MARX, Volume 3, Chapter 8:

1. Explain why industries with unequal value compositions of capital would have unequal rates of profit, if it is assumed that individual prices are proportional to their labor-values.

MARX, Volume 3, Chapter 9

1. How does Marx explain the equalization of rates of profit across industries with unequal rates of profit, in a way that is consistent with the labor theory of value?

2. What does Marx mean by "prices of production"?
How are prices of production determined?

3. Does Marx's determination of equal rates of profit maintain equality between (1) aggregate prices of production and aggregate values and (2) aggregate profit and aggregate surplus-value?

4. What two circumstances may cause changes in the prices of production of a particular commodity?

5. How does the equalization of rates of profit obscure the origin of surplus-value?

SWEEZY

1. (pp. 109-15): What is the error in Marx's theory of prices of production, according to Sweezy?

2. (pp. 125-28): To what extent does Marx's unsatisfactory analysis of prices of production alter the main conclusions of Marx's theory, according to Sweezy?

I will summarize in class my response to the usual criticism (such as Sweezy's) of Marx's theory of prices of production.