Abstract
This study explores the principle of numeration of value as a problem in
the theoretical standpoint of economics, and in the process of the
examination re-considers Marxian labor theory of value critically.
Numerical value is determined at a market, and value changes depending
on measures. Then, we present a new principle of numeration of value
wherein profits are added at exchange. Profit at exchange is
unobservable and absolutely indivisible from value, but was not included
in Marx’s conception of economics. Profit at exchange implies that labor
is not the sole origin of surplus value. Then the long-standing
transformation problem is settled. Next, examining prices as a structure
from structuralism, we refer to the point where the value turns into
prices as a singular point. In the singular point, value and prices are
discontinuous. Our analysis concludes that a price is not a natural
phenomenon but an artifact of human culture.
Keywords :
Transformation problem, Fundamental Marxian Theorem, Measurement, Profit
at Exchange, Structuralism, Retroactive Causal Recognition
JEL codes : A13, B14, B40