On the Theory of 'Value"

Abstract

This paper presents a new concept of 'value" which is developed in the author's general equilibrium framework (1988a). A traditional concept of labor value and a relatively new concept of commodity value are uniformly shown from this "value" as its normalized forms. A so-called fundamental Marxian theorem is then generalized in the sense that it holds for any level of real wage rates determined in a joint-product market economy. These arguments, it is emphasized, are only meaningful at temporary and long run market equilibria. Finally, the paper briefly summarizes some criticisms of the labor theory of value presented by Morishima (1973, 1974), Steedman (1975, 1981) and Roemer (1981, 1982), and systematically criticizes them in light of the author's general equilibrium approach.