I think this focus on technical change as causing changes in c/v is overstated. The real cause is the overaccumulation of capital relative to labour ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of c b [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 09, 2011 2:50 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Pen-l] Marxian theory of Keynesian policies
From: Charlie < Fred wrote: "Chapter 17 says nothing about technological change causing the composition of capital to rise and the rate of profit to fall." From the context it appears that Fred thinks such change does cause indeed the composition to rise and the rate of profit to fall. In the course of one cycle, technological change is not crucial for the rate of profit to fall. Prosperity prepares for crisis by the very act of accumulation, that is, investing profit; it becomes capital that must earn profit, too ^^^^^ CB: Is it accumulated, does it become variable capital or constant capital ? Presumably if invested as variable capital ( i.e. lower the organic composition of capital) it can "earn" profit by exploiting the variable capital, i.e. labor power. If invested as constant capital, i.e. raising the organic composition of capital, it is not exploitable. That's Marx's logic on the role of the organic composition of capital in the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. More investment in means of production and less in labor is accumulating capital that is not the source of surplus value or profits. And of course, the rate of exploitation drops as the ratio of surplus value extraction to total capital investment drops........all theoretically. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401 _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
