Okay Paul, but the requirement of the uniform rate of profit is generally assumed in the transformation problem literature (as far as I have read it).
I think Marx really did intend to prove that "in the simplest case", a system of expanded reproduction of capital could occur such that the distribution of prices and values matched up, and profit rates were equalized; but his procedure is not really convincing as it stands in his draft manuscript. I think that what Ian Wright aims at is to show that "in the simplest case" you can construct a dynamic model which does more or less what Marx intended. I don't think it is very easy to prove, that there exists or does not exist a tendency for profit rates to level out, since there exists no reliable data comparisons that could definitely adjudicate the issue. But I think you can prove quite easily that the development of the capitalist economy is spearheaded by the search for above-average profits. Jurriaan _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
