IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v212y2023icp887-896.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Marx's concept of “exploitation” and the problem of measurement

Author

Listed:
  • Kurz, Heinz D.
  • Salvadori, Neri

Abstract

The paper scrutinizes Marx's proposal to measure the “degree of exploitation” in terms of the “rate of surplus value”. This amounts to defining an equivalent to the device of the thermometer in measuring temperature. The condition to be met is that a concept must be suggested that allows one to express the degree of exploitation in an independent manner and to show that the two move in parallel with one another. It is then shown that the rate of surplus value does not satisfy the sought criterion, because it may move in opposite direction of the degree of exploitation. This is demonstrated in terms of a simple numerical example with a choice of technique concerning the lengthening of the working day.

Suggested Citation

  • Kurz, Heinz D. & Salvadori, Neri, 2023. "Marx's concept of “exploitation” and the problem of measurement," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 887-896.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:212:y:2023:i:c:p:887-896
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.06.016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268123002226
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2023.06.016?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Friedrich Lutz, 1961. "The Essentials of Capital Theory," International Economic Association Series, in: D. C. Hague (ed.), The Theory of Capital, chapter 0, pages 3-17, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Krishna Bharadwaj, 1970. "On the Maximum Number of Switches Between Two Production Systems," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 106(IV), pages 409-429, December.
    3. Christian Gehrke & Heinz D. Kurz, 2018. "Sraffa’s Constructive and Interpretive Work, and Marx," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 428-442, July.
    4. Heinz Kurz & Neri Salvadori, 2005. "Representing the production and circulation of commodities in material terms: On Sraffa's objectivism," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 413-441.
    5. P. Garegnani, 1970. "Heterogeneous Capital, the Production Function and the Theory of Distribution," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 37(3), pages 407-436.
    6. Wolfstetter, E, 1973. "Surplus Labour, Synchronised Labor Costs and Marx's Labour Theory of Value," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 83(331), pages 787-809, September.
    7. F. A. Lutz, 1961. "The Theory of Capital," International Economic Association Series, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-08452-4 edited by D. C. Hague.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lall Ramrattan & Michael Szenberg, 2010. "Memorializing Paul A. Samuelson: A Review of His Major Works, 1915–2009," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 55(2), pages 67-82, November.
    2. Avi J. Cohen, 2003. "Retrospectives: Whatever Happened to the Cambridge Capital Theory Controversies?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 199-214, Winter.
    3. Yoann Verger, 2018. "Sraffa and Manara: the mystery of the last article of Piero Sraffa," Working Papers hal-01700137, HAL.
    4. Petri, Fabio, 2021. "What Remains of the Cambridge Critique? On Professor Schefold's Theses," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP50, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".
    5. Roberto Veneziani & Luca Zamparelli & Daniele Tavani & Luca Zamparelli, 2017. "Endogenous Technical Change In Alternative Theories Of Growth And Distribution," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 1272-1303, December.
    6. Jan Mikael Malmaeus, 2016. "Economic Values and Resource Use," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-20, May.
    7. Attilio Trezzini, 2018. "Piero Sraffa’s Use of the History of Economic Thought in the Cambridge Lectures," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(1), pages 189-209, March.
    8. Naldi, Nerio, 2018. "On the Origins of Piero Sraffa’s Equations. New Evidence Following Pierangelo Garegnani’s Lead," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP33, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".
    9. Saverio M. Fratini, 2019. "On The Second Stage Of The Cambridge Capital Controversy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 1073-1093, September.
    10. Santos, João & Domingos, Tiago & Sousa, Tânia & St. Aubyn, Miguel, 2016. "Does a small cost share reflect a negligible role for energy in economic production? Testing for aggregate production functions including capital, labor, and useful exergy through a cointegration-base," MPRA Paper 70850, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Ottaviano, Gianmarco & Peri, Giovanni, 2008. "Immigration and National Wages: Clarifying the Theory and the Empirics," CEPR Discussion Papers 6916, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Gilberto Tadeu Lima, 2000. "Market concentration and technological innovation in a dynamic model of growth and distribution," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 53(215), pages 447-475.
    13. van de Klundert, T.C.M.J. & Smulders, J.A., 1991. "Reconstructing growth theory : A survey," Other publications TiSEM 19355c51-17eb-4d5d-aa66-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    14. Timo Boppart & Per Krusell, 2020. "Labor Supply in the Past, Present, and Future: A Balanced-Growth Perspective," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(1), pages 118-157.
    15. Kevin S. Nell & Maria M. De Mello, 2019. "The interdependence between the saving rate and technology across regimes: evidence from South Africa," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 269-300, January.
    16. Thorvaldur Gylfason, 2019. "Inequality Undermines Democracy and Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 7486, CESifo.
    17. Rajnish Mehra & Facundo Piguillem & Edward C. Prescott, 2011. "Costly financial intermediation in neoclassical growth theory," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 2(1), pages 1-36, March.
    18. Valerie A. Ramey & Neville Francis, 2009. "A Century of Work and Leisure," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 189-224, July.
    19. Li, Defu & Bental, Benjamin & Huang, Jiuli, 2016. "Stationary Growth and the Impossibility of Capital Efficiency Gains," MPRA Paper 71516, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Alonso-Carrera, Jaime & Raurich, Xavier, 2015. "Demand-based structural change and balanced economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 359-374.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:212:y:2023:i:c:p:887-896. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.