Law of value

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In Marxist economic theory, the law of value describes the law according to which the commodity producers who are independent of one another in market economies or in a “commodity-producing society”, but economically mutually dependent, are coordinated. Such a law is necessary because market economies do not follow a macroeconomic plan; the law of value takes over control.

This law of value works “without the participants becoming conscious”, “like a natural law”. Similar to a law of nature, the law of value must also be developed through scientific research -  economics  . The market prices actually observed generally deviate from their theoretically expected value. The competition, which can also lead to the downfall of individual producers, causes market prices to tend towards their theoretically expected values, which are also referred to as equilibrium values, in order to “gravitate” around these values.

Also in the "bourgeois" economic theory the coordination of economic entities follows certain economic laws (see. As the invisible hand of Adam Smith ). But bourgeois economic theory evaluates these regularities differently than Marx, who evaluates them critically. In addition, it comes to other laws than Marx, who explains the law of value according to the labor theory.

Delimitation of the law of value and the theory of labor value

In the first volume of Das Kapital , Marx examines the capitalist process in general without the influence of the state. The prices of goods, including the goods “labor”, are initially determined by labor values . At a further developed level of consideration, the production prices defined in a certain way turn out to be the determinant of prices.

The term “law of value”, on the other hand, examines which causes, for example government action, can disrupt, override or change this law of value. For example, the world market is not just one big market, as in “Capital. First Volume ”, but the various states and their policies must be taken into account.

Friedrich Engels' law of value

In “Supplement and addendum to III. Book of 'Capital' ”, Friedrich Engels limits the term“ Marx's law of value ”to the so-called simple production of goods . The simple commodity production is as a commodity-producing A -class society thought in which the producers, craftsmen or farmers, their products according to the work values exchange . The work value theory applies precisely under these circumstances.

In the capitalist form of production the law of value is modified. First, there are now two classes, workers and capitalists . The workers sell their commodities, labor power, at their value to the capitalists. In the production process, however, a value is created that is greater than the value of labor. This difference remains with the capitalists as surplus value . Secondly, a general rate of profit develops between the branches , which means that prices are no longer determined directly by labor values (law of value in the narrower sense), but by specifically defined production prices .

The law of value in the "world market debate"

Later Marxist authors also speak of the “law of value” when the prices of goods are determined by the prices of production and then investigate whether and how this can be changed.

In the so-called “world market debate” of the 1970s, the term “law of value” appears particularly in connection with planned economies or with state economic policy. Can central administration economies replace the natural law of value with conscious planning or not? Will the law of value ultimately also prevail in central administration economies through competition in the world market ? Can corporations ( monopolies , oligopolies ) or the economic policy of the state change or repeal the law of value? Will a uniform general rate of profit emerge worldwide or will national differences persist?

To the extent that the law of value asserts itself worldwide, as it comes to a uniform general rate of profit worldwide (which is controversial), the individual capitals are combined not only nationally but also worldwide to form a "real" total capital, which is to say that the individual capitals are merged behave like a single total social capital.

State policy, for example through national tariffs or exchange rate policy, but also international corporations through market power, can fundamentally change the law of value.

Quotes from Karl Marx

"The capital"

In the book Das Kapital by Karl Marx is u. a in two places a classic formulation of the law of value or the labor theory of value made:

“The greater the productive power of labor, the smaller the labor time required to produce an article, the smaller the mass of labor crystallized in it, the smaller its value. Conversely, the smaller the productive force of labor, the greater the labor time required to produce an article, the greater its value. "

“In whatever way the prices of the various commodities may initially be fixed or regulated against one another, the law of value governs their movement. Where the labor time required for their production falls, prices fall; where it rises, prices rise, all other things being equal "

Marx further emphasized in this regard: “The exchange or sale of goods at their value is the rational, the natural law of their equilibrium; starting from him, the deviations are to be explained ... "

"On the Critique of Political Economy"

“Ricardo's investigations are limited exclusively to the magnitude of value , and with reference to this he at least suspects that the realization of the law depends on certain historical preconditions. For he says that the determination of values ​​by labor time applies only to commodities 'which can be increased at will through industry and whose production is controlled by unrestricted competition'. In fact, it only means that the law of value for its complete development requires the society of great industrial production and free competition, i.e. H. that modern bourgeois society presupposes. "

Political conclusions

In contrast to Keynesianism , but not dissimilar to market-conforming views, according to the Marxist view the law of value cannot be permanently changed by state intervention. Marx believes trade unions are necessary, but “the working class should not overestimate the ultimate effectiveness of these day-to-day struggles. It should not forget that it is fighting against effects, but not against the causes of those effects; ... "

literature

German

  • Klaus Busch: The multinational corporations. To analyze the world market movement of capital . Frankfurt am Main 1974.
  • Henrike Hilwig: Law of Value and Economic System - Problems of Price Formation in Goods- Producing Societies . Campus, Frankfurt 1977.
  • Christel Neusüß : Imperialism and the world market movement of capital . Erlangen 1972.
  • Fritz Helmedag : Goods production by means of work - For the rehabilitation of the law of value . Metropol Verlag, Marburg 1992.
  • Tobias ten Brink : State conflicts . Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart 2008.
  • Samir Amin : The globalized law of value . Laika Verlag, Hamburg 2012.
  • Friedrich Kambartel : Value law , in: Jürgen Mittelstraß (Hrsg.): Encyclopedia Philosophy and Philosophy of Science. 2nd Edition. Volume 8: Th - Z. Stuttgart, Metzler 2018, ISBN 978-3-476-02107-6 , p. 469 (Law of Value of Classical Political Economy)

English

  • Samir Amin : The Law of Value and Historical Materialism . Monthly Review Press, New York 1978
  • Thomas T. Sekine: The Necessity of the Law of Value, its Demonstration and Significance . econpapers.repec.org
  • W. Paul Cockshott, Allin F. Cottrell: Value's Law, Value's Metric . September 1994, reality.gn.apc.org
  • Andrew J. Kliman: The law of value and laws of statistics: sectoral values ​​and prices in the US economy, 1977-97 . Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2002, vol. 26, issue 3, pp. 299-311.
  • Christopher J. Arthur: The new dialectic and Marx's Capital . Leiden / Boston / Cologne 2002.
  • Ian Wright: The Emergence of the Law of Value in a Dynamic Simple Commodity Economy . To appear in Review of Political Economy , 65.254.51.50 (PDF).

Individual evidence

  1. a b Busch 1974, p. 13ff.
  2. Friedrich Engels: Supplement and addendum to III. Book the "capital" . In: Karl Marx: Das Kapital . Third volume. In: MEW , Volume 25, pp. 908 ff.
  3. ^ A b Karl Marx: Das Kapital , Volume III. In: Marx / Engels, Werke , Volume 25. Berlin 1964, p. 197
  4. Friedrich Engels, MEW , Volume 25, p. 909
  5. See Arthur, p. 18.
  6. See state interventionism . In: Brockhaus Encyclopedia , 21st completely revised edition, Volume 26.
  7. "(The commodity is use value and value, the value is the objectification of human labor, the value depends on the 'socially necessary labor time' required to produce the commodity - the latter is often referred to as the 'law of value')" Michael Heinrich : Critique of the political Economics - An Introduction . Butterfly Verlag (theorie.org), Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-89657-588-0 , p. 42 .
  8. ^ Friedrich Engels, MEW , Volume 25, pp. 909, 916
  9. ten Brink 2008, pp. 119ff.
  10. Neusüss 1972, p. 123.
  11. See ten Brink 2008, p. 123 f.
  12. ^ Karl Marx: The capital. Volume I , p. 55
  13. ^ Karl Marx: Das Kapital , Volume III. In: Marx / Engels: Werke , Volume 25. Berlin 1964, p. 186
  14. Quoted in Marx: David Ricardo: On the principles of political economy and taxation , 3rd Edition, London 1821, p. 3.
  15. MEW 13, p. 43f.
  16. ^ Karl Marx: wages, prices and profit . 1865. MEW 16, p. 152.