Re: h*lp: simple reproduction

[Steve.Keen@xxxxxxxxxxx]

I can't h*lp you with the site of the cite, Rakesh; it's not in my
notes. But in my opinion Marx was on a bit of a red herring there.
It is true that much depreciation is--initially--notional only, so
that while a machine is written down in the books, it is still
about as productive as it was when first installed, for some
years. So if the machine goods industry produces enough machines
to counter book depreciation, for a while there will be expansion.

However, eventually those book depreciations will become real, and
if there is a correspondence between the book (annualised) rate
of depreciation and the actual life of machines, then the initial
growth occasioned by the initial "over-production" will be
reversed.

Where Marx was onto something, albeit tangentially, is that the
equilibrium of simple reproduction is quite possibly unstable.
What he gives in the passage you cite is a practical reason for
this.
Cheers,
Steve K



     --- from list marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---

     ------------------