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The Emergence of the Law of Value in a Dynamic Simple Commodity Economy

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  • Ian Wright

Abstract

A dynamic computational model of a simple commodity economy is examined and a theory of the relationship between commodity values, market prices and the efficient division of social labour is developed. The main conclusions are: (i) the labour value of a commodity is an attractor for its market price; (ii) market prices are error signals that function to allocate the available social labour between sectors of production; and (iii) the tendency of prices to approach labour values is the monetary expression of the tendency of a simple commodity economy to allocate social labour efficiently. The model demonstrates that, in the special case of simple commodity production, Marx's law of value can naturally emerge from multiple local exchanges and operate 'behind the backs' of actors solely via money flows that place budget constraints on their local evaluations of commodity prices, which are otherwise subjective and unconstrained.

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  • Ian Wright, 2008. "The Emergence of the Law of Value in a Dynamic Simple Commodity Economy," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 367-391.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:20:y:2008:i:3:p:367-391
    DOI: 10.1080/09538250701661889
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Wright, Ian, 2005. "The social architecture of capitalism," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 346(3), pages 589-620.
    2. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2016. "The Dynamics of Exploitation and Class in Accumulation Economies," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 242-290, May.
    3. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2022. "Computational methods and classical‐Marxian economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 310-349, April.
    4. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2019. "Exploitation, skills, and inequality," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(2), pages 208-249, April.
    5. Cavalieri, Duccio, 2015. "Structural interdependence in monetary economics: theoretical assessment and policy implications," MPRA Paper 65528, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Alejandro Agafonow & Havard Haarstad, 2009. "El socialismo del siglo XXI, ¿una alternativa factible?," Revista de Economía Institucional, Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Economía, vol. 11(20), pages 287-307, January-J.
    7. Cockshott, Paul & Zachariah, David, 2014. "Conservation laws, financial entropy and the Eurozone crisis," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 8, pages 1-55.
    8. Emiliano Brancaccio & Mauro Gallegati & Raffaele Giammetti, 2022. "Neoclassical influences in agent‐based literature: A systematic review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 350-385, April.
    9. Alan G. Isaac, 2019. "Exploring the Social-Architecture Model," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 565-589, October.
    10. Wright, Ian, 2009. "Implicit Microfoundations for Macroeconomics," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-27.

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