Abstract

VARGAS SANCHEZ, Gustavo. Microeconomic analysis and the labor theory of value. Inv. Econ [online]. 2010, vol.69, n.272, pp.105-136. ISSN 0185-1667.

This paper develops a microeconomic interpretation of the capitalist firm on the basis of the labor theory of value. Using the core concepts of such a theory and the structure of the orthodox theory of supply, we show: a) the importance of the theoretical relationship between labor activities inside the company, the social dimension of value, profits and the accumulation process, and b) that it is possible to build an alternative microeconomic analysis. Thus, we explain technology, production, costs and prices. The result is a process of growth and accumulation rather than the neoclassical equilibrium. The enterprise appears as a dynamic organization that grows and evolves through time through processes of innovation, competition, accumulation and concentration, the historical result of this dynamics being the fact that both the national and the international economic scenarios are big corporations-driven. We draw the conclusion that the firm is not "a black box", but a complex economic space that, as the core organization of the capitalist economy, manages the creation of value, profits and capital accumulation.

Keywords : microeconomics; firm; labor theory of value; corporation and competition; growth and accumulation.

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