Responding to criticisms of Mohun (1996) by Houston (1997) and Laibman (1999) in the RRPE, this paper explores the empirical consequences of the competing definitions proposed for productive labor, and concludes that abandoning the productive-unproductive labor distinction renders the Marxian...

This paper offers a new approach to the definition of manufacturing activities, placing them in a broader framework to capture the dynamics of manufacturing in the economy. After discussing why in many cases it may bc appropriate to consider producer services and tnanttfacturing industries...