The Labor Theory of Value Is a Menace!

Kieran Healy explains why:

What are you currently reading? This goddamn thread about the labor theory of value on Brad DeLong’s blog made me go back and look at Robert Paul Wolff’s Understanding Capital, Duncan Foley’s Understanding Capital (notice the pattern here) and Maurice Dobb’s Theories of Value and Distribution Since Adam Smith. These are three excellent books. The issue they treat is fascinating in the same way that, e.g., a big red button labeled “Do Not Push This Button” is fascinating, and absorbing in the way that, e.g., a giant squid-like alien’s stomach is absorbing.