The employment contract with externalised costs: the avatars of Marxian exploitation. Issue 5 (3rd September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dos Santos Ferreira, Rodolphe; Ege, Ragip
• Is Part Of: European journal of the history of economic thought. Volume 25:Issue 5(2018)
• Page Start: 1081
• Page End: 1093
• Publication Date: 2018-09-03
• Subjects: Marxian capitalist exploitation -- surplus value -- labour value -- prices of production -- employment contract -- cost externalisation -- welfare state -- labour market flexibility; Economic history -- Periodicals; 330.94
• DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2018.1481988
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0967-2567

Abstract

Abstract: The paper pursues two aims. The first is to argue that the foundation of Marx's theory of capitalist exploitation is to be found, not in the labour theory of value, but rather in the contract of employment, the legal frame of the capital-labour relation. The second is to suggest that the partial externalisation of the reproduction cost of labour power has been an important source of relative surplus value, along with the productivity increase, emphasised by Marx, in the industries supplying wage goods.