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Productive and unproductive labor: Marx´s positions on personal services

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  • Adolfo Rodríguez Herrera

    (Universidad de Costa Rica)

Abstract

In Marx´s texts we can recognize three positions on the concept of productive labor, arising from his critique of Smith. These positions are incompatible with each other when considering the labor that provides personal services, of growing importance in contemporary capitalism. A return to the foundations of Marx´s theory of value is necessary to understand the concept of productive labor and to decipher one of the main determinants of value transfers between sectors and regions and of the ever-increasing inequality

Suggested Citation

  • Adolfo Rodríguez Herrera, 2021. "Productive and unproductive labor: Marx´s positions on personal services," Working Papers 202103, Universidad de Costa Rica, revised Mar 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:fcr:wpaper:202103
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    File URL: https://economia.ucr.ac.cr/sites/default/files/2021-11/EE%20UCR%20SDT%2021-03.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Herbert Gintis & Samuel Bowles, 1981. "Structure and Practice in the Labor Theory of Value," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 12(4), pages 1-26, January.
    2. Simon Mohun, 1996. "Productive and Unproductive Labor in the Labor Theory of Value," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 30-54, December.
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