Here is that quote on the false solution to the problem of exchange put forward by marginal utility theory. It's from the reification section of History and Class Consciousness (1923): "Marx acutely summed up this situation with reference to economics when ...Read More
Maybe as a way to stay closer to the schedule we could keep up on this site. For next week, before taking on chapter 3, we should get through the discussion of the relative and equivalent form—as well as the ...Read More
Paul Krugman's blog today ("Thank you, Boeing") has a short entry on Oliver Williamson's research into why there are so many big firms--rather than just a market coordinating individuals and small firms: "Williamson answered this in terms of the difficulties of writing ...Read More
In honor of our finishing chapters 26-33, here is a replay for today: December 21, 2010 African Farmers Displaced as Investors Move In By NEIL MacFARQUHAR SOUMOUNI, Mali — The half-dozen strangers who descended on this remote West African village brought its hand-to-mouth farmers alarming ...Read More
Going back to our discussion on why the means of production cannot be the source of surplus value, Richard was right. The way we were discussing technology/constant capital was inadequate. The uneasiness I had with Marx's depreciation model that only allowed ...Read More
This entry from A Dictionary of Marxist Thought (Tom Bottomore ed., 2nd ed.) does not really clear up the issue we looked at but it is a bit different from what I said this morning. It does not address the ...Read More
We've added a Resources page to the site. Our first upload is a diagram of Marx's argument in Capital by David Harvey. See it here. Read More
Based on our discussion on the labor theory of value against both classical political economy and modern marginalist theories I post this link to a Paul Krugman piece from the NYT Magazine earlier this year. In it you can see ...Read More
We talked about concluding by working out the difference between Robinson and the peasant. Marx says that the medieval relations are what they appear to be--they are more direct personal relations and appear as such. Another way to put this ...Read More
While the point of the chapter is to lay out the terms that govern capitalist society, I think we can spin out much of the chapter by continuing our Robinson Crusoe discussion. Marx started by asking how exchange was possible, ...Read More