merely relative , as there must be a common quality capable of being expressed in quantitative terms; second, that common quality must be distinguishable from the commodity (in other words, there must be a measurable quantity that is not itself a value).5 Thus, according to Meek, utility cannot provide a theory of value because it is not directly measurable and because it is not an independent determining factor. The Classical and Marxian Labor Theories of Value Classical economists wanted to show that "prices of production" could be explained without reference to "supply and demand". (Cohen 1989) If these long run, or production, prices could be traced to the "difficulty" of production, then "political economy" would have a scientific theory of price formation–or a theory of valuation–that did not rely on utility, preferences, or transitory market forces. Further, at least some thought it important to find a measure of value that would be invariant to certain changes, such as a change of distribution between classes. (Kregel 1973) One could identify this "scientific" theory of value with a cost-principle theory and contrast this with the utility demand-based theory. The cost-principle theory is concerned with production, it can concern social relations in production, and it can differentiate between class incomes. (Dobb 1945) If prices can exceed costs, then the cost-principle theory is also capable of explaining the creation and disposal of a surplus. Given the concern of classical economists with analysis of capital accumulation, such matters were deemed important. Leaving aside the problems the demand-based theory has in explaining factor incomes and distribution6 , there can be no serious analysis of the creation of surplus in such an approach. As prices are merely determined by the relation between individual preferences and given endowments, there is no concept of surplus; at one time, it was even thought that the marginal productivity theory "proved" there could be no surplus since factor incomes would exhaust the product (a conclusion shown to be generally false even without the Cambridge Controversy). Early attempts to find a measure of value that could fulfill these requirements were not wholly successful. Use of labor as the common denominator in a model with multiple inputs and outputs appeared to offer an obvious measure of difficulty of production, however, the search for an invariant measure of value that could be used to analyze both the production and circulation spheres essentially proved to be a deadend for Classical economists, but played a role in creating the Marxian "transformation problem" and the Sraffian search for the "standard commodity". Techniques were eventually developed to map labor values into prices, or to form a measure comprised of a combination of all commodities that enter as inputs into the production processes of all other commodities of the system. Again, these topics will not concern us here.7 Marx took a different route. He emphasized the dual nature of labor: first as the basic element of production, and second as a commodity with exchange value. Labor hours can serve as an invariant measure of value; changes of technique would change the number of hours required to produce a particular commodity, but the number of hours required could always serve to measure the "difficulty" of production. This is distinguished from labor as a commodity with a price determined "by the specific production and social relations ruling at a given point in the process of the development of capitalism". (Kregel 1973, p. 115) Labor time, reduced to its socially necessary amount could serve as a unique measure of the value of all commodities, including the commodity labor power that is exchanged at the going wage. Finally, once a certain level of technique has been achieved by society, labor power is able to produce value beyond what is necessary to reproduce itself; that is, surplus value can be created. The rate of surplus value is determined by the ratio of unpaid to paid labor time. While it is beyond the scope of this paper, the use of labor time as the measure of value by Marx does not exhaust the full importance of the LTV for Marx's thought. Engels (1966) emphasized that the LTV has a basis not only in logic but also in history. As a logical statement, the LTV is "but the economic expression for the fact of the social productive power of labour as the basis of economic existence", but Marx goes much further: "the value of commodities is the specific and historical form in which the productive power of labour, in the last analysis dominating all economic processes, asserts itself as a determining factor". (Engels 1966, p. 894)
Most importantly for our purposes, however, he insisted that with the rise of merchant capital, prices cannot reflect labor values because prices are formed to equalize profit rates on invested capital. In a pre-capitalist society (or, Keynes's neutral economy), exchange would take the form of C-M-C' and prices could reflect labor values. However, according to Engels, capitalist production is not consistent with exchange at labor values because profit rates must be equalized on invested capital. This system must be represented as M-C-M', where commodities are produced only to the extent that money values are expected to expand. While labor values are not observed in a capitalist system, and while the functioning of the system is not such as to reflect these labor values in prices, the conversion of labor values into prices still "proceeds according to objective laws, without the consciousness or intent of the participants." (Engels 1966, p. 907) The argument is well-known: the production process involves the application of fixed capital and raw materials ("dead labor") and "live" labor; only live labor can produce a surplus by working unpaid hours in excess of the hours of labor required to reproduce the value of the commodity labor power. Capitalists, however, are concerned only with the money prices and money profits realized in circulation and not with the amount of value or surplus value produced. While it is identically true that in the aggregate, the mass of money profit is equal to the mass of surplus value as measured in terms of money, this result would not generally hold at the individual level.8 This is because of the necessity of equal cost-prices for different techniques that use the same amount of capital. In other words, one technique might use more live labor relative to dead labor than another–the firm with more live labor will also produce more surplus value, which must be redistributed in the sphere of circulation from the techniques with lower organic composition of capital to those with higher organic composition. As Keynes pointed out to Robinson, only in the case in which the rate of profit is zero could prices directly reflect labor values. (Robinson 1967, p. x) "Transformation" in this interpretation of Marx is not one of labor values into prices, but is a process of transferring surplus to equalize profits rates, a process accomplished by the formation of production prices. Clearly, there are a number of factors that could prevent equalization of profit rates, including the existence of monopoly power (I'll deal with another factor below). As Shaikh (1981) argues, prices are more complexly determined than values; they must reflect conditions in the sphere of circulation in addition to those of the productive sphere. The field of circulation must not only redistribute value to equalize the rate of profit, but also must equate supplies and demands, deal with shortages and surpluses, and reflect market power, barriers to entry, and other institutional factors. To some extent, one can reduce the complexity by first theorizing about "production prices" before looking at "market prices" (which necessarily include some "arbitrary" components). It is not expected that labor embodied would by itself provide any indication of market price or even cost price; the LTV does not provide a theory of price, rather, it provides insights into a process of price formation. What does the LTV accomplish for Marx? First, it provides an objective measure of value–socially necessary labor time–which can be used theoretically , and, in principle, empirically9 to measure output, accumulation, and exploitation. Second, this measure is consistent with an aggregate analysis, avoiding heterogeneity problems of adding across different types of output. Third, with it Marx can explain the source of profit, accumulation, and exploitation, and it is important for his discussion of competition (through which surplus labor is redistributed). Fourth, it provides the basis for his dual nature of labor, and for his view of capital as a produced good and embodied dead labor. Fifth, Marx can explain the creation of value and surplus value (thus, profit) in production rather than circulation.10 While the theory of value is based on a real, labor time, standard, it is interesting that Marx's analysis is consistently monetary ; Marx explicitly denies that labor values would be the basis of decisions, and argues that economic processes would, for example, equalize money profits–and so on. It is also interesting that Marx does not rely on scarcity; the wage is socially determined and even with redundant labor, wages would not tend toward zero–although unemployment is one important factor that keeps pressure on wages, there is no hint that falling wages would eliminate that unemployment. As Marx argued, the economic process (of capitalist society) must be analyzed in terms of the social relations between men and men in the production of commodities–rather than as the relation of man with scarce resources. (Meek 1956) There is no exchange of products, only exchange of labor–with value appearing as the expression of a production relation between men.
Money is an institutionalized symbol of the abstract labor that produces value; it is the medium that acts as the external measure of exchange value. Exchange cannot take place on the basis of abstract labor directly; the money prices that reflect production costs must redistribute surplus labor in exchange to equalize profit rates. The Treatise and the Choice of Units In the Treatise on Money (TOM ), Keynes was concerned with the development of a new monetary standard to replace the gold standard. Indeed, as Kregel (1993) notes, the first draft of the TOM carried the title "The Standard of Value", which was subsequently changed to "The Monetary Standard". The discussion did not specifically concern the choice of a theory of value, but is still interesting as a clue to Keynes's transition of thought away from a somewhat more traditional approach to his MTP.11 When Keynes proposed a new standard he had more in mind than simply the choice of an international money unit to replace gold–it is clear from his discussion that he was also concerned with the choice of a standard that would be consistent with his understanding of the functioning of the economy; that is, the standard chosen for policy purposes is the same as that to be used in his theoretical analysis. In the TOM , Keynes adopted two standards–the labor power standard (or, the purchasing power of money in terms of the labor it can buy, or "labor commanded by money") and the commodity power standard (or, the purchasing power of money in terms of the commodities it can buy). (Keynes 1976; Kregel 1993) Keynes provided two justifications for these choices: first, they are "objective" in the sense that each is the basis for decision-making for a group of economic agents–the labor power standard is the basis of decisions of entrepreneurs, while the commodity power standard is the basis of decisions of consumers; second, these standards are consistent with a two-fold division of "the total quantity of money" into "the parts which have been earned by the production of consumption-goods and of investment-goods" and "the parts which are expended on consumption-goods and on savings respectively". (Keynes 1976a, p. 134) These divisions can be recognized as the modern distinction between aggregate income and aggregate spending, which Keynes posed as an alternative to the quantity theory of money. The TOM should be seen as a not entirely successful attempt to move toward the development of a monetary theory of production, or, at least, to replace the quantity theory with an approach based on money prices. This would require a new theory of value, and his choice of the two standards should be seen as moving toward the two standards finally adopted in the GT . Most importantly, both of the standards used in the TOM are in money terms as Keynes threw out the neoclassical system based on scarcity and relative prices. Some of the discussion in the TOM Keynes's earlier examination of ancient monies, which no doubt influenced his views.12 is based on Further, his fundamental equations should be seen as an attempt to explain prices without relying on a supply-demand market approach. The GT continues in this vein, explaining prices as a result of macro phenomena and costs–more on this below. It is important to note that Keynes was "already" dissatisfied with the TOM before it was published; the GT was begun almost immediately, with early drafts explicitly acknowledging his goal as one of providing a monetary theory of production. The analysis of the GT differs in two major respects from that of the TOM : first, in explicit treatment of expectations, and second, in explicit treatment of the determination of the quantity of employment and output as a whole . While it is probably an overstatement to claim that the TOM quantity of output as given–as many have claimed13 took the–Keynes's comments make it clear that he did not believe the TOM provided an adequate treatment of the determination of output as a whole.14 explains the difference of "standards" adopted in the two works. I think this partially Given Keynes's purposes, the UTV would not suffice; Keynes required a value theory that would explain the process of price formation when output is variable. Distribution would be explained not as a result of marginal productivity, but as an outcome of social relations of production. Neither prices nor distribution could be the result of a technical relation. Rather, Keynes adopted a cost-based theory that would be consistent with monetary production in which the object of production is to end with more money than it started with–that is, generation of a monetary surplus. Keynes and the Labor Theory of Value
Like Marx (and the Classicals), Keynes wanted to find a rational basis for the determination of prices in production–this is quite different from most modern approaches, whether orthodox or nonorthodox. In Neoclassical theory, relative prices are determined in exchange by techniques and tastes; nominal prices are nonessential; and competition ensures that relative prices are determined such that marginal utilities in consumption are equalized and that normal profits are realized in production. In Institutionalist theory, prices are arbitrarily determined by power relations, hysteresis, and accident. It is common in Post Keynesian approaches to take prices as determined by cost plus a markup.15 It is also rare for Post Keynesians to discuss value or even units of measurement. It is merely assumed that one can properly begin with prices from the sphere of circulation and deal exclusively with nominal values.16 However, this was not Keynes's approach in the GT. Keynes proposed "to make use of only two fundamental units of quantity, namely, quantities of money-value and quantities of employment". (1964, p. 41) Further, "We shall call the unit in which the quantity of employment is measured the labour-unit; and the money-wage of a labour-unit we shall call the wage-unit."17 (1964, p. 41) The labor-unit can be reduced to a homogenous unit by "taking an hour's employment of ordinary labour as our unit and weighting an hour's employment of special labour in proportion to its remuneration; i.e. an hour of special labour remunerated at double ordinary rates will count as two units." (1964, p. 41) Further, the labor-unit provides an unambiguous measure of output: "the amount of employment associated with a given capital equipment will be a satisfactory index of the amount of resultant output" (1964, p. 41); "we shall measure changes in current output by reference to the number of hours of labour paid for (whether to satisfy consumers or to produce fresh capital equipment) on the existing capital equipment, hours of skilled labour being weighted in proportion to their remuneration". (1964, p. 44) Keynes argued that any other units of measurement lead to "unnecessary perplexity" due to heterogeneity of inputs and outputs. Keynes's aggregate supply curves (whether for a firm or for an industry) are given as a function of "the proceeds (net of user cost) the expectation of which will induce a level of employment Nr." (1964, p. 44) His "ordinary supply curve" is then stated as a price which is determined by several functions of the quantity of labor (Nr), including the user cost corresponding to that level of employment and the "technical" relation between that level of employment and the resulting level of output. Even Keynes's multiplier theory is stated in terms of the amount of employment that will result from a given increase of employment in the investment sector. Obviously, Keynes's reasons for use of the labor unit were not identical to Marx's reasons. Keynes had a much narrower purpose–to find a consistent unit of measurement to "predict how entrepreneurs possessing a given equipment will respond to a shift in the aggregate demand function". (1964 p. 44) Certainly, he was not trying to provide a general theory of history, but rather to provide a "theory of shifting equilibrium". In order to do so, it was necessary to find a unit of measurement that–given the "standard of life", technology, and relative rates of remuneration of different types of labor–could be used to "aggregate the Nr's in a way which we cannot aggregate the Or's" (where Or stands for physical output). (1964, p. 45) However, the problem of heterogeneity was not the only reason for choosing a labor unit. For one thing, as Kregel (1993) argues, Keynes wanted to use an objective standard–that is, one that would actually be the subject of decision-making by those responsible for making the decisions. The entrepreneur is responsible for the hiring decision, and is concerned with the number of hours of labor hired–adjusted for type–for that will determine whether production plans can be met. Keynes also recognized the dual nature of wages–as a cost production, but also as a source wages of household income, thus, as a source of revenue. But why not then use of rather than labor hours as the unit of measurement? Because this would not give a satisfactory index of the amount of resultant output (as nominal wages might change between periods it would not be possible to compare output across time by using wages rather than hours–which was similar to Marx's belief that one could not use the commodity labor power as the unit of value, but rather must use socially necessary labor time). In passage that must be bothersome for at least some Post Keynesians, Keynes argued:
I sympathise, therefore, with the pre-classical doctrine that everything is produced aided by...technique, by natural resources..., and by the results of past labour.... It is preferable to regard labour, including, of course, the personal services of the entrepreneur and his assistants, as the sole factor of production.... This partly explains why we have been able to take the unit of labour as the sole physical unit which we require in our economic system, apart from units of money and of time. (Keynes 1964, pp. 213-4) , While Joan Robinson (generally18 ) rejected the importance of the LTV, she noted in her "letter to a Marxist" that in response to "the idea that constant capital is an embodiment of labour power expended in the past..I say (though I do not use such pompous terminology): 'Naturally–what else do you think it could be?'" (Robinson CW 4 p. 265) She goes on to answer the question, what unit of value could be adopted in Keynes's system?: "A man hour of labour time. It is the most handy and sensible measure of value, so naturally you take it. You do not have to prove anything, you just do it." (Robinson CW 4 p. 268) She also argued many times that Sraffa had solved the "transformation problem", showing how labor values could be transformed to prices.19 However, she argued that one must first transform prices to values, then transform back again from values to prices; thus, one did not need values for the analysis. In her view, it would be sufficient to use the wage-unit rather than the labor unit–she argued that this should be called the labor theory of value. Still, she recognized that the wage-unit could lead to problems in calculating distribution of output between capital and labor: "[W]hen the share of labour in money national income is constant, and the total money value of national income is constant, yet the benefit to labour varies with relative prices–real wages are higher when the things that the workers are interested in consuming are relatively cheap." (CW 2, p. 52) Given this "index number problem" it is curious that Robinson preferred the wage unit over Keynes's proposal to use the labor (hour) unit. In a large number of publications, she traced an evolution of thought from Ricardo to Keynes–one that should recognize the importance of the LTV. According to Robinson, Ricardo posed the "big question", concerning the division of aggregate output among capitalists, landlords, and workers, wondering how distribution affected accumulation. The LTV was adopted to study income distribution–and to show that landlords were parasites. Ricardo "got lost" because he realized that each different rate of profit would lead to a different pattern of prices (thus, of distribution) unless the organic composition of capital were uniform. (Robinson CW 4 p. 59) Marx's purpose was similar, but his innovation was the distinction between labor and labor power. After Marx, "Marshall turned the meaning of Value into a little question: Why does an egg cost more than a cup of tea?" (CW 4, p. 267) The problem, however, is that neither Marshall nor the neoclassical school was able to provide a theory of profits; since profits must be known to value capital, neither could they provide a theory of capital. The result was merely a theory of relative prices given fixed output. Sraffa showed, however, that supply and demand have nothing to do with price and that once the rate of exploitation is given, relative prices are not interesting. (Robinson CW 3, p. 175; 1967 p. x) Keynes changed the question back again. He started thinking in Ricardo's terms: output as a whole and why worry about a cup of tea? When you are thinking about output as a whole, relative prices come out in the wash–including the relative price of money and labour. (Robinson CW 4 p. 267-8) (Robinson CW 4 p. 268) She concludes: "Well there you are–we are back on Ricardo's large questions and we are using Marx's unit of value."20 Between the TOM and the GT Keynes thus switched from the labor power standard (purchasing power of money in terms of the labor it can buy) to the labor unit. This is consistent with the different purposes of the books. In the GT , he wanted to compare output at two different times, resulting from a change of expectations. Clearly, he could not use the labor power standard as the unit of measurement, for nominal wages might have changed. In contrast to the normal "bastard Keynesian" approach, Keynes did not take the wage as fixed–this would not have been consistent with his purposes (as critics pointed out, no neoclassical economist would disagree that involuntary unemployment results from inflexible wages). Thus, use of the labor unit allowed him to avoid the assumption of fixed nominal wages. While output can change in the TOM , analysis of such
changes was not the primary purpose of the book; if there is no need to compare two output levels, there is no need of using the labor unit. As the TOM was more concerned with determination of aggregate prices through the fundamental equations, the appropriate unit of analysis is the labor power standard, as a change of this will change both costs and revenues. The atomistic, individualistic utility theory of value would not have been consistent with Keynes's goals, either; he specifically rejected the individual market, supply-demand approach to determination of quantity and price (actually in both books). Prices of commodities–at least, of consumption goods (full discussion of the case of investment goods will have to wait)–are not indices of scarcity, determined by marginal utilities and scarcities. Rather, they are determined partially by labor costs (also by user costs, as discussed in a moment); prices are thus production prices. Wages then generate the incomes that become revenues. Further, the total revenues available to sellers of consumer goods can be decomposed into a cost component and a gross profit component. The latter depends on wages, costs, or production prices in the investment sector. This naturally leads to a theory of distribution and an analysis of how changes of distribution can affect output. It is useful to compare Keynes's criticism of "Classical" analysis over the absence of the notion of "user cost" with Marx's criticism of Classical economists for ignoring constant capital.21 In an often overlooked Appendix to Chapter 6 of the GT, Keynes argued "User cost has, I think, an importance for the classical theory of value which has been overlooked".22 (1964 p. 66) He goes on to criticize this "classical" theory in which "it has been a usual practice to equate the short-period supply price to the marginal factor cost alone" (ibid p. 67), leading to an erroneous conception of "supply price" for a firm or industry. He argued that even if one were to include "marginal cost of purchases from other firms" ("constant capital"), this still "deprives our analysis of all reality" because "we still have to allow for the marginal disinvestment in the firm's own equipment involved in producing the marginal output". (ibid p. 67) Further, "even if all production is carried on by a completely integrated firm, it is still illegitimate to suppose that the marginal user cost is zero". (ibid p. 67) Now, of course this seems to be a small addendum and no one would find the argument that depreciation of fixed capital should be included in supply prices controversial. However, it is remarkable on the one hand that Keynes's version of "reproduction" is frequently ignored. Further, in Keynes's hands, the user cost concept not only "enables us...to give a clearer definition than that usually adopted of the short-period supply price of a unit of a firm's saleable output" (ibid p. 67), but also "user cost constitutes one of the links between the present and the future." (ibid p. 69) This is because "it is the expected sacrifice of future benefit involved in present use which determines the amount of the user cost, and it is the marginal amount of this sacrifice which, together with the marginal factor cost and the expectation of the marginal proceeds, determines his scale of production". (ibid p. 70) Or, "to-day's user cost is equal to the maximum of the discounted values of the potential yields of all the to-morrow's." (Ibid p. 70) The user cost of utilizing capital today is the foregone expected revenue from saving the capital for future use (this includes costs of "moth-balling" the capital); the user cost of hiring labor (variable capital) today is the foregone interest on money that could be obtained from lending money capital (or, more generally, an expected risk-adjusted return from holding financial assets); the user cost of selling a commodity rather than storing it for future sale is the foregone future revenue (discounted) that would have been obtained for sale at the future date (user cost is positive if the price is expected to rise). Expectations of future prices must be included in today's price. It must be remembered that future prices, in so far as they are anticipated, are already reflected in current prices, after allowing for the various considerations of carrying costs and of opportunities of production in the meantime which relate the spot and forward prices of a given commodity.... For the entrepreneur is guided, not by the amount of product he will gain, but by the alternative opportunities for using money having regard to the spot and forward price structure taken as a whole. (Keynes 1979, pp. 82-83) Keynes's "reproduction" scheme involves expectations at the beginning of the analysis and is equivalent to neither a depreciation concept nor a Marxian concept of social reproduction. In Keynes's analysis, even if the equipment is to be replaced by identical equipment, its user cost depends critically on expectations of the course of prices as well as the rate of discount used to obtain the present value of future revenues. In this way,
expectations of the future enter directly into current supply prices–supply prices cannot be determined merely by marginal factor costs nor by embodied labor. This "deviation" of labor values from supply prices has nothing to do with differences of organic composition of capital. However, as in the case of differences of organic composition of capital, deviations of supply prices from labor-unit values are systematic and can be treated by a rational political economy–albeit, one that includes a role for the impact of expectations of the future on decisions taken today. Accordingly, expectations cause supply prices to systematically deviate from labor values–for example, if prices are expected to be higher in the future, then the estimated sacrifice of using means of production to supply commodities today is higher, raising today's supply price above nominally measured labor values. If prices are expected to be considerably lower, then today's marginal user cost could approach zero, as supply prices must fall sufficiently that speculators purchasing in spot markets earn a normal return by holding inventory. The Liquidity Preference Theory of Value Recall that Keynes argued that user cost "constitutes one of the links between the present and the future" also recall the famous distinction made by Keynes between a "real" or "cooperative" or "barter" economy and a monetary production or "entrepreneur" economy: a monetary economy "is essentially one in which changing views about the future are capable of influencing the quantity of employment and not merely its direction".23 (ibid p. vii) Keynes went on to chastise "classical" economists for their dichotomy between the "Theory of Value" (meaning, price determination at the micro level) and the "Theory of Money and Prices" (dealing with aggregate quantities of money, income-velocity, and aggregate price levels); he argues that the proper division is between the "Theory of Individual Industry or Firm" on the one hand and the "Theory of Output and Employment as a whole " on the other–or between "the theory of stationary equilibrium and the theory of shifting equilibrium", in which shifting equilibrium refers to "the theory of a system in which changing views about the future are capable of influencing the present situation. For the importance of money essentially flows from its being a link between the present and the future ." (Ibid, pp 292-3, emphasis in original) If we admit the possibility that "our previous expectations are liable to disappointment" and allow that "expectations concerning the future affect what we do to-day", then the peculiar properties of money as a link between the present and the future must enter into our calculations. But, although the theory of shifting equilibrium must necessarily be pursued in terms of a monetary economy, it remains a theory of value and distribution and not a separate 'theory of money'. Money in its significant attributes is, above all, a subtle device for linking the present to the future; and we cannot even begin to discuss the effect of changing expectations on current activities except in monetary terms. (ibid pp. 294) Others have stressed that the evolution to commodity production requires a universal equivalent.24 Under a capitalist form of production, it is not possible for commodities to exchange on the basis of labor values; exchange rates must be calculated in terms of another standard to allow equalization of profit rates. Money is, as Robinson said, used to compare in abstract terms the concrete products of concrete labor: money "is a social convention, comparable to an alphabet... Money is a creation of society, and the most essential element in the purchasing power of money is its purchasing power over one's neighbours' time" (the wage unit). (Robinson CW 2, p. 18) Expression of exchange value must be in abstract terms where concrete and heterogenous production is the result of division of labor and specialization, and where production decisions are individually made. As exchange value must be calculated in abstract terms, choice of one commodity for use as numeraire (as neoclassical economists imagine) is not consistent with commodity production because a) one could always choose to produce the numeraire rather than produce for market (violating the "rules of the game", so to speak, which require that one produce commodities for market); b) an increase of demand for the numeraire would always generate demand for labor and direct resources toward its production (generating a "Say's Law" economy that is never observed); c) changes of technical conditions of production of the numeraire would affect the numeraire-denominated values of all other commodities (leading to pressures to find another numeraire whose "relative price" were more stable); and d) such a system would require the pre-existence of commodity production (so that one among several could be chosen as numeraire)–which begs the question of the initial decision to produce "for market" (for what were producers producing before the numeraire was
invented?). As discussed, Keynes had argued that there are only two possible measuring units–labor time and money. Once the topic shifts to the effect of changing expectations on current activity, the unit of measurement must be money. As Keynes implied, one cannot first construct "a theory of value and distribution" without money and then add a separate "theory of money" to obtain nominal values; a theory of a monetary economy must allow from the start for the influence of expectations on "value and distribution". While Keynes did conduct his analysis of expected returns in terms of "own rates of interest" (eg: the wheat rate of interest), these are converted to money rates. This is not a coincidence or arbitrary; there are reasons why the money own rate of interest sets the standard that must be achieved by all own rates (calculated in money terms), having to do with what Keynes called the special properties of money. In the interest of brevity, I will refer readers to Chapter 17 of the GT, where Keynes argued that while one could in theory either arbitrarily choose the own rate of any commodity as a standard, or could use the own rate of a composite commodity as a standard, there would remain "the same obstacles in the way of this as there are to setting up a unique standard of value". (1964 p. 225) Choosing money as the standard of value not only avoids these problems (just as the choice of the labor unit avoids problems), but also singles out for analysis the particular own rate of interest that is more "intimately bound" with the "volume of output and employment". (ibid p. 225) Further, the interest rate theory presented in Chapter 17 is really an extension of the user cost concept to money, whose user cost is the premium required to convince holders to become illiquid. (Kregel 1994) is the expected yield; c Readers will remember that Keynes analyzed the various commodity rates of interest in terms of three components: q is the carrying cost; and l is the liquidity of the commodity. The composition of return will vary: highly liquid assets will have a return comprised mainly of (notional) return to liquidity, while physical capital will have a return comprised mainly of the yield it is expected to generate in the sphere of production. Carrying cost would be insignificant for liquid assets, while it would be significant for stores of grain or for physical capital that depreciates over time. Finally, once we measure returns in terms of money, we must include a–the expected appreciation (depreciation) of the money value of the commodity over time. In equilibrium, expected returns (q —c + l + a) must be equal. Thus, the own-rate approach leads directly to the determination of demand prices for assets–where an asset can be physical capital, other commodities, or money-denominated financial assets, in other words, anything which can be carried through time. "Thus in equilibrium the demand-prices of houses and wheat in terms of money will be such that there is nothing to choose in the way of advantage between the alternative". (1965 p. 228) Producible assets will be supplied up to the point where the supply price equals the demand price: "those assets of which the normal supply-price is less than the demand-price will be newly produced; and these will be those assets of which the marginal efficiency would be greater (on the basis of their normal supply-price) than the rate of interest". (ibid p. 228) Keynes argued that for a number of reasons (but not due to diminishing physical returns!), as the quantity of most types of assets is increased, own rates fall, lowering demand prices. When demand prices fall below supply prices, no more will be produced. Due to its special characteristics, this is not true of money, whose return does not fall as its quantity increases–at least, its return would fall much more slowly than would that of any other asset. Similarly, if liquidity preference rises, this will raise the subjective return to liquid assets relative to illiquid assets–raising the demand price of liquid assets and lowering that of illiquid assets, relatively. Again, beyond some point, a rise of liquidity preference will halt production of assets whose return is primarily a function of q–in particular, physical capital. It has elsewhere been argued (Wray 1991, 1992b) that liquidity preference can be interpreted as a theory of value for assets, following the example set by Townshend (1937) and later by Boulding (1944). If two assets have the same stream of expected q — c + a returns, divergence of their demand prices will be uniquely determined by differences of liquidity. Given expected q — c + l + a , the degree of liquidity preference will determine demand prices for all assets. This, in turn, will go into the determination of the levels of employment and output through impact on the levels of production of producible assets. Changing views about the future affect the demand prices of assets through impact on the q's and on liquidity preference. I choose to call this a liquidity preference theory of value rather than a q by money due to preference theory of value because of the special role played the existence of a return to liquidity that is greatest in excess of carrying cost. As Keynes says, "unemployment develops, that is to say, because people want the moon; –men cannot be employed when the object of desire (i.e. money) is something which cannot be produced and the demand for which cannot be
readily choked off". (1964 p. 235) This interpretation does seem to be what Keynes had in mind. In particular, in correspondence with Townshend, Keynes expressed his general approval of Townshend's interpretation of liquidity preference theory as a theory of value.26 Minsky has presented Keynes's approach in terms of the "two price systems"–one price system concerns current output while the other concerns assets. Current output prices are determined by cost plus markup; at the individual firm level, the markup represents gross capital income and is at least partially a function of market power; the aggregate markup of prices of current output depends on the level of aggregate demand. On the other hand, the prices of assets are determined by q — c + l as discussed above. The two price systems meet most importantly in the investment goods sector: supply prices of investment output are determined in the price system for current output while demand prices are determined in the asset price system. When demand prices fall below supply prices, investment output falls, lowering employment and aggregate demand; this, in turn, lowers the aggregate markup that can be realized by current output and can make it impossible to achieve desired markups at the level of individual firms. Thus, Minsky's pricing theory, like Keynes's and Marx's, takes an aggregate approach. Marx's LTV helps us to understand the formation of supply prices of commodities as required to equalize profit rates and redistribute surplus value. Similarly, Keynes's LPTV helps us to understand how asset demand prices are set to equalize q — c + l + a . As a first approximation, we can say that the LTV applies to the price system of current output, while the LPTV applies to the asset price system. But this is too simple. Minsky's two price approach can be modified to take account of Keynes's discussion regarding user cost–expectations of the future enter directly into determination of supply prices of current output for any goods that can be carried through time. It is clear that even if the organic composition of capital were uniform across all industries, supply prices of current output would deviate from labor values due to differences of user costs. In other words, because expectations must play a role in determining supply prices, labor values cannot be directly mapped into supply prices even of current output. Further, because investment goods have a dual nature–first as embodied dead labor that can serve as means of further production and second as an asset that can generate q — c + l + a –prices of investment goods cannot be expected to reflect embodied labor values. Supply prices of investment goods (and indeed of any goods that last more than a period) are determined by "factor costs" (as labor is the only "factor", labor hours–dead and live–multiplied by the wage unit) but also by user costs. Demand prices for such goods are determined to equalize q — c + l + a–as the LPTV shows. Because expectations enter into formation of both demand prices and supply prices, prices of investment output cannot be mapped to labor values. An Aside on Expectations and the "Long Run" Some followers of Keynes have interpreted his theory of effective demand as a "long run" theory; these (as well as some others) reject his theory of liquidity preference as being "short run" (at best) and inconsistent with his theory of effective demand. The preceding analysis should make clear that the theory of effective demand cannot be separated from the theory of liquidity preference; as Kregel (1988) has argued, the theory of effective demand is the "flip side" of the liquidity preference theory.27 Liquidity preference has to do with valuation of assets, which then determines (given supply prices) production of investment goods as well as the level of output as a whole through the spending multiplier. Others are uncomfortable with the important role attributed to subjective expectations in the Keynesian system. Dobb nicely summarizes the fears of those who wish to banish subjective expectations from the purview of economics: "Subjective economics, resting as it does on an attempt to interpret economic events in terms of the psychological behaviour of individuals, finds itself faced with a chaos of indeterminacy, where almost anything is possible. Having crowned expectations, it finds itself ruled by them; and where expectation is king, his every mood is law." (Dobb 1945 p. 219) One advantage of the "long run" method, according to this view, is that expectations can somehow be ignored. Only "fundamentals" or "real variables" will matter; a higher degree of determinism is thought to be achieved. This, too, is mistaken.
The distinguishing characteristics of a monetary production economy are: private ownership of the means of production, wage labor, and individual decision-making regarding production ("anarchy of production"). As Dobb (1945) argued, there is a "particular type of uncertainty that is characteristic of a society of individual (as distinct from social) production. It is the atomistic diffusion of economic decisions under a system of individual production for a market that gives to expectations their rein." (Dobb 1945 p. 220) He emphasized that this uncertainty faced by the individual is quite separate from the situation faced by the economist or the scientist, standing outside the system, as it were, and observing it as a whole, [who] can estimate the future. Even if such a scientific observer could foretell the outcome, given the relevant data, it does not follow that the entrepreneur could do so; since it is the essential nature of the latter in an individualist economy that he is in a situation where he is of necessity ignorant as to the current actions of his rivals. (Dobb 1945 p. 221) Further, it is precisely because individual entrepreneurs are uncertain that we as outside observers are able to predict their actions (to the extent that we can do so)! If the entrepreneur could foresee the actions of his rivals, he would not act in the manner in which the theory of competition assumes him to act, and the laws of Political Economy in their traditional form would cease to hold true. Yet it is the existence of this essential blindness which gives scope to the influence of expectations, with the departures from equilibrium which this influence engenders and the element of indeterminateness which it introduces. Only by virtue of the uncertainty of each as to the actions of all do the traditional laws of the market rule; only by the appearance of freedom does economic necessity and automatism prevail; only by reason of the essential ignorance of each entrepreneur does the economist's power of forecasting the total situation emerge. (Dobb 1945, pp. 221-222) There is also the belief that expectations must have only a temporary effect, because expectations that do not conform to the objective situation will be automatically revised by the changes which actions based on these expectations provoke. (Dobb 1945, p. 205) However, as Dobb argues, such belief is misguided. Only expectations that turn out to be wrong would be revised; incorrect expectations would temporarily move the economy to a different path, but as experience proves them to be wrong, the economy would move back to the original path. Expectations that prove to be correct (even if only because they are self-fulfilling) would generate a new path and there would be no forces to move the economy back to the original path. In a proper theory of the "long run", then, expectations do matter. These expectations need not be objectively formed–it is only essential that they are correct ex post . Any self- fulfilling expectations are (by definition) correct and will exert permanent influences on the economy. It is interesting that Keynes explicitly recognized this as he said he could have assumed throughout the analysis that expectations are always fulfilled without changing any of his conclusions. Liquidity preference and expectations matter even in the long run; Keynes's liquidity preference-effective demand framework remains valid. There may still be reasons to suppose that Keynes's theory is more properly applied to the short run (most importantly, because he generally sets aside the impact of investment on capacity), but this is not due to the prominent role accorded to expectations. Finally, because uncertainty and expectations are important (even in the "long run"), money can never be neutral. As many have stressed (including Hicks) this makes it impossible to abstract from important institutions when one does "high theory". Money contracts, wage labor (and class relations in general), private ownership of the means of production, and atomistic diffusion of economic decision-making cannot be ignored. Liquidity preference, or the motive to remain liquid, is a result of the nature of an economy based on atomistic decision making that cannot be ignored. Theories of Value in a Monetary Theory of Production Even sympathetic readers might be tempted to argue that most of the discussion above could be made without reference to a theory of value. Others might accept the importance of the LTV to Marx's analysis, but argue that Keynes's analysis does not require either a LTV or a LPTV. The question might arise: does Keynes's use of the labor-unit and the money unit of account merely represent an attempt to find useful "measuring rods" to
aggregate-up? Or is the choice of units of fundamental importance? Could Keynes's choices be characterized, as Dillard argued, as an attempt "to probe beneath the surface phenomena of the market to discover essential properties and relations"? I believe so; indeed, I have argued that Keynes's use of the labor-unit and liquidity preference serve purposes similar to Marx's use of the labor-unit–to locate the process of price determination outside exchange and to go beyond simple "supply and demand" explanations. In fact, both Marx and Keynes recognized the fundamental importance of aggregate employment and distribution of employment between "departments" (in Marx's version) or between consumption-saving or consumption-investment (in Keynes's version) in determination of prices, emphasizing aggregate schemes of reproduction (Marx) or effective demand (Keynes). The primary difference between the two approaches involves the way in which expectations enter into price formation–once we allow for a direct influence of expectations of the future on decisions made today, a single, labor theory of value is not sufficient. Further, if capitalist economies can be characterized as "two price systems", then Marx's analysis is inadequate. Both the choice of the labor unit and the role accorded to liquidity preference reflect underlying social forces of the monetary production economy. One of the primary purposes of Marx's analysis was to locate the source of profits in the social relations of production, that is, in the rate of exploitation (the ratio of unpaid to paid labor power); the Keynesian version locates the source of aggregate profits (or gross capital income) in the ratio of the wage bill of investment sector workers to the wage bill of consumption sector workers–again, this reflects the social nature of profits which exist only because wages of workers in the consumption sector are too low to purchase all their output and because there are other workers producing "nonavailable" output. This is really no different from Marx's analysis, in which created surplus value cannot be realized unless there is production in department 1 (the means of production department). In Marxian analysis, this aggregate of surplus value is then redistributed among capitals to equalize profits; in Keynesian analysis, the redistribution is such as to ensure equalization of q — c + l + a on all assets, including financial assets. Things are much more complicated in Keynesian analysis for two reasons: first, these returns are expected and at least partially subjective; second, wages of investment sector workers are not the only source of gross capital income (for example, rising asset prices generate capital gains that need not be linked to the productive sphere). Thus, in the Keynesian approach there is no reason to expect that forces would exist to equalize measured profit rates. In Marx's analysis, only live labor can produce surplus value; dead labor only contributes value as it is used-up, however, this value is only realized if the deteriorating dead labor is replaced. It is easy to give this a Keynesian interpretation: depreciation of physical capital cannot add to aggregate demand, indeed, if sinking funds are accumulated, as Keynes argued, this will depress aggregate demand unless they are matched by replacement investment spending. This is one of the components of user costs that individual firms want to recover in supply prices–firms must weigh the cost of depreciating the capital as measured by the discounted loss of future revenue. Whether depreciated capital will be replaced will depend on expectations regarding the future.28 The Marxian attribution of surplus creation to live labor alone can also be given a Keynesian interpretation. This is because constant capital used in production that is not replaced does not set any live labor in motion (to produce replacement means of production); in other words, it does not generate a wage bill (in the period it depreciates) in the means of production department ("investment" sector). Only replaced dead labor can lead to the realization of value by creating wages and spending on consumption goods. It is because dead labor is bought and owned that it cannot contribute value to production except when it wears out, a value that is not realized unless the depreciated dead labor is replaced. When dead labor is purchased, the full value is realized immediately at the aggregate level, but not at the individual firm level. It can be realized at the individual level only gradually over the future as other purchases of dead labor occur.29 owned; the capitalist can only purchase the commodity labor power On the other hand, live labor cannot be by making periodic wage payments; use of live labor always contributes value to production that can be realized because payment of wages is necessary in every period to set it in motion. Since wages will (according to the classical assumption) be spent on consumption goods, they always lead to realization of value in circulation–a characteristic that is not necessarily true for dead labor.30 It is frequently argued that the LTV is "metaphysical" (an argument also adopted by Robinson 1967, p. xi), or that one could just as well argue that capital produces all value, or that petrol does, and so on.31 This involves a fundamental misunderstanding of a monetary production economy. In an economy that is able to produce , and
in which most production occurs on the basis of hiring labor at a money wage, wages are simultaneously the major cost of production and the source of the revenues that validate production. Labor simultaneously produces the physical output–but, more importantly, it sets in motion the monetary flows that are the purpose of production. Because the majority of worker income will be used to purchase the necessities of life, the wage bill returns as capitalist receipts, while the link between capitalist income and spending is different because the goal of capitalist activity is money and not necessities. In Kalecki's terminology, workers spend what they get and capitalists get what they spend; Marx's equivalent expression is "the part of the variable capital that A advances at any one time to his workers constantly flows back to him from the circulation sphere". (Marx Vol 2, p. 406). There are other reasons why adoption of some other "factor" of production as the source of value would be mistaken. First, of course, there is the problem of adoption of a measure of value that is not itself a value. The separation of labor (not a value) from labor power (a commodity with value) provides the external measure of value. The problem with trying to use capital as the source of value is that it is itself a value, a value that depends on other values (for example, prospective profits); further, the heterogeneity problems with capital are surely much greater than those encountered in the case of labor. (Dobb 1945) Second, the focus on labor is consistent with the observation that it is obvious that man as a tool using animal manufactures instruments to increase control over nature. Third, the focus on labor and relations of production is consistent with the view of capitalist production as the product of relations of men with men. Value is not an attribute of things, but is a social relation between men. (Dobb 1945, p. 59) It should be noted, however, that no claim is made that other "factors of production" are not "productive" in a technical sense; even Marx argued that capital produces wealth. Nor is there any claim that embodied labor is the only thing commodities have in common. It is merely claimed that labor fulfills the requirements of a theory of value while other "factors" do not, and that the LTV is consistent with Keynes's analysis. Similarly, the choice of the money-unit (wage unit) in Keynes's system is due to the prominent role given to liquidity preference and expectations. This in turn reflects a fundamental characteristic of a capitalist society in which the individual faces a type of uncertainty that is unique to an economy based on atomistic diffusion of decision making and individual responsibility for one's own welfare. This cannot be dismissed by handwaves about the "long run" or "fundamentals". In this sense, liquidity preference reflects social relations of production in a manner similar to but distinct from the way labor values reflect social relations in production. Notes 1. See also Fan-Hung 1939. 2. However, I should note that over time I have become less convinced that Townshend–and Rotheim–used the term "value theory" in the manner in which I am using the term. 3. Hunt 1983, following Dobb's example, provides a more useful view: all theories of price are circular because the price of each commodity is formed on the basis of many other prices. Thus, a "value-constant" is required to solve price equations. The theory of value provides this anchor. 4. Dissenters have also criticized the inability of the neoclassical approach to deal with money and nominal values in anything but an ad hoc manner. As mentioned, utility theory and scarcity can only generate relative prices; money is not required in a well-specified neoclassical general equilibrium economy, which can function on the basis of barter. Keynes called this a barter or real wage economy. Alternatively, money can be added in a nonessential manner such that no behavior is altered, with money merely facilitating exchange–what Keynes called the neutral economy, which operates "as if" transactions were actually the result of barter. (Introduction of money into this scheme can generate a difference between the market price and the long run equilibrium price due to short run disequilibrium.) 5. Dobb 1945 provides similar requirements: the theory of value should be capable of expression into actual dimensions which can be factually apprehended and known, and there must be some uniform quantity–that is not itself a value–in terms of which exchange value can be expressed. 6. That is, I will ignore the well-known problems identified in the Cambridge Controversy.
7. See Desai 1990 and Vianello 1990 for discussions. 8. Indeed, prices would not be proportional to labor values, but would be systematic functions of them. See Desai 1990. 9. See Shaikh 1994. 10. This does not mean as some Marxists argue that no profits can be created in circulation. 11. I don't think one should overemphasize Keynes's own claims that he actually made such a transition as I don't think he ever held the neoclassical propositions, rather, the transition is probably more one of clarification and exposition of his thinking. 12. These discussions emphasized money as a unit of account , which is necessarily a standard 1993c. 13. See Rotheim 1981; Joan Robinson argued that in the TOM . See Wray , Keynes "had no very clear perception of the fact that the subject with which he was dealing was the Analysis of Output". (Rotheim 1981, p. 574) 14. Rotheim argues that it is clear from the materials that would be collected and published as Volume 29 of the Collected Works , "Keynes intended to construct a new microfoundation for macroeconomics, what we might call a monetary theory of value ." (Rotheim 1981, p. 574) I would rather argue that Keynes's construction was a monetary theory of production, with the term value reserved for the underlying base(s) on which it is constructed. However, Rotheim's use of the term value is more consistent with the way Keynes used it, and, presumably, with the way the term was used at the time. (This is reflected in Robinson's claim that "to the academic economist, the "theory of value" means the theory of relative price". Robinson CW I, p. 138) 15. Fred Lee rejects this approach and seems to come closest to Institutionalists who argue that prices are arbitrarily determined and thus cannot be the subject of scientific investigation. 16. Here I am ignoring Neo-Ricardian approaches. 17. This differs from Marx's method, which was to weight special labor by the extra value required to produce it, but this is not an important difference. 18. Hunt 1983 examines Robinson's "ambivalence" regarding the LTV, arguing that she really was an "ally". 19. See Robinson CW 3, p. 175; CW 4 p. 48; 1967 p. x. 20. Robinson's hostility to the LTV seems to be based partially on the supposition that the LTV is a theory of relative prices. It is also partially due to the occasional Marxist claim that the value of money is determined by labor embodied in gold. "The 'Keynesian Revolution', which divides the General Theory as much from Marx as from Ricardo, was the adoption of the money-value of labour (the wage rate) in place of the labour-value of money as the unit of account. The labour-value of money is a purely mythical conception, for money has no cost of production." (CW 2 p. 18) I think Robinson was too quick to throw out relative prices; Keynes provides a theory of both aggregate output and of prices. However, for reasons of which Robinson was well aware, labor values alone cannot generate prices. Further, Robinson was right to be suspicious of the labor-embodied theory of money–this could not be made consistent with Keynes's theory. 21. According to Marx, the Classical economists had been remiss for ignoring the necessity of including constant capital in the profit calculation made by capitalists–while Smith had believed that total labor value produced was only equal to the variable capital and surplus labor, Marx emphasized that the constant portion must also be reproduced in the aggregate–this emphasizes the social nature of reproduction, or the necessity of restoration of the part of social capital that is merely transferred to social output. 22. Of course, Keynes's use of the term "classical theory" is somewhat ambiguous–but he generally means the neoclassical approach that he traces to Ricardo. 23. According to Rotheim 1991, Keynes borrowed this distinction made by H.L. McCraken in a book on Marx. 24. See Rotheim 1991, for example. 25. While I cannot go into the topic here, elsewhere I show (following Keynes's example) that money actually pre-existed commodity production; while it is true that the first money units were physical (units of weight of wheat and barley grain), by the time commodity production began, the money units had become idealized wheat or barley units that were transformed into purely abstract "pound" money units with nothing but the name (lira, shekel, pound) to hint at the origins. See Wray 1993c. 26. Elsewhere, and on a wide variety of matters, Keynes congratulates Townshend for his astute observations and keen understanding of the GT . 27. I have argued that there are "three sides", with the endogenous theory of money serving as the third. (Wray 1992b) 28. Fan-Hung (1939) realized very early that the Keynesian theory of effective demand and his user cost
concept were nearly identical to Marx's schemes of reproduction; indeed, he showed that Keynes's general theory could be mapped almost one-to-one to Marx's reproduction schemes. Such correspondence should not be surprising when one considers they studied the same monetary production economy. 29. In Minsky's terminology, investment is made today only on the expectation that investment will occur in the future in order to generate the gross capital income that will be required to validate the decisions made today. 30. Saving out of wages complicates the analysis only marginally. 31. Hunt 1983 dismisses the "metaphysical" critique by arguing that all theories of value are "metaphysical" in the sense that they cannot be proved or disproved; they are "true" by definition. The LTV is definitional , but not arbitrarily chosen because it identifies a real process that underlies the essential nature of social interdependence of capitalism. References Boulding, Kenneth. 1944. "A Liquidity Preference Theory of Market Prices." Economica 11: 42 (May). Cohen, Avi. 1989. "Prices, Capital, and the One-commodity Model in Neoclassical and Classical Theories." History of Political Economy 21: 2 (Summer): 231—252. Desai, Meghnad. 1990. "Value and Price." In Eatwell, John, Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman, eds., Marxian Economics: The New Palgrave . London, New York: MacMillan, 365—372. Dillard, Dudley. 1960. The Economics of John Maynard Keynes: The Theory of a Monetary Economy Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc. (Ninth Printing). .–––. 1980. "A Monetary Theory of Production: Keynes and the Institutionalists." Journal of Economic Issues 24, June, 255–273.–––. 1984. "Keynes and Marx: A Centennial Appraisal." Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 421—432. Dobb, Maurice. 1945. Political Economy and Capitalism . New York: International Publishers. 6, Spring, Engels, Frederick. 1966. "Supplement to Capital, Volume Three: Law of Value and Rate of Profit." In Marx, Karl. 1966. Capital , Vol 3. Moscow: Progress Publishers. VII, 28. Fan-Hung. 1939. "Keynes and Marx on the Theory of Capital Accumulation, Money, and Interest," Review of Economics Studies Henry, John. 1990. The Making of Neoclassical Economics . Boston: Unwin Hyman. Hunt, E.K. 1983. "Joan Robinson and the Labour Theory of Value." Cambridge Journal of Economics 331—342. Keynes, John Maynard. 1964. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money Brace, Jovanovich.–––. 1976a and 1976b. A Treatise on Money 7: 3/4, . New York: Harcourt, , Vols I and II, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company (AMS Reprint).–––. 1979. Collected Works, Vol. XXIX . Moggridge, Donald, ed. London: Macmillan. Kregel, Jan. 1973. The Reconstruction of Political Economy . New York: Wiley and Sons.
–––. 1993. "Some Notes on 'Standards' in Keynes' Treatise & General Theory ." Manuscript. ." Manuscript.–––. 1994. "The Theory of Value, Expectations and Chapter 17 of the General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money Marx, Karl. 1976, 1978, 1981. Capital , Vols I-III. New York: Penguin Books USA. Meek, Ronald. 1956. Studies in the Labour Theory of Value . New York: International Publishers. Robinson, Joan. 1969, 1964, 1965, 1973. Collected Economic Papers , Volumes one—four. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.–––. 1967. An Essay on Marxian Economics . New York: MacMillan, St. Martin's Press. Rotheim, Roy J. 1981. "Keynes' Monetary Theory of Value (1933)," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 4 (Summer). 3:–––. 1991. "Marx, Keynes, and the Theory of a Monetary Economy." In Caravale, G.A., ed. Marx and Modern Economic Analysis . Aldershot, Hants, England; Brookfield, Vt., USA: Edward Elgar. Shaikh, Anwar. 1981. "The Poverty of Algebra." In Steedman, Ian, ed. The Value Controversy . London: Verso Editions.–––. 1994. Untitled manuscript presented at Conference on Marx's Third Volume of Capital: 1894-1994, Bergamo. Townshend, H. 1937. "Liquidity-premium and the Theory of Value." The Economic Journal 47, 185. Vianello, Fernando. 1990. "Labour Theory of Value." In Eatwell, John, Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman, eds., Marxian Economics: The New Palgrave. London, New York: MacMillan , pp. 233—246. Wray, L. Randall. 1991. "Endogenous Money and a Liquidity Preference Theory of Asset Prices." Review of Radical Political Economy 1/2, Spring/Summer, pp. 118-125.–––. 1992a. "Alternative Approaches to Money and Interest Rates." Journal of Economic Issues 1145-1178.–––. 1992b. "Alternative Theories of the Rate of Interest." Cambridge Journal of Economics 4, December, 16, 69-89.
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