Logo
Munich Personal RePEc Archive

The labour theory of value: a marginal analysis

Hagendorf, Klaus (2008): The labour theory of value: a marginal analysis.

This is the latest version of this item.

[thumbnail of MPRA_paper_34666.pdf]
Preview
PDF
MPRA_paper_34666.pdf

Download (288kB) | Preview

Abstract

The difficulties of the classical and Marxian labour theory of value are overcome when labour value is understood as cost, analogously to marginal cost as marginal labour value. Marginal labour value is the reciprocal of the marginal productivity of labour. Under “perfect ompetition” relative prices are equal to the ratio of marginal labour values. Indeed, Pareto-optimality implies the validity of the labour theory of value. But it is shown that, in principle, a capitalist system can never be in a Pareto-optimal state. To assure a maximum productivity of labour, and therefore minimum socially necessary labour values, society has to overcome capitalism and organise the formation and control over capital collectively. This article presents the marginal approach to the labour theory of value.

Available Versions of this Item

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact us: mpra@ub.uni-muenchen.de

This repository has been built using EPrints software.

MPRA is a RePEc service hosted by Logo of the University Library LMU Munich.