This was Ricardo's argument for a declining rate of profit. Marx wanted to develop an argument that was internal to his theory of capitalist dynamics, i.e., not imposed outside the system. Not that Ricardo was wrong just that his argument was endogenous. David Levine discusses this in one of his early books. On Tue, 20 Jun 1995, John L Gulick wrote: > Can't the rate of profit also fall when technical and organizational > changes which increase surplus value extraction meet various "natural > limits to growth" ? I adamantly am not talking a Club of Rome discourse > here, merely referring to the conditioning of "revolutions in value > production" by the uneven and unpredictable process of rationalizing > and taming (an already socially modified) "nature". > > For example, socio-technical change in intermodal shipping -- containerization, > concentration of capital, rationalization of routes, the building of huge > supertankers and cargo ships -- has played a major role in the multinational- > ization, transnationalization, and globalization of production. Given the > high organic composition of capital in this sector, continued price reductions > in ocean-going shipping services has depended a lot on reducing turnover > times. But this is coming up against all sort of (socially modified) "natural > limits" -- increased harbor traffic leads to congestion, channels must be > dredged to accomodate the giant new-generation liners, increased speed of > vessels leads to accidents, etc. Shippers internalize these costs and the > price of shipping services rise. Rising prices for shipping services take > a cut out of the aggregate social surplus created. > > (I recognize the limitations of the example, since it > entails only a singular sector and kind of ignores the fluidity of > investment across sectors). > > Any comments for this argument by a non-economist ? > > John Gulick > UC-Santa Cruz > Sociology Graduate Program > research interest: eco-Marxist theory of the built environment > >
