Cost price
In Marx's critique of political economy, cost price (k) denotes the costs that the capitalist has to expend in the production of a commodity . These costs are made up of the means of production ( constant capital c) and the wages of the labor force ( variable capital v) that are necessary to produce a commodity.
The commodity value W of a production is represented in the ordinary consciousness of the capitalists as cost price k and profit p: W = k + p. Where k is the cost and p is the profit. However, the value of the goods is made up of c + v + m ( added value ) = W. The surplus value / profit therefore appears to the capitalist as (c + v) + m or p. In terms of value, however, the surplus value arises from c + (v + m), with (v + m) forming the new value . Since the entire advanced capital c + v appears to the capitalist to create value, Marx also describes profit as a mystified form of surplus value. However, this is by no means a pure deception, the capitalist can also increase his profit p by various changes which affect the constant capital c. The fact that unpaid labor ( exploitation ) forms the substance of surplus value and profits is, however, obscured from economic operators. Through the general rate of profit , which compensates for the different rates of surplus value of the individual capitals, the capitalist sees the prices of production deviating from the values of commodities as W = k + p '(general rate of profit). The total sum of the prices of production is determined by the total sum of the values of goods.
See also
literature
- Karl Marx , Capital . Volume 3.
- Michael Heinrich : Critique of Political Economy: An Introduction. Butterfly Verlag, Stuttgart 2004.
Web links
- Cost price , preview article in the HKWM
- Cost price on marx-forum.de