Customer Reviews

Understanding Capital: Marx's Economic Theory

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This book is an excellent introduction to Marx's economic theories (but not his political theories). It has three main merits: (i) it is written in an extremely clear and understandable manner, (ii) it compresses most of Marx's economic ideas into a short book, and (iii) it introduces the notion of the monetary expression of labour value, which is a key concept to understanding Marx's labor theory of value. The recent renaissance on labor value theories is partly due to the author's efforts. If you think that labor value theories are nonsense, then read this -- it may change your mind. Similarly, if you are convinced of the foundational importance of labor time in understanding captialist economies (as opposed to, say, marginal utility) then you may still learn something new.

The mathematical content can be understood by anyone who can read an algebraic equation and follow some simple manipulations.

In sum, this is a book for those interested in Marx's economics, but may not want to wade through all three volumes of Capital.

While some may prefer the book "Companion to Capital" by Harvey, I believe that Duncan Foley has done a much better job with Marx. This is written for the economist who is looking back at "Capital Volume I" with a weary eye. Foley is purely scientific, and brings merit to Marx's argument. Duncan Foley makes Marx a relevant player in economics again. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Marxian Economy, or the history of economic thought.

First off, this is not a book to read if you want to know how Marx critiques capatalism. Sure that's touched on a little, but most of the book is devoted to pure economics, without any talk at all about how the economics comment on the way society, and capatalist firms function. The book is locked into numbers, and I'm guessing that it was meant to be used in a college course as a supplement. He says that his math is on the level of intermediate economics, and he's probably right, but don't expect him to do any explanation, he just plows on through, leaving those who aren't so lucky as to have taken up to intermediate economics courses left in the dust. No empirical analysis whatsoever, except for a calculation of the social surplus and the labor value of money. If your an economist you'll have a ball.

Had I known the level of mathematical technicality involved I would have never purchased this book.It is not a 'lucid' introduction at all; its a text for intermediate economic students.My advice is to avoid this book unless you have a good enough algebra required for intermediate economics degree students.A better option would be Ernst Mandel's 'Marxist Economic Theory'.He really is able to give a lucid description of Marx's economic arguments in 'Capital' (it's out of print but you may be able to get a second hand copy),another book you might like to try is 'The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx' by Alex Callinicos.His chapter on capitalism is quite comprehensive and includes most of the major concepts from Capital vols 1 to 3 including use and exchange value,surplus value,constant and variable capital,organic composition of capital,accumulation of capital,the crisis of capital via the falling rate of profit,overproduction,under consumption,and the problem of the transformation of value into prices(and not an algebraic equation in sight).