Michael Perelman writes:>They [Schwartz and Miyachi] seem to look at the value of the depreciated computer EX POST -- after the fact. The problem that i see is ex ante. How do you set the value of the product made with the computer years before the depreciation occurs? I can expect a future path of depreciation but I cannot know it.<
I've argued in the past (e.g., my 1990 article in RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY) that values make sense as an _ex post_ (and true-by-definition) accounting framework. Obviously, _ex ante_ matters matter, in helping to determine values. But, for example, in realization crises (in which profits which seem to have been produced _ex ante_ turn out not to be so _ex post_). My impression is that what Marx emphasizes is what actually occurs in practice, i.e., _ex post_ values. JDevine
