Prices of production

In the 9th chapter of the third band of his major work "Das Kapital" developed Marx of the rate of profit the notion of the average profit from, and so determines the relationship between value and price more accurately, by slamming this average profit to the cost price: Production price of a commodity = k p ', Wober k = cost price and p ' = general rate of profit.

Depending on the composition of capital arising at the same rate of surplus value and exploitation of the same work quite different product values ​​and thus different added value and profit rates. Thus, for some industries high, for other sectors of the economy, a low rate of profit at the same rate of surplus value in industries where relatively large amount of work is used and little constant capital (eg textiles), ie where the organic composition is low, would the rate of profit high, and vice versa, in industries with a lot of constant capital and little labor input (eg power plants), ie where the organic composition is high, low. The capital is of the industries with low profit rate flow off into the industries with the high rate of profit. Because of the law of supply and demand where prices will rise above their values ​​and their values ​​fall under here, and until such time as in all industries, there is the same rate of profit. Then the rates correspond (now in second solution of the problem values ​​), which are now referred to Marx as production rates, in individual industries no longer work values. Considering the totality of all branches of production, the sum of the prices of production of the goods produced is equal to the sum of their values ​​.

In each sector is now the profit is no longer equal to the surplus value. But the overall economy is the sum of all profits equal to the sum of added values ​​. By balancing the rates of profit that is added value between industries is redistributed, it forms tends to be uniform for all industries rate of profit, a general rate of profit out.

Theory of Piero Sraffa

Production rates also play an important role in the theory of Piero Sraffa.

Piero Sraffa has shown that the production price multiplied by the wage rate dated quantities of labor is the same. The concept of dating of quantities of labor is a weighting of the work units using profit rate and constant capital. As a result, there is a proportionality between price and production units of work. The proportionality factor is the wage rate. The prices of production in Sraffa meet the minimum average cost. These in turn are necessarily equal to marginal cost.

In determining the minimum cost means of the marginal analysis can be shown that the marginal costs are equal to the amounts expressed in money supply of socially necessary for the production units of work. This set of work units is therefore equal to the amounts Sraffaschen dated work. It is larger than the amount of work hours, the work the workers because they are just weighted as with skilled labor. The difference is the extra work.

By Sraffasche analysis and the marginal cost analysis, the transformation problem is thus solved. It is disputed whether the weighting of working as part of the theory of value is acceptable.

Graph

The two graphs are intended to illustrate the problem of transformation of goods in prices. In Figure 1, three companies are shown from three different sectors of the economy. All companies have the same amount of variable capital in labor costs, in all three companies produced the same added value, but in the company of the first sector but little constant capital in production is needed while in the company in the third sector much constant capital is required.

Had the prices equal to the values ​​, then would also reduce the profits equal to the added value and the industry I, the largest rate of profit would (ratio of value added to capital employed, which consists of variable and constant capital ) incurred in the industry III, the lowest rate of profit.

Capitalists will no longer invest in sector III, so that the offering of the industry III back. According to the law of supply and demand are now beginning to branch III prices to rise, they will now therefore greater than the values.

Conversely, in industry I. Here capitalists invest more now because of the high local rate of profit. This increases the range of industry I. According to the law of supply and demand, prices collected in industry I beginning to sink, they sink under their values. In sector III so the profits are larger than the local value added, in small industry I as the local added value. This development only comes to an end when the rates of profit are equal in all three sectors. This is shown in the second figure. The profits of industry I are now smaller in comparison to the value-added (Figure 1) and in the industry III they are greater than the added value. In all three sectors, there is the same rate of profit.