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Exchange-value
In political economy and especially Marxian economics, exchange value () refers to one of the four major attributes of a commodity, i.e., an item or service produced for, and sold on the market, the other three attributes being use value, economic value, and price. Thus, a commodity has the following: * a value, represented by the socially necessary labour time to produce it (Note: the first link is to a non-Marxian definition of value); * a use value (or utility); * an exchange value, which is the proportion at which a commodity can be exchanged for other entities; * a price (an actual selling price, or an imputed ideal price). These four concepts have a very long history in human thought, from Aristotle to David Ricardo, and became more clearly distinguished as the development of commercial trade progressed but have largely disappeared as four distinct concepts in modern economics. This entry focuses on Karl Marx's summation of the results of economic thought about exchan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Value-form
The value-form or form of value (''"Wertform"'' in German) is an important concept in Karl Marx's critique of political economy, discussed in the first chapter of ''Capital, Volume 1''. It refers to the ''social form'' of tradeable things as units of value, which contrast with their tangible features, as objects which can satisfy human needs and wants or serve a useful purpose. The physical appearance or the price tag of a traded object may be directly observable, but the meaning of its social form (as an object of value) is not. Marx intended to correct errors by the Classical economics, classical economists in defining exchange, value, money and capital, by showing precisely how these economic categories evolved out of the development of trading relations. Playfully narrating the "metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties" of ordinary things when they become instruments of trade, Marx provides a brief social morphology of value as such — what its ''substance'' reall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Use Value
Use value () or value in use is a concept in classical political economy and Marxist economics. It refers to the tangible features of a commodity (a tradeable object) which can satisfy some human requirement, want or need, or which serves a useful purpose. For Karl Marx's critique of political economy, any commodity has a value and a use-value — the former manifestly appearing as exchange-value in any exchange-relation in which bearers of commodities mutually alienate and appropriate each-others commodities on the market, it's foremost the proportion in which any commodity is exchangeable for any commodities, it's form as the money form within money economies. Marx acknowledges that commodities being traded also have a ''general utility'', implied by the fact that people want them, but he argues that this by itself says nothing about the specific character of the economy in which they are produced and sold. Origin of the concept The concepts of value, use value, utility, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Marxian Economics
Marxian economics, or the Marxian school of economics, is a heterodox school of political economic thought. Its foundations can be traced back to Karl Marx's critique of political economy. However, unlike critics of political economy, Marxian economists tend to accept the concept of the economy prima facie. Marxian economics comprises several different theories and includes multiple schools of thought, which are sometimes opposed to each other; in many cases Marxian analysis is used to complement, or to supplement, other economic approaches. An example can be found in the works of Soviet economists like Lev Gatovsky, who sought to apply Marxist economic theory to the objectives, needs, and political conditions of the socialist construction in the Soviet Union, contributing to the development of Soviet political economy. Marxian economics concerns itself variously with the analysis of crisis in capitalism, the role and distribution of the surplus product and surplus value in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Das Kapital
''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' (), also known as ''Capital'' or (), is the most significant work by Karl Marx and the cornerstone of Marxian economics, published in three volumes in 1867, 1885, and 1894. The culmination of his life's work, the text contains Marx's analysis of capitalism, to which he sought to apply his theory of historical materialism in a critique of political economy, critique of classical political economy. 's second and third volumes were completed from manuscripts after Marx's death in 1883 and published by Friedrich Engels. Marx's study of political economy began in the 1840s, influenced by the works of the classical political economists Adam Smith and David Ricardo. His earlier works, including ''Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844'' and ''The German Ideology'' (1846, with Engels), laid the groundwork for his theory of historical materialism, which posits that the Base and superstructure, economic structures of a society (in par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Commodity (Marxism)
In classical political economy and especially Karl Marx's critique of political economy, a commodity is any good or service ("products" or "activities") produced by human labour and offered as a product for general sale on the market. Some other priced goods are also treated as commodities, e.g. human labor-power, works of art and natural resources, even though they may not be produced specifically for the market, or be non-reproducible goods. This problem was extensively debated by Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Karl Rodbertus-Jagetzow, among others. Value and price are not equivalent terms in economics, and theorising the specific relationship of value to market price has been a challenge for both liberal and Marxist economists. Characteristics of commodity In Marx's theory, a commodity is something that is bought and sold, or exchanged in a relationship of trade. * It has value, which represents a quantity of human labor. Because it has value, implies that people try ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Socially Necessary Labour Time
Socially necessary labour time in Marx's critique of political economy is what regulates the exchange value of commodities in trade. In short, socially necessary labour time refers to the average quantity of labour time that must be performed under currently prevailing conditions to produce a commodity. Unlike individual labour hours in the classical labour theory of value formulated by Adam Smith and David Ricardo, Marx's exchange value is conceived as a proportion (or 'aliquot part') of society's labour-time. Marx did not define this concept in computationally rigorous terms, allowing for flexibility in using it in specific instances to relate average levels of labour productivity to social needs manifesting themselves as monetarily effective market demand for commodities. Mathematically formalizing the relationship between socially necessary labour and commodity value is difficult, due to incessantly shifting social, physical or technical circumstances affecting the labour p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Marxist Dialectic
Dialectic (; ), also known as the dialectical method, refers originally to dialogue between people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to arrive at the truth through reasoned argument. Dialectic resembles debate, but the concept excludes subjective elements such as emotional appeal and rhetoric. It has its origins in ancient philosophy and continued to be developed in the Middle Ages. Hegelianism refigured "dialectic" to no longer refer to a literal dialogue. Instead, the term takes on the specialized meaning of development by way of overcoming internal contradictions. Dialectical materialism, a theory advanced by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, adapted the Hegelian dialectic into a materialist theory of history. The legacy of Hegelian and Marxian dialectics has been criticized by philosophers, such as Karl Popper and Mario Bunge, who considered it unscientific. Dialectic implies a developmental process and so does not fit naturally within classical logi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean world, the Latin West of the Roman Empire, and "Western Christendom". Beginning with the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery, roughly from the 15th century, the concept of ''Europe'' as "the Western world, West" slowly became distinguished from and eventually replaced the dominant use of "Christendom" as the preferred endonym within the area. By the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, the concepts of "Eastern Europe" and "Western Europe" were more regularly used. The distinctiveness of Western Europe became most apparent during the Cold War, when Europe was divided for 40 years by the Iron Curtain into the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc, each characterised by distinct political and economical systems. Historical divisions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Political Economy
Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Widely-studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour market, labour and international markets, as well as phenomena such as Economic growth, growth, Distribution of wealth, distribution, Economic inequality, inequality, and International trade, trade, and how these are shaped by institutions, laws, and government policy. Originating in the 18th century, it is the precursor to the modern discipline of economics. Political economy in its modern form is considered an interdisciplinary field, drawing on theory from both political science and Neoclassical economics, modern economics. Political economy originated within 16th century western moral philosophy, with theoretical works exploring the administration of states' wealth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Linguistic Meaning
Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction between sense and reference. Sense is given by the ideas and concepts associated with an expression while reference is the object to which an expression points. Semantics contrasts with syntax, which studies the rules that dictate how to create grammatically correct sentences, and pragmatics, which investigates how people use language in communication. Lexical semantics is the branch of semantics that studies word meaning. It examines whether words have one or several meanings and in what lexical relations they stand to one another. Phrasal semantics studies the meaning of sentences by exploring the phenomenon of compositionality or how new meanings can be created by arranging words. Formal semantics relies on logic and mathematics to provide precise frameworks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Real Prices And Ideal Prices
The distinction between real prices and ideal prices is a distinction between ''actual prices paid'' for products, services, assets and labour (the net amount of money that actually changes hands), and ''computed'' prices which are not actually charged or paid in market trade, although they may facilitate trade. The difference is between actual prices ''paid'', and information about ''possible'', ''potential'' or ''likely'' prices, or "average" price levels. This distinction should not be confused with the difference between "nominal prices" (current-value) and "real prices" (adjusted for price inflation, and/or tax and/or ancillary charges). It is more similar to, though not identical with, the distinction between "theoretical value" and "market price" in financial economics. Characteristics Ideal prices, expressed in money-units, can be " estimated", "theorized" or " imputed" for accounting, trading, marketing or calculation purposes, for example using the law of averages. Often ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |