| This question <138|132> overall <158|160> Weasel: <561-4|225-16>. |
| Question 257: Commodity producers do not exchange their products because they consider the labor in these products to be equal, and therefore the fruits of the labor should be distributed on an equal basis. Marx claims that, on the contrary, the market interactions induce them to unknowingly equalize their labors. Describe the process by which they equalize their labors, and the goals which they pursue in this process. |
| [159] Weasel: Commodity producers equalize their labors by selling and competing in the market place. Products of equal value sell for equal price. If producers are selling the same products, they are getting market price for those products regardless of the efficiency in which they produce them. For example: Farmer A produces a bushel of wheat in one day, and Farmer B produces a bushel of wheat in one week. These two bushels are selling for the same price, regardless of the time taken to produce them. This has the effect of an equalization of labors. |
| It is advantageous for a producer to have more to sell by finding an efficient way of producing goods. From the example above, Farmer A is selling more bushels because he can produce them faster than Farmer B. Farmer B's goal is to increase his efficiency to that of Farmer A's. The goals that both producers are pursuing in this process is to achieve maximun rewards for their efforts; leading to new innovative ideas to produce their goods using less labor. |
| Hans: Very good. Although they are trying to be innovative, i.e., they are trying to be different than others, Marx says that they cannot prevent the others from catching up, so that the overall effect is equalization, not differentiation. |
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