Introduction to the Labor Theory of Value

http://mruniversity.com/courses/economic-history-soviet-union/introduction-labor-theory-value

Hi. Welcome to Explorations
in Economic History.

This is Explorations in Economic History
and Thought: Socialism,

and today we'll be talking about
the labor theory of value.

What was Marx's labor theory of value?

Well, the labor theory of value says
that all value comes from labor.

Now, all labor is not exactly identical
in the labor theory of value.

It is adjusted for skilled labor
versus unskilled labor, for example.

But the labor theory of value says
that value is not subjective

and based on scarcity - supply and demand.

It is based on labor.

And the rest of Marx's economic analysis
comes from this labor theory of value,

it's rooted in this labor theory of value.

However, there are
some complications to this analysis.

For example, some Marxists will say

that labor theory of value
is really about exchange in the market.

However, we'll look at that
and we'll see that, in fact,

his proposal for socialism was also
based on his labor theory of value.

His exploitation theory, for example,
was based on the labor theory value,

and that justified his socialism.

But there's even more to it than that,

and we'll look at some of that today

and see why it's so important
to understand Marx's labor theory of value

and to understand what that implies
about the possibility of socialism.

Transcriber: Michel Smits
Reviewer: Maurício Kakuei Tanaka