Jurriaan: But the tests which Paul has in mind are rather weak tests in my view. Marx himself already implied that it is impossible to prove "scientifically" or logically that any particular concept of economic value is true or false. At most we can say that (1) it has more or less predictive and explanatory power, i.e. that a concept of value proves itself by the coherent understanding it makes possible (2) that economic theorizing always assumes a concept of value, whether this is made explicit or not. Paul: There are some possible theories that are wrong, and some that are not even wrong. For example we can show that an 'iron' theory of value is invalid, or has very low explanatory power for the UK economy Because of the very high coefficient of variation of the money values of of industry Outputs as compared to the vertically embodied iron consumption of the industries.
On the other hand, the 'will of Fortuna' theory of value, which says that the price Of every commodidty transaction is an expression of the will of the Goddess is not Even wrong - since the thoughts and desires of the goddess are not readily measurable. The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401 _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
