Value and Price: Controversy, Stasis, and Possibility

Abstract

Controversy has prevailed since the problem of “transforming” values into prices first emerged in the late 19th century. Progress has, regrettably, been hampered by attempts to “vindicate” Marx’s work exactly, rather than treating him as a pioneer upon whom his successors must build, using the latest scientific methods. To make progress, the question must be faced squarely: what does the value dimension—assuming that we can define it and determine its properties with rigor and precision—actually do ? How does a value-theoretic political economy provide superior insights into capitalist laws of motion, which could not be attained by critical study of the empirically received categories (prices, wages, profits, production) alone? Insights from Marx and Engels into the formation of a general balance of the opposing class forces of capitalist society may help us in our search for answers to these questions.