The Marxian labour theory of value considers labour as the only substance of value. The generalized commodity exploitation theorem (GCET) purports to demonstrate that many other commodities can be substances of value. This note argues that the GCET is based on two conceptual aws: (a) failure to...

This paper develops a simple theoretical model to analyze Marx's theory of ground rent. Using the model, I demonstrate two important results. First, if we take capital as exogenous, then total ground-rent can be decomposed into the three components: differential rent of the first variety (DRI),...

Attempts to use commodities to construct theories of value and use such value theory to claim that, in capitalism, commodities can be exploited, just like labour is, rest on two conceptual aws: (a) failure to distinguish between labour and labour-power; and (b) failure to distinguish...

Does the intensification of labour increase the rate of exploitation? Does it produce absolute surplus value or relative surplus value? This paper develops a framework to answer these questions by incorporating intensity of labour in the widely-used linear model of production, both in its one...

In a recent contribution, Oster (2019) has proposed a method to generate bounds on treatment effects in the presence of unobservable confounders. The method can only be implemented if a crucial problem of non-uniqueness is addressed. In this paper I demonstrate that one of the proposed methods...

In linear econometric models with proportional selection on unobservables, omitted variable bias in estimated treatment effects are roots of a cubic equation involving estimated parameters from a short and intermediate regression, the former excluding and the latter including all observable...

We revisit the hypotheses of unequal exchange and deterioratingterms of trade in the specific context of import-intensive, export-led strategies of developing countries which rely on integration intoGVCs for access to markets in developed countries using a stylizedtwo-country two-commodity...

In this paper we present estimates of the world profit rate using country-level data from the Extended Penn World Table 7.0 and industry-level data from the World Input Output Database. The country-aggregated world profit rate series spans the period from 1960 to 2019, and the...

Using unit-level data from various rounds of the Employment and Unemployment Survey of the National Sample Survey Organisation, we present the first consistent time series of average real farm income per cultivator for 18 major Indian states for 1987-88, 1993-94, 1999-00, 2004-05, 2007-08,...

Since the early 2000s, many Indian states started reforming their agricultural marketing policies and allowed private traders to buy directly from farmers outside the state-regulated market system. The experience of these states during the period 2000 - 2012 can shed light on the impact of...