[OPE-L:5271] Re: the 'estimation' of use-value

[Steve Keen <s.keen@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jerry,

The discussion you highlight by Marx refers to buyers in general--not
buyers specifically in the M--C--M+ circuit. In general, including both
circuits, use-value will be qualitative--since qualitative use-values drive
the C--M--C circuit, and to be a quantative use-value in the M-_C--M+
circuit (i.e., to be a potential source of surplus-value), an entity must
also have qualitative use-value (i.e., a worker must actually have some
abilities, a commodity must actually have a function).

That qualitative side of use-value is conventional from within the
Classical tradition--it is stuff which does not distinguish Marx from
Ricardo or Smith on this issue. They too, while disavowing what has become
the neoclassical stance that qualitative utility determines price via the
contrivance of marginal utility, accept that an entity must have some
qualitative use-value before it can be a commodity. What does distinguish
Marx is his realisation that this means that use-value is quantitative on
the M--C--M+ circuit.

Steve
At 11:14 AM 3/26/01 -0500, you wrote:
> Re the on-going discussion with Steve K over
> whether use-value can be expressed quantitatively:
>
> "[Given that the commodity is bought by the
> buyer not because it has value but because it
> is a 'use-value' and is used for determinate
> purposes, it is perfectly self-evident, 1. that
> use-values are 'estimated' [geschaatzt], i.e.
> their *quality* is investigated (just as their
> *quantity* is weighed, measured, etc.) ....]"
> ("Marginal Notes on Adolph Wagner's
> 'Lehrbuch der politischen Okonomie'",
> _Theoretical Practice_,  Spring 1972,  p. 53).
>
> [NB: in the original both 'use-value' and
> 'estimated' appear as above with quotation
> marks.]
>
> Note here that this 'estimation' of use-value
> does not mean that use-value as such has a
> quantitative dimension. Rather, it means -- it
> seems to me -- that the prospective use-value
> is *accessed* -- i.e. there is an 'evaluation' of
> quality --  prior to the sale of the commodity
> by the prospective buyer.  As what is being
> accessed ('investigated') is *quality* that is to
> be used for *determinat*'  (individual, specific) purposes, there is no
> standard magnitude that can
> serve as a measure of  the 'estimation'  of
> use-value.
>
> In solidarity, Jerry

Dr. Steve Keen
Senior Lecturer
Economics & Finance
Campbelltown, Building 11 Room 30,
School of Economics and Finance
UNIVERSITY WESTERN SYDNEY
LOCKED BAG 1797
PENRITH SOUTH DC NSW 1797
Australia
s.keen@xxxxxxxxxx 61 2 4620-3016 Fax 61 2 4626-6683
Home 02 9558-8018 Mobile 0409 716 088
Home Page: http://bus.uws.edu.au/steve-keen/