Elements for a General Labour Theory of Value

In his 2019 paper (Wright, 2019) Ian Wright shows that labour value theory is a positive theory that applies to the price structure of a capitalist economy. His demonstration is based on a generalization of Pasinetti’s vertically integrated approach (Pasinetti, 1988). The aim of this note is to prove that similar results can be obtained in the context of the simpler and more direct input-output analysis of the Leontief-Sraffa type. The analysis is not based on the Marxian categories but on the idea that the condition of reproducibility of an economic system requires, as a necessary condition, that the income generated in the production activity be completely spent on the purchase of produced com-modities. The relationship between the ‘new’ values, which are thus determined, and the ‘classical’ ones can be easily identified and examined.