Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Wages: Wages in economics refer to the monetary compensation paid to workers for their labor or services. Determined by factors like skill, demand, supply, and market conditions, wages are a key component of income and influence workers' purchasing power and living standards._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Karl Marx on Wages - Dictionary of Arguments
Rothbard II 412 Wages/Marx/Rothbard: What determines wages, the amount grudgingly accorded to the workers by the capitalist class? Here Malthus and the iron law of wages make their vital appearance, determining wages at all times at the means of subsistence. Marx, of course, hastens to clear his future communist Utopia from any Malthusian problems by asserting that Malthus and the iron law only holds sway under capitalism, and would certainly not apply under communism. Rothbard: It must be emphasized that the iron law is crucial to Marx's entire system. For Marx, the value and price of every good is determined by its cost, i.e., the quantity oflabour hours embodied in its production. Marx believed that, on the market, capitalists pay workers the 'value of their labour-power', by which he meant, of course, not their productivity or marginal productivity, but the tost' ofproducing and maintaining the labour, i.e., the cost, or the quantity oflabour hours, needed to produce the labourers' means of subsistence.(1) David ConwayVsMarx: (…) Conway, in his generally excellent survey and critique of Marxism, claims that Marx's theory of surplus value does not require the iron law of wages, since the capitalists could still extract some surplus value even if wages were higher than the subsistence wage. Rothbard: Very true, except that then wages in the Marxian system would be undetermined, and indeed there would be no reason to assume that surplus value exists at all, or that it is large enough to have any importance in the economy. Besides, ifwages are not locked into the bare means of subsistence, then the plight of the workers under capitalism might not be so pitiable after all. >Rate of Profit/Marx. 1. [David] Conway neatly summarizes Marx's point: the labourer is paid in wages per day a sum of value equal in amount to the value of his labour-power for a day. Since the value of a day's labour-power is equal to the amount of labour required to produce that day's labour-power, it follows that the value of a day's labour- power is equal to the amount of labour required to produce the labourer's means of subsistence consumed per day'. in David Conway, A Farewell to Marx: An Outline and Appraisal of His Theories (Harmondsworth, Mddx: Penguin Books, 198 7), pp. 96-7._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Marx I Karl Marx Das Kapital, Kritik der politische Ökonomie Berlin 1957 Rothbard II Murray N. Rothbard Classical Economics. An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Cheltenham 1995 Rothbard III Murray N. Rothbard Man, Economy and State with Power and Market. Study Edition Auburn, Alabama 1962, 1970, 2009 Rothbard IV Murray N. Rothbard The Essential von Mises Auburn, Alabama 1988 Rothbard V Murray N. Rothbard Power and Market: Government and the Economy Kansas City 1977 |
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