Conceptualizing the future: Marx’s value theory and the debate on markets and planning

Abstract

Abstract Marx posits a vision of socialism in which mass-produced items are priced via computation of embodied labour-time with remuneration such that one hour of actual labour is exchanged for items produced in one hour. But implementing Marx’s scheme today would incentivize increased individual labour time and drive a tendency to ecologically harmful “growth.” As pushing beyond capitalism remains indispensable, we must assess newer models of socialist planning and distribution providing alternatives to capitalism and market socialism.