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...

Using a particular understanding of the labor theory of value, this paper surveys the criticisms made of the Marxian distinction between productive and unproductive labor, and rejects them as misconceived. The distinction is then used to draw some consequences for how "the rate of exploitation"...

It is commonly proposed by those who accept the distinction between productive and unproductive labor that a rising proportion of unproductive labor constitutes a burden to the operation of a capitalist economy, because unproductive labor is paid out of surplus-value, leaving less available for...