Re: RE: Estimating Surplus

["Ian Murray" <seamus2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Nilsson" <enilsson@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2002 10:51 AM
>Subject: [PEN-L:26603] RE: Estimating Surplus


> Ian wrote,
> > Households are suppliers/producers of labor power, no?
>
> Yes, but this does not mean that your economic theory must underline
(or
> start with) the role of "households."

==============

Never meant to suggest that it should. There aren't any 'musts' in any
economic theories I've perused over the years.


> My starting point for understanding economic behavior in capitalism is
the
> process of surplus generation within the firm, the use of this
surplus, the
> economic/social/cultural/political consequences of the generation (and
> various uses) of the surplus, and the role of coercion and consent in
the
> extraction of the surplus.

==============

Ok; but that's a choice and one way among many.....I'm all for that
choice btw.


>
> One can certainly start with suppliers of various inputs (labor power
and
> other stuff) to generate a theory of the economy--this is neoclassical
> economics--but the sorts of issues that you find natural to discuss
within
> the resulting framework are not really that interesting to me.
>
> Eric

=================

Well ignoring *the household* and it's changes under capitalism is a big
mistake imo.