The Marxian Theory of Neo-Value and Surplus-Labour. An Integration of Sraffa’s Price Equations Inside the Capitalist Monetary Circulation

In this paper, we show that Sraffa’s prices are consistent with Marx’s analysis of the form of circulation of capital (Money–Commodities–Money) and his theory of the creation of new value by labour in the production process. On the contrary, according to many neo-Ricardian and Marxist scholars, Marx’s theory of value and Sraffa’s theory of prices are incompatible. In this framework, we develop our interpretation of Marx’s theory of new value based on the so-called ‘New Interpretation’ of Foley, Duménil, and Lipietz. Firstly, Marx analyses the division of aggregate social labour in producing various commodities. Living labour is the only factor that is not yet a value that enters the production process. Thus it creates new value. The value of money allows us to sum up the two factors that enter the production process, the means of production and the living labour. Secondly, focusing on surplus value, he analyses the class relationship between labourers and owners of the means of production in the capitalist society Regarding Sraffa’s theory of prices, our intent is not to reconstruct a thorough interpretation of Sraffa’s theory. We aim instead to retrace the path that leads him to believe that the labour spent in revenue production is not an arbitrary but a natural measure unit of prices. This path starts from re-evaluating Marxian theory, based on what Sraffa calls his hypothesis about the composition of the revenue and aggregate means of production. Finally, we develop Marx’s form of circulation of capital, including Sraffa’s prices