>>2584174You see, Smith Anon does not distinguish how different averages work. It's all a big mess in his head. Here is the solution (not very complicated, but he probably won't read it because he is a seething butthurt narcissist): There are time averages and parts averages.
Time average: We follow something over time and look at its average state (conceptually such always exists, but it might not be an actually happening state you can point at and say "now").
Parts average: We divide some sum between components that in aggregate make up the sum to get the average part (again it conceptually exists, but not necessarily in the sense of something you can point at).
If we imagine a very stupid person, we can imagine that person to be stunned by this distinction, because
sometimes making the distinction is not necessary. Suppose a thousand people are all doing coin flips. Assuming unbiased coins, whether we check the time average of one guy doing the experiments or check a snapshot of the group, we can expect the data to look about the same. (By the way, processes that have the property that both checks amount to the same are called
ergodic processes. Is capitalism ergodic? No.)
The average Marx talked about in the bit that perplexes Smith Anon is a parts average (as was gracefully and tastefully alluded to in post
>>2582003 with the elevator story).
In Capital III, Marx worked with a model that assumes that profit rates equalize. It's a good question how strong the tendency of profit to equalize really is and so it's also a good question how useful that model is. Either way, the parts average exists, irrespective of how strong or weak the profit-rate equalizing tendency is because it is a MOTHAFUKEN PARTS AVERAGE.
Now, how does the model with the equalized profit rates fit together with assuming prices proportional to value? In short, these two do not fit together well and Marx did not believe they do. The stronger the tendency of profit rates to equalize, the more price ratios diverge from labor-input ratios. This is due to different organic composition of capital in different firms. If we counterfactually assume equal organic composition everywhere, we can have equalized profit rates and pri
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