USE, VALUE AND EXCHANGE - THE MISINTERPRETATION OF MARX

Steve Keen

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Abstract: The concept of "use-value" and the question of the source of value in Marx's economics are analysed. The traditional interpretation of Marx, which argues that use-value plays no role in his economics, is detailed. The evidence on Marx's employment of the concept is investigated. It is concluded that use-value was an integral part of Marx's analysis of the commodity, with the dialectic between use- value and exchange value being the primary method by which Marx derived the source of surplus value. The traditional interpretation is criticised in the light of this evidence. Post-*Grundrisse* attempts to generalise Marx's analysis of commodities are discussed. This analysis is extended to the question of the value productivity of non-labour inputs to production. The conclusion is drawn that labour power is not the only source of value, and that commodities in general are the source of value and surplus value. Marx's logical errors, which led to his contrary result, are examined. Arguments that Marx's analysis of commodities should be dispensed with, and a new labour theory of value erected on the basis of the non-commodity aspects of labour, are considered and rejected. It is instead argued that Marxian economics should be reconstructed on the basis of Marx's dialectical analysis of commodities, the assertion that labour power is the only source of value should be abandoned, and a dialectic of labour developed as a fundamental tool of Marxian analysis. Some ramifications of this approach for Marxian economics--notably the elimination of the transformation problem and the tendency of the rate of profit to fall--are noted.

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