Activity

The now well-known point is that the market is a fantastic information exchange. Changing prices are signals of shortage and surplus. Furthermore, the capitalist market gives people an incentive to respond to these signals in the search to maximize profits (private vices, public virtues again). Tak…

So the labour theory of value does not explain the source of profit. Consequently the law of the declining rate of profit fails too, for that starts from the assumption that only labour can create value. Does it also follow that workers are not even exploited? Here opinions differ. Some have argued…

So Marx makes two predictions that do not seem to follow from the basic theory of historical materialism. This yields a startling result: one can believe Marx’s theory of history, yet argue that within this theory there is no good reason to think that capitalism will end, or, if it does, that it wi…

Suppose, then, that Feuerbach’s thesis is true: human beings invented God. Marx’s innovation is to attempt to explain why it is true. Yet should we accept that religion has its source in our misery, and, specifically, the misery of alienation? One difficulty is that even in relatively affluent soci…

Finally, a quick word about distribution. How should goods be allocated to individuals? Marx’s dictum that each would contribute according to their ability, but receive according to need obviously anticipates a world in which everyone willingly pulls their weight—they do what they can. They do not …