| |
[24] Diesel: The value of a commodity is determined by the labor time needed under the
socially average conditions of production vs. the best conditions of production
attained in a society because “the greater the productivity of labour, the less
the labour-time required to produce an article, the less the mass of labour
crystallized in that article, and the less its value.” Marx writes that the
labour time (the average, or socially necessary) of trying to find diamonds,
because they are rare, takes time and therefore, the amount of labour or effort
that goes into finding the diamonds costs the producer money to pay the workers
to look. It's supply and demand. If the supply of a commodity goes down, the
price goes up and vice versa. Marx concludes that the “value of a commodity
would remain constant if the labour time for its production remained constant.” |
|