This question <552|552> overall <554|556> Hans: <554|556>.

Exam Question 529: What is relative surplus-value? Which mechanisms, that were so far taken as given, affect the magnitude of relative surplus-value?

[555] Hans: Don't confuse relative and extra surplus-value!   Clay [552] confuses relative surplus-value with extra surplus-value, but even if one replaces every occurrence of the word “relative surplus-value” with “extra surplus-value” it still isn't quite right. Because the extra surplus-value does not disappear altogether; if the innovations bring more efficient ways to reproduce the workers' livelihood, then the necessary part of the labor day shortens, and this effect is what Marx calls “relative surplus-value”.

The second part of the question is answered correctly: productivity of labor was in the previous discussion held constant, and now it is variable.

	Students enrolled for Econ 5080 in 2009fa are invited to give feedback to the above message Pseudonym:      UofU ID:   Text: