The Insanity of Marxism
I'm currently
listening to David Harvey's graduate course on Das Kapital. The whole
conceptual framework of the book makes no sense. Marx admits multiple
"exceptions" to the labor theory of value, yet still keeps it. He even cites a
case where a commodity can have a price, but no value. What kind of value
theory is that?
The
methodology of the book is simply incoherent. Marx seems to slip between a
class-based analysis and a more rational-choice-like analysis with no
explanation as to why one method should be used in any particular situation. At
times, he seems to recognize that individuals have incentives, but will
subsequently explain why the capitalist class does so and so without any regard
to the individual interests of any actual capitalists.
Many
of the problems are caused by Marx's reliance on classical economics. Ricardo's
introduction of equilibrium reasoning has greatly hurt the development of
economic thought, and Marx is just one of the notable casualties. Another
problem is Marx's belief that in an exchange, the two goods are equivalent in
value. This is obviously not true, as is constantly emphasized by Austrian
economists.
Even worse, when Marx
can't find a particular justification for a theory, he introduces an ad hoc
psychological reason for it. For example, the "drive to accumulate" and the
need for "social power" are the reasons given for why capitalists invest in
capital and desire money, respectively.