Introduction to the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of value

Clair Quentin

Chapter 1 in Capital, Revenue and the Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics of Value, 2026, pp 2-22 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter characterizes the system to which the concept of value applies – the production of commodities by means of commodities – as a physical system: the ‘Ricardian machine’. It proceeds to frame the value question as asking ‘by what measure can the growth of the Ricardian machine, as a thing which uses itself up to make more of itself, be measured?’ It reflects upon the shortcomings of deploying embodied labor as that measure while noting that embodied labor is, apparently uniquely among candidate properties of commodities, additive as regards process – a key requirement that an answer to the value question must meet. The chapter also notes that, while entropy does not answer the value question, a property which does answer it should thereby respond to the Ricardian machine's nature as a ‘dissipative structure’, that is, a system with a non-equilibrium thermodynamics.

Keywords: Production; Commodities; Value; Transformation Problem; Process Ontology; Dissipative Structures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035359998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035360000.00007 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24518_1

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().