Table Of ContentRoutledge Revivals
The Value Dimension
The essays in this edited collection, first published in 1986, focus on impor-
tant debates surrounding the central Marxian problem of the transformation
of values into prices. The collection brings together major contributions on
the value theory debate from the decade prior to the book’s publication, and
assesses the debate’s significance for wider issues. Value theory emerges as
much more than a technical relation between labour time and prices, and the
structure of the capitalist economy is scrutinised. This is a relevant and com-
prehensive work, valuable to students, academics and professionals with an
interest in political and Marxist economy.
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The Value Dimension
Marx versus Ricardo and Sraffa
Edited by Ben Fine
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
Firstpublishedin1986
byRoutledgeandKeganPaulLtd
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2013byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
Introduction©1986BenFine
Chapter2©1972Routledge&KeganPaul
Chapter3©1976Routledge&KeganPaul
Chapter4©1981Routedge&KeganPaul
Chapter5©1979,1980Routledge&KeganPaul
Chapter6©1982,1983Routledge&KeganPaul
Chapter7©1983Routledge&KeganPaul
Chapter8©1984Routledge&KeganPaul
All rightsreserved.No part ofthis bookmaybe reprintedor reproducedor utilisedin
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers.
Publisher’sNote
Thepublisherhasgonetogreatlengthstoensurethequalityofthisreprintbutpoints
outthatsomeimperfectionsintheoriginalcopiesmaybeapparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes
correspondencefromthosetheyhavebeenunabletocontact.
ALibraryofCongressrecordexistsunderLCcontrolnumber:87109334
ISBN13:978-0-415-83760-6(hbk)
ISBN13:978-0-203-78354-2(ebk)
The Value Dimension
Marx versus Ricardo and Sraffa
Edited by
Ben Fine
Routledge & Kegan Paul
London and New York
First published in 1986 by
Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Set in 11/12 pt Plantin
by Columns of Reading
and printed in Great Britain
by T.J. Press (Padstow) Ltd,
Padstow, Cornwall
Introduction © Ben Fine 1986
Chapter 2 © Routledge & Kegan Paul 1972
Chapter 3 © Routledge & Kegan Paul 1976
Chapter 4 © Routledge & Kegan Paul 1981
Chapter 5 © Routledge & Kegan Paul 1979,
1980
Chapter 6 © Routledge & Kegan Paul 1982,
1983
Chapter 7 © Routledge & Kegan Paul 1983
Chapter 8 © Routledge & Kegan Paul 1984
No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without permission from the
publisher except for the quotation of brief
passages in criticism
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
The Value dimension: Marx versus Ricardo
and Sraffa.-(Economy & society)
1. Value
I. Fine, Ben II. Series
338.5'21 HB201
ISBN 0-7102-0766-2
Contents
Ben Fine
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Geoffrey Pilling
Chapter 2: The law of value in Ricardo and Marx 18
Ira Gerstein
Chapter 3: Production, circulation and value 45
Heiner Ganssmann
Chapter 4: Transformations of physical conditions of
production: Steedman's economic metaphysics 94
Ben Fine
Chapter 5: On Marx's theory of agricultural rent 114
Gilbert Faccarello
Chapter 6: Sraffa versus Ricardo: the historical
irrelevance ofthe 'corn-profit' model 188
Ben Fine
Chapter 7: Note: A dissenting note on the transformation
problem 209
Guglielmo Carchedi
Chapter 8: The logic of prices as values 215
A cynic knows everythingo f price and nothing of value.
with apologies to Oscar Wilde.
We have developeda passionf or formulae which mitigate facts
and obscurei ssues.
Lord Horder, Obscurantism,C onway Memorial Lecture,
Watts & Co. London, 1938, p. 6.
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Ben Fine
It is normal for an introduction to an editedc ollection to engagei n
a broaderl iterature survey, to explain the criteria of selectiona nd
to summarize and give a guide to the pieces that have been
included. I have not attemptedt o do any of these,a lthough some
are partially covered in passing. Instead, I have attempted to
constructa pottedh istory of the debateo ver the period concerned,
giving some explanation of why the contributions came as and
when they did. For this reason,I presumes omek nowledgeo n the
part of the reader of what the transformationp roblem is and of
some of the issuesw hich are raised by it. To a large extent, even
at an elementaryl evel, this is the subject matter of the readings
included here, so that a return to this introduction may be
warranteda fter a reading of the text.
Any such history as intendedh ere, is bound to contain a heavy
elemento f subjectivity and bias. It is as if a minor characteri n a
play is responsiblef or a review of it. The scenesi n which the
charactera ppearsa re necessarilyg oing to figure more prominently
and other scenes, whatever their importance, may pass
unobserved.L ike a play, it will be arguedi n this introduction that
the transformationp roblem is open to alternative interpretations
and presentations- accordingt o the way in which the relationship
between production and exchange is understood and which
aspectso f this relationshipa re the subjecto f attention. To seei t as
the search for and discovery of a definitive solution to a well-
defined problem, the calculation of prices as the Sraffian or post-
Sraffian interpretationw ould have it, is only one constructiono f
the transformation. But it is not the only one (although it has,
from different viewpoints, beenc entral to much recent debate);i f
it were, it would be a simple matter to rehearset he solution, even
with varying interpretations,f or each new generationo f econo-
mists and the play need never grace the stageo f original research
nor original context again.
The setting
From the late 1960s onwards there was a considerableg rowth of
interesti n Marxism within the westerna cademicw orld. Following
