[OPE-L:5152] Re: Re: Re: Re: one commodity models and illustrations

["Duncan K. Foley" <foleyd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You'd probably want to treat labor-power as a different commodity in
this setup. But any general theorems that would be true for
multi-commodity economies would have to hold for this one as well.

Duncan


> Re Duncan's [OPE-L:5136]:
>
> >  Well, you could have an economy in which there were lots of
> >  qualitatively different commodities as use values but in which they
> >  all shared the same conditions of production (turnover times, inputs
> >  other commodities and labor). This would look like a one-commodity
> >  economy analytically, but it would be a valid special case of a
> >  multi-commodity economy.
>
> It might  "look like"  a one-commodity model or
> illustration but as you recognize above it would _be_
> a multi-commodity (perhaps n-sector) model or
> illustration. In any event, one has to ask: what is
> gained and what is lost in an illustration of a
> capitalist economy where all (n) commodities require
> the same technical conditions of production?
>
> I also note that the "technical conditions of production"
> (and reproduction) of  labour power can not be the
> same as that of other commodities ("... not by bread
> alone").  Indeed, I think that the "turnover
> time" of the commodity labor power (how long it takes
> to produce and reproduce that commodity) can not be
> the same as that of all other commodities. I'm not
> really sure how the "labor input" for the commodity
> labor power can also be the same as all of the other
> commodities.
>
> Re following:
> Furthermore, what kind of "money commodity" is
> possible in this context?  Can it for example serve as
> hoard? Yet, what happens to the value of corn after an
> extended period of being stored?
>
> It is important to remember that both labor power and
> the money commodity are *unique* commoditities in
> Marx's system. The reason for the uniqueness is not
> simply the difering use-value of these commodities
> (although that is important as well).
>
> In solidarity, Jerry
>
>  You couldn't address problems of the
> >  equalization of the rate of profit in this economy, but you could
> >  address other problems, including monetary ones, since the money
> >  commodity could be one of the commodities.

--
Duncan K. Foley
Leo Model Professor
Department of Economics
Graduate Faculty
New School University
65 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10003
(212)-229-5906
messages: (212)-229-5717
fax: (212)-229-5724
e-mail: foleyd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
alternate: foleyd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
alternate: dkf@xxxxxxxxxxx
webpage: http://cepa.newschool.edu/~foleyd