The Definition of Labour Value is False!
15 Pages Posted: 22 Jun 2013 Last revised: 3 Dec 2013
Date Written: June 18, 2013
Abstract
The commonly used definition of average labour value, based on the sum of labour time directly used to produce a commodity and all its components is shown to be naïve and indeed false. The definition of labour value has to be conforming to the definition of cost. This implies that the socially necessary costs of capital accumulation have to be taken into account and then it can be shown that prices of production are proportional to average labour values if the law of value holds, that is if labour is used efficiently. Thereby the Marxian problem of transformation of values into prices disappears and prices are reflections of human labour, thus being at the centre of the theory of historical materialism.
Keywords: Labour theory of value, Marxian economics, Theory of production, Cost theory, Value theory, Transformation problem
JEL Classification: B00, B51, D24, D46, D50
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation