On May 5, 2013, at 7:11 PM, Jim Devine wrote: > what are the _units_ of the common measure used to measure > use-value so that use-values can be added up? > The monetary prices of a given year describe the relative valuation socially ascribed to the various commodities making up the capitalist- sector gross product. Each commodity is taken to embody an "aliquot part" of the total SNALT (Socially Necessary Average Labor Time) undertaken by the working population--ie., its *value*. The prices/ values of that year are the base for the price-index by which the products (use-values) for a different year are aggregated to form a sum of use-values that can be compared quantitatively to the base-year value of output.
Because ascribing a date to labor-time gives it a concrete determination, the common measure by which use-values are to be aggregated is *base-year concrete labor-time*. Of course the choice of base year is entirely subjective (index-number problem), and one must never lose sight of the fact that the social valuations expressed in prices and quantities of product are those determined by the capitalist distribution of incomes and political priorities. Shane Mage "All things are an equal exchange for fire and fire for all things, as goods are for gold and gold for goods." Herakleitos of Ephesos, fr, 90 _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
