Gil,
Other than as an exercise in gaining clarification concerning Marx's
terminology and thus in extending his efforts, how is the Okishio Theorem
relevant or "useful." Note that for Okishio not only is the real wage
constant but all prices used in determining whether or not the rate of
profit fall are "equilibrium" prices determined with the assumption that
all capitals earn the same rate of profit. I find this result not only of
little use but also one absent in Marx's CAPITAL. Note that the concepts
of "market value" and of "market price" are both introduced prior to the
discussion of "the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall."
Thus, the question concerning the fall in the rate of profit should, at
least, consider an "equilibrium" condition in which the rates of profit are
not equal. In an earlier plan for the third book o CAPITAL, Marx actually
planned to discuss the concept of rent prior to introducing the concept of
the falling rate of profit. I realize that this may make mathematical
exercises concerning the falling rate of profit somewhat more complex, but
they may yield something that relates to Marx's work.
Marx himself makes a slightly different point in Part III of Book III when
he notes that if price reductions due to increases in productivity are
uniform, the rate of profit will not fall.
John
