A New Solution to the Marxian Transformation Problem: How Can Total Value Equal Total Production Price and Total Surplus Value Equal Total Profit be Established at the Same Time

Xianwei Song

No 9fmau_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: In Capital, on the assumption that the values of the means of production are not transformed, Marx proves that total value equals total production price, and total surplus value equals total profit. Later, when many Marxist economists relax this assumption, they find that the two aggregate equalities no longer hold simultaneously. For more than a century, this has been one of the main problems plaguing Marxian economists. This paper shows that the reason for the problem is that the calculation ranges of the two aggregate equalities are inconsistent, that is, the calculation of total surplus value and total profit does not include all the surplus value and profit in the total value and total price. Assuming that the total exploitation rate is constant before and after the transformation, the two aggregate equalities must be valid at the same time if the calculation ranges are consistent.

Date: 2026-04-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-pke
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:9fmau_v1

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/9fmau_v1

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