(OPE-L) Re: Dynamic value and natural price

[gerald_a_levy <gerald_a_levy@xxxxxxx>]

Paul C, replying to Michael W, wrote:

> In conjunction with :
> a) the theory of relative surplus value
> b) the Sraffian generalisation of the reproduction schemes
> one can show that the categories of labour who are productive
> of a social surplus profit are those workers whose activity enters
> directly or indirectly into the effort necessary to produce the
> real wage. It is only among this group of workers that an
> improvement in labour productivity will lead to an increase
> in the surplus value.

Doesn't the activity of many state employees enter "indirectly"
into the effort necessary to produce the real wage?

Consider state labor employed in the national health insurance
system in the UK, for instance.  If  a good becomes a
public good whereas previously it was a commodity which was
not part of the customary bundle of goods consumed by
wage-workers,  doesn't that indirectly alter the real wage?

Consider public universities:  doesn't the activity of workers
(faculty, support staff, etc.) at those universities indirectly
affect the real wage for workers?

Consider public housing:  doesn't the labor time expended
in constructing and maintaining public housing indirectly
affect the real wage of workers?

I am not comfortable with this inclusion of "indirect" effort
into the meaning of what constitutes productive labor.

In solidarity, Jerry