Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 09:47:50 -0600 (CST)
From: "Harry M. Cleaver" <hmcleave-AT-eco.utexas.edu>
Subject: Re: AUT: capitalist cuba?


On Tue, 5 Mar 2002, Scott Hamilton wrote:
> Harald (I think) wrote:
>
> >The social benefits to Cuban workers that you
> > >mention, such as "free" health care, education,
> > >etc. may indicate that a lower rate of surplus
> > >value prevails in the cuban economy than in
> > >countries where property is mostly in private
> > >hands.  But a lower rate of surplus value does
> > >not disqualify Cuba from capitalist status.
>
> It would good if someone who views Cuba as an
> out-and-out capitalist state could put together or
> cite a materialist explanation for this phenomenon of
> a lower rate of surplus value.
>
> Cheers
> Scott
>
Scott,
There is no great mystery about varying rates of surplus value. The
rate of surplus value (S/V or surplus value/variable capital) varies with
changes in S and changes in V both of which can be effected by things
like technological change, changes in the length of the working day,
changes in the intensity of labor and so on. There is a
tendency for capital to move from activities with lower rates of surplus
value (and lower rates of profit) to activities with higher ones --and
thus a tendency toward an equalization of rates of surplus value. But that
is only a tendency and whether or not it happens depends on degree of
differential, costs of movement, existence of legal obstacles and on and
on. More over variations in all the changes mentioned above mean S/V's
fluctuate, and fluctuate at different rates so you would expect to find a
wide variety of them at any moment.

Would the Cuban government agencies that oversee investment shift
investment to Miami if rates of surplus value and rates of profit were
higher there and if it were legal for them to do so? I don't know. It's
easy to imagine all sorts of political constraints that would work against
such moves. At any rate, the information about the existence of the
benefits available to Cuban workers is hardly enough information to
conclude that rates of surplus value are lower there. Note: it is quite
possible to have higher rates of surplus value as wages and benefits rise
(raising V) if those increases result in the introduction of
technological changes that raise S faster than V (say through increased
intensity of labor) or lowers V (by reducing the per unit value
of the means of subsistence) offsetting increases in money wages/benefits.

H.

............................................................................
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Harry Cleaver
Department of Economics
University of Texas at Austin
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............................................................................



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