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- Title
Karl Marx, the Declining Rate of Profit and British Political Economy.
- Authors
Walker, Angus
- Abstract
The article discusses the theory of philosopher Karl Marx on capitalism. Marx employs three basic categories in his economic analysis. "Variable capital", represented by the symbol v, is his term for the capitalist's outlay on labor, "variable", because labor, according to Marx, uniquely possesses the power to increase the value of commodities which it is employed to manufacture by an amount greater than its own cost as a factor of production. This "bonus", derived from the application of labor, he calls "surplus value" and represents by the symbol s. Surplus value is the capitalist's profit. That part of the capitalist's outlay not devoted to labor is invested in "constant capital", c, "constant", because, unlike labor, v, it cannot create new value. It can only, in Marx's schema, transfer part of its own value to the product which it is used to produce. In other words c is simply the amount of raw material and the depreciation of the capital equipment used in production. The value of the final product is thus c+ v+s.
- Subjects
MARX, Karl, 1818-1883; CAPITALISM; INVESTORS; LABOR; SURPLUS value; FACTORS of production
- Publication
Economica, 1971, Vol 38, Issue 152, p362
- ISSN
0013-0427
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2551878