A NOTE ON THE SHORT‐RUN “PRODUCTIVENESS” OF LABOR SERVICES
Since the time of Adam Smith, classical and Marxist economists have made a distinction between productive and unproductive labor. According to Smith, productive is that “labour which adds to the value of the subject upon which it is bestowed” (Smith, 1937, 314).
Unproductive Labor and the Contradictory Movement of the Rate of Profit: A Comment on Moseley
This paper criticizes Moseley's claim that the cause in the fall in the conventional rate of profit in the postwar U.S. is due to the rise in unproductive labor over this period. I argue that Moseley employs a one-sided and static conception of unproductive labor. Unproductive labor is seen by Moseley to be simply a drag on surplus value production. In contrast, I argue that unproductive labor should be understood as both a drag and as an enhancement for the dynamic production of surplus value. I show in a model of the distribution of surplus value how the redistribution of unproductive labor can have contradictory effects on the value rate of profit.
A Mathematical Interpretation of Marxian Unproductive Labour
Marx's theory of unproductive labour is incomprehensible without a proper understanding of his dual theory of value. Hence, the mathematical analysis of his model of value and growth is a useful and instructive investigation. Up to now, however, no attempt has been made to grasp the basic distinction between productive and unproductive labour in terms of matrix algebra. We hope this paper will fill this gap. It will be shown that Marx's distinction between productive and unproductive labour follows from his dual theory of labour value and use-value. Once this theory is formulated in terms of matrix algebra, it will be shown that Marx's results are confirmed without any further "ideological digression". We will also consider the rate of profit formula developed by Morishima and Seton (1961) in the light of our previous results. In a last section some hints will be given for a less abstract mathematical analysis of unproductive labour today.