John, you say: 3. To say that to build a theory on market prices is suicidal seems to indicate that we are not communicating. Market prices are the concrete starting point for any theory that attempts to grasp reality. We know them -- they are given. To travel from the cncrete to the abstract we next encounter market values, prices of production, and ultimately values and abstract labor. Thus to travel from abstract labor to prices is not a process of a matter of deriving anything, but should be a matter of retracing the steps already familiar to the one presenting the argument and ultimately those presented with it. The difficulty in this matter is that the reality of market prices is more than simply a set of prices encountered in day to day affairs. ________________________________ There may be some problem with communication, but I don't think it is a major one. The problem really is with the theory you are propounding. Lets first take the two sentences starting with "market prices are the concrete ... We know them -- they are given". One could with same assuredness replace "market prices" with "population", "technology", "income", "wages", "profit", etc. and the force of the rhetoric would remain the same. If you look into national income statistics and other statistics compiled by govt. and private agencies you will find all the economic variables economic theories are interested in determining as "given" and "we know them". So what's the point of doing theory? Now, let's look at the next sentence starting with "To travel from...". When you "encounter" these things such as "market value", "prices of production", and "ultimately values and abstract labor", could you tell us what are these things that you are "encountering"-- do they have a quantitative dimention? If so, what are their units? Are the quantitative dimentions of these things you encounter on your travel affected by a change in the "concrete market prices"? If yes, then of course you are determinig these variables on the basis of *given* "market prices" and perhaps some other variables. Moreover, while you are travelling from the *given* market prices to ultimately values and abstract labor, you must keep the given market prices frozen. Now, if the market prices change in the next half hour you will have to do your travelling all over again to get to value and abstract labor. So my question in the last posting was, how can you develop a theory of accumulation based on the concepts of value and abstract labor when you are forced every half an hour to travel a new from "market prices" to value and abstract labor? Cheers, ajit sinha
