Laws of Chaos : A Probabilistic Approach to Political Economy

In this unusual study, Farjoun and Machover attempt to do nothing less than rebuild two central concepts of political economy: price and profit. Using a probabilistic-statistical approach, they redefine both of these notions and then proceed to a discussion of relations between 'labour value', price and profit. Theories of probability and statistics are, of course, well-established in all natural and population scienoes, but with one or two notable exceptions, have been largely ovePlooked uy political economists. By treating the capitalist economy as 'a large and disorderly collection of moving objects', Farjoun and Machover succeed in resolving many of the contradictions that arise between the rigidity of certain analytical schemas and the wealth of empirical observation supporting them. Laws of Chaos is a challenging, innovative work , signalling a marked departure from the duality of Marxist and Sraffian approaches. COVER 1 CONTENTS 1 FOREWORD 1 INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE - NON-UNIFORMITY OF THE RATE OF PROFIT 1 CHAPTER TWO - A PARADIGM: STATISTICAL MECHANICS 1 CHAPTER THREE - THE RATE OF PROFIT AS A RANDOM VARIABLE 1 CHAPTER FOUR - LABOUR-CONTENT AS A MEASURE OF COMMODITIES 1 CHAPTER FIVE - PRICE AND WAGE AS RANDOM VARIABLES 1 CHAPTER SIX - DISSOLUTION OF THE TRANSFORMATION PROBLEM 1 CHAPTER SEVEN - ELEMENTS OF DYNAMICS 1 CHAPTER EIGHT - EMPIRICAL DATA AND OPEN PROBLEMS 1 APPENDIX I - PROBABILITY THEORY 1 APPENDIX II - THE DETERMINATION OF LABOUR-CONTENT 1 APPENDIX III - THE VALUE CONTROVERSY 1 NOTES 1 INDEX 1 CONTENTS 6 COVER 1 CONTENTS 1 FOREWORD 10 INTRODUCTION 14 CHAPTER ONE - NON-UNIFORMITY OF THE RATE OF PROFIT 29 CHAPTER TWO - A PARADIGM: STATISTICAL MECHANICS 40 CHAPTER THREE - THE RATE OF PROFIT AS A RANDOM VARIABLE 58 CHAPTER FOUR - LABOUR-CONTENT AS A MEASURE OF COMMODITIES 75 CHAPTER FIVE - PRICE AND WAGE AS RANDOM VARIABLES 102 CHAPTER SIX - DISSOLUTION OF THE TRANSFORMATION PROBLEM 126 CHAPTER SEVEN - ELEMENTS OF DYNAMICS 139 CHAPTER EIGHT - EMPIRICAL DATA AND OPEN PROBLEMS 173 APPENDIX I - PROBABILITY THEORY 194 APPENDIX II - THE DETERMINATION OF LABOUR-CONTENT 214 APPENDIX III - THE VALUE CONTROVERSY 229 NOTES 238 INDEX 263 COVER 266 CONTENTS 1 FOREWORD 1 INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE - NON-UNIFORMITY OF THE RATE OF PROFIT 1 CHAPTER TWO - A PARADIGM: STATISTICAL MECHANICS 1 CHAPTER THREE - THE RATE OF PROFIT AS A RANDOM VARIABLE 1 CHAPTER FOUR - LABOUR-CONTENT AS A MEASURE OF COMMODITIES 1 CHAPTER FIVE - PRICE AND WAGE AS RANDOM VARIABLES 1 CHAPTER SIX - DISSOLUTION OF THE TRANSFORMATION PROBLEM 1 CHAPTER SEVEN - ELEMENTS OF DYNAMICS 1 CHAPTER EIGHT - EMPIRICAL DATA AND OPEN PROBLEMS 1 APPENDIX I - PROBABILITY THEORY 1 APPENDIX II - THE DETERMINATION OF LABOUR-CONTENT 1 APPENDIX III - THE VALUE CONTROVERSY 1 NOTES 1 INDEX 1 CONTENTS......Page 1 INDEX......Page 0 CONTENTS......Page 6 FOREWORD......Page 10 INTRODUCTION......Page 14 CHAPTER ONE - NON-UNIFORMITY OF THE RATE OF PROFIT......Page 29 CHAPTER TWO - A PARADIGM: STATISTICAL MECHANICS......Page 40 CHAPTER THREE - THE RATE OF PROFIT AS A RANDOM VARIABLE......Page 58 CHAPTER FOUR - LABOUR-CONTENT AS A MEASURE OF COMMODITIES......Page 75 CHAPTER FIVE - PRICE AND WAGE AS RANDOM VARIABLES......Page 102 CHAPTER SIX - DISSOLUTION OF THE TRANSFORMATION PROBLEM......Page 126 CHAPTER SEVEN - ELEMENTS OF DYNAMICS......Page 139 CHAPTER EIGHT - EMPIRICAL DATA AND OPEN PROBLEMS......Page 173 APPENDIX I - PROBABILITY THEORY......Page 194 APPENDIX II - THE DETERMINATION OF LABOUR-CONTENT......Page 214 APPENDIX III - THE VALUE CONTROVERSY......Page 229 NOTES......Page 238 INDEX......Page 263 COVER......Page 266 Classic work of political economicsIn this classic work of political economy, Emmanuel Farjoun and Moshé Machover rebuild two fundamental concepts of the discipline: price and profit. They redefine the basic notions of political economy, relying on probabilistic–statistical methods of the kind used in the modern foundations of other sciences. This amounts to a rigorous new foundation of the labour theory of value. A defining work of Econophysics, republished for the first time since 1983, Laws of Chaos remains a challenging, innovative work of Marxist economics. Emmanuel Farjoun, Moshé Machover. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. [237]-261.